1 Chronicles Chapter 10

The Death of Saul and His Sons

1Chronicles 10:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
12 And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.
4 Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died.

They chose to die than to be disgraced or tortured by the Philistines. This sad story is also told of in 1 Samuel chapter 31. Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul also were killed.
What amazes me is that when David hears of this, he mourns, He does not rejoice over this even though this probably meant he would be the next king of Israel. I'm thinking of the New Testament verse that says, "Blessed are they that mourn."

War of any kind is sad. I long for the day when Jesus reigns, when the human race would love one another as Jesus told us to do, where there would be no war. If we all loved one another there would be no poverty either because we all would care for one another.

There is a time coming when there will be a false peace. Before the literal coming of Jesus to rule and reign on the earth, a man that claims to be for peace will take over. We call him the anti christ who is really against Christ. At first he seems to solve all problems, increase the economy etc. but he then turns against Israel and tries to defeat them. Jesus comes at last to deliver them. There may be good business managers that increase the economy in a good way before that time but that does not mean that he is this anti christ or man of sin. Yet, if someone suddenly arises from Europe or the Middle East that seems to have all the answers and solve all problems; whoever is here during that time, need to keep their eyes open and watch.

Our hope is in God, not a man living on the earth at any time. Our hope is the second coming of Jesus, first to take His believers out, then He will allow the final tribulation to bring Israel back to God and recognize that the real Messiah is the one their ancestors rejected years ago. After the sealing of the 144,000 Israelis, the wrath of God pours out over those that persecute and killed His people that believe on Him and those that surround Israel with the armies of many nations that come against Israel as a nation.

Believers both Jews and Gentiles will have been taken out by way of the rapture spoken of my Paul in Thessalonians before the Great Tribulation which takes place just before Jesus comes again to set up His kingdom. Those believers that come to Jesus after the rapture could be under great persecution. That does not mean those taken by way of the rapture escape any persecution. In fact there are believers in Jesus that are persecuted now while I write this bible study. There has been persecution of true believers in Jesus ever since Jesus went back to Heaven after His resurrection.

The 144,000 of the tribes of Israel are sealed to escape the plagues that come from the wrath of God. They are later taken up to God's throne to join those that were raptured before the tribulation. After that Jesus comes with His saints to reign on the earth. I write this believing in the pretribulation rapture of the church. Some may disagree on this. I'm just discribing my view. Always pray, study and ask God to reveal to you the truth of this. Don't take my word without question. I have always believed that only God can reveal the truth of anything in the written word. Seek and ye shall find.

Until then we will always have wars and rumors of war. Hate, anti God teachings in the public schools, persecution, murder, abortion and much more is happening now. Unless there is a great revival or great awakening many nations will fall and be under judgment. No one will get by with sin if they ignore God's only way to escape the final judgment. The only way to be saved is to come to Christ for salvation. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to escape hell. If there was another way, Jesus would not have had to come down, be born of a woman, become human and then die for the sins of any who would repent of sin and come to Him for salvation.

1Chronicles 10:6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.
7 And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

This didn't have to happen if Saul had not have turned against David out of fear and jealousy. He made a mistake in that he didn't obey God which caused God to have David anointed to be king in his place. If Saul would have repented genuinely, perhaps God would have changed His mind and allowed Him to be king longer. Although David failed too later, David genuinely repented of any sin he committed.

Saul did have periods where he seemed to repent but it didn't last. The fear and jealously of David always returned. This shows us the difference between genuine repentance and the weakness of returning to the sin after we are forgiven. After the coming of Jesus to die for sin and grant the victory over sin to those that come to Him for salvation, the Holy Spirit is given to all that will receive Him and we have the power to overcome returning to the sin we are cleansed from. We still have our freewill but we have overcoming power to live in holiness and the love of God within our very souls.

1Chronicles 10:8 And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in mount Gilboa.
9 And when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols, and to the people.
10 And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.

Rejoicing and making fun of Saul is sad to see. We never should rejoice when we see someone dies even if they are evil. Eternity is a long time and to see a wicked person die means that their soul is lost for eternity. I can only hope that Saul would have repented before he died and got right with God.

1Chronicles 10:11 And when all Jabeshgilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

The people of Jabesh-gilead were those that Saul helped back in the beginning of his reign as king of Israel. They respected and liked King Saul so this act of kindness was done by the them in remembrance of that time. This also is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 31.

1Chronicles 10:13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
14 And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.

This was a very sad ending for Saul and his three sons. His disobedience and his refusal to accept David as his replacement caused it to end up this way. David loved the family of Saul and would have been the most faithful follower and supporter of him if only...... We have a lot of "If only's" and regrets in life. "If only" we all could just stay faithful to our God.

1 Chronicles Chapter 11