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1
Chronicles Chapter Ten
1 Chronicles 10
Chapter Contents
The death of Saul.
The design chiefly in view in these books of the
Chronicles, appears to be to preserve the records of the house of David.
Therefore the writer repeats not the history of Saul's reign, but only of his
death, by which a way was made for David to the throne. And from the ruin of
Saul, we may learn, 1. That the sin of sinners will certainly find them out,
sooner or later; Saul died for his transgression. 2. That no man's greatness
can exempt him from the judgments of God. 3. Disobedience is a killing thing.
Saul died for not keeping the word of the Lord. May be delivered from unbelief,
impatience, and despair. By waiting on the Lord we shall obtain a kingdom that
cannot be moved.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Chronicles》
1 Chronicles 10
Verse 1
[1] Now
the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before
the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
The men of Israel fled, … — Thus princes sin and the people suffer for it. No doubt there was enough
in them to deserve it. But that which divine justice had chiefly an eye to, was
the sin of Saul. Great men should in an especial manner, take heed of provoking
God's wrath. For if they kindle that fire, they know not how many may be
consumed by it for their sakes.
Verse 6
[6] So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.
His house —
All his children, then present with him, namely, his three sons, for Ishbosheth
and Mephiboshieth were not slain.
Verse 10
[10] And
they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the
temple of Dagon.
Temple of Dagon — If
we give not God the glory of our successes, even Philistines will rise up in
judgment with us and condemn us. Shall Dagon have so great a place in their
triumphs, and the true God be forgotten in ours?
Verse 12
[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.
Seven days —
Every day 'till evening, after the manner of the Jewish fasts.
Verse 13
[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;
The word —
Against God's express command: which is a great aggravation of any sin.
Familiar spirit —
Which also was contrary to a manifest command, Leviticus 19:31.
Verse 14
[14] And
enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto
David the son of Jesse.
Enquired not — He
did in some sort, but not in a right manner, not humbly and penitently, not
diligently and importunately, not patiently and perseveringly. Nor 'till he was
brought to the last extremity. And then it was too late.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Chronicles》
10 Chapter 10
Verse 3
And the battle went sore against Saul.
The death of Saul
Learn
I. That a splendid
beginning may have an awful ending.
II. That Divine
judgments overtake men’s sins.
III. That in
national calamities the godly suffer with the ungodly. (J. Wolfendale.)
The departure of God, the departure of strength
Why was the battle sore against the king of Israel? Saul believes
himself to be forsaken of God, and therefore to have become the sport of man.
Here we are reminded of the analogy of the vine and the branches. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can the Church
make vital and faithful progress, except by continual fellowship with God. Saul
was muscular as ever, as ambitious as ever, and as energetic as ever; but he
had lost the consciousness of the nearness of the Almighty. What are all church
buildings, formularies, ceremonies, pecuniary resources, literary achievements,
when the Spirit of God has been grieved or quenched? (J. Parker, D.
D.)
An unblest leader does not necessarily represent an unblest cause
Although the battle went sore against Saul, we must not suppose
that Saul represented an unblest cause. The reason may be in Saul himself,
rather than in the cause for which he fought. Sometimes leaders, captains, and
commanders have to be overborne or displaced, in order that the great cause
which they fail to grasp, and adequately to represent, may vindicate its own
claim to a position of confidence and honour. It does not follow that because a
man has been once a leader, that he must be always at the head of the army.
Sometimes by the infirmity of old age the very princes of the Church are
displaced and put behind. There are some trusts which we only keep as long as
we keep our character. (J. Wolfendale.)
Verse 4
Drew thy sword, and thrust me through.
Suicide as illustrated by the case of Saul
I. Causes.
1. Not merely accumulated misfortune, but long-continued wrongdoing.
2. Cowardly fear of suffering.
3. Caring more for disgrace than for sin.
4. Abandonment of trust of God as to this life and to the future
life.
II. Effects.--
1. Others led by the example into the same folly and sin.
2. Personal dishonour not really prevented.
3. A crowning and lasting reproach to the man’s memory. (J. P.
Lange.)
Verses 8-10
And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to
strip the slain, that they found Saul.
A good beginning with a bad ending
Many men begin with influential parentage, social station, ample
education, pecuniary competence, yet they travel a downhill road, falling first
into neglect and then into oblivion. Physical greatness, social security,
public applause are being continually rebuked, humiliated, and put to shame.
The proverb wisely says, “Call no man happy until he is dead.” The meaning is
that at the very best a man may make a slip which will bring his whole life
into degradation in every sense of the term. There is but a step between man
and death--not physical death only, but the death of character, reputation, and
influence. It remains with each man to say whether a good beginning shall have
a good ending. This is a question of personal discipline, holy fellowship with
God, and an acceptance of all processes which have been divinely established
for the training and sanctification of man. The word comes with special urgency
to young persons, to men of influence, to successful men, and to all who are plied
by the temptations incident to high station and wide influence. (J. Parker,
D. D.)
Verse 13-14
So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the
Lord.
The doom of King Saul
We have no right to understand this account of Saul’s death as
referring to one act of his life. It speaks as well of his general
transgression against the Lord. Saul consulted the witch the night before he
died; and whether it was his worst offence or no, it was the immediate
precursor of his destruction, the last drop which made the cup of vengeance
overflow: there remained for him no other recorded act of sin before his
self-murder. Look well to the next sin you are tempted to commit. It may be
your last act. If indulged it may
prove a step on the road to destruction from which there is no receding. Was
Saul a man who lived and died without repentance? In one sense--the highest
sense of repentance--he was; in another he was not. The repentance which God
acknowledges is not momentary sorrow or good resolutions, soon repented of in
the wrong direction; it is that thorough change of heart which works in us the
steadiness of real Christian principle; which makes us, who have been baptized
and reared as Christians, to love the Lord Jesus Christ above all things; to
hold His favour dearer than life itself; and to have no stronger desire than
that our thoughts, feelings, life may be conformed to His will. Such a change
the history leads us to believe King Saul never knew. After his first interview
with Samuel, we read that “God gave him another heart.” But his after-life
shows that this change was not an abiding change. Sin springing up, reckless
self-indulgence, blighted and destroyed feelings of good which gave such
hopeful promise at first. The true change of heart must be abiding. Look at the
recorded acts by which Saul grieved God’s Spirit.
1. His sacrificing to the Lord (1 Samuel 13:9). Self-will was at the
root of this act--that self-will which poisoned all Saul’s after-life.
2. The rash vow by which he forbade the people to taste any food (1 Samuel 14:24). This showed the
same unchecked impetuosity, reckless in its self-willed way of honouring God.
3. His sparing the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:9) These earlier acts of
Saul’s rebellion were but the precursors of what was worse.
4. His yielding himself up to the one master passion of envy (1 Samuel 18:7-9). The king obviously
is lost now, and there is no compunction, for he cherishes his sin.
5. The atrocious massacre of the priests (1 Samuel 22:17-18). And now his own
life hurries to its miserable close. He feels that he is deserted of God, and
that nothing prospers with him. Forsaken of God? Why? Because of unrepented
sin. No wonder that the degraded king seeks death by his own hand, when life
has become intolerable. Read here the melancholy end of the self-will and evil
passions long indulged, till the soul becomes their slave, and all hope is
gone, and God with it. The reckless self-willed life must lead to a death
without hope. (Bp. Archibald Campbell.)
And also for asking
counsel of one that had a familiar spirit.
Saul inquiring of the enchantress
Thus perished one who entered with fair promise on an arduous
office, and gave indications of capacities and dispositions which seemed to
ensure a prosperous career. But “the root of the matter” was not in Saul; he
had not been renewed in the spirit of his mind, and therefore was he unable to bear himself
meekly in greatness, and gave way to an arrogant and impetuous temper,
forgetting that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat
of rams.” Thus was he turned into a wild and desperate man, sparing not in his
rage the priests of God, and calling to his aid enchantments and sorcery. So
that at length it came to pass that Saul died for his transgressions against
the word of the Lord--for asking counsel of one who had a familiar spirit.
There are many important lessons that might be drawn from the history thus
briefly reviewed.
I. You are
carefully to observe that Saul, who here had recourse to witchcraft, had before
taken measures, vigorous measures, for exterminating witchcraft; and it was at
once a proof that he was far gone in iniquity, and an evidence that his ruin
came on apace, when he could thus become the patron of a sin of which he had
before been the opponent. There is no greater moral peril than that which
surrounds an individual who, after he has given up a sinful practice, again
betakes himself to it. “The last state of that man is worse than the first.” We
cannot doubt of numbers amongst you, that they have had, and still have, their
seasons of spiritual disquietude, when, obeying a mighty impulse, which is not
of this earth, they break away from associations and customs which they feel to
be injurious, and become, if not altogether, yet almost, Christians. Now our
business with such is to announce to them their immeasurable peril, if, after being
convinced of the sinfulness of a practice, and proving their conviction by
temporary abstinence, they again indulge in what they profess to forsake. To
resume a renounced habit is to give tenfold energy to the tyranny from which
you broke loose. Are you then seared by the visit of Saul to the sorceress? do
you marvel at the infatuation of the monarch as you mark him, under cover of
the night, stealthily approaching the scene of foul arts and unhallowed
incantations? are you
ready with the sentence of stern condemnation, prepared to find Saul given over
to destruction, now that you behold him tampering with witchcraft, and seeking
to invade the repose of the dead? But what, after all, is the king of Israel
doing, but that with which yourselves may be justly charged? He is only
returning to that which he had forsaken; and the worst feature in his case (the
worst, because it proves a seared conscience, and the absence of deep-wrought
impressions) is just that with which your own conduct is marked--the seeking
comfort where you had detected sin. If men have felt the evil of covetousness,
for example, and if he have set himself vigorously against the love of money,
and if, after a while, he yield himself once more to the passion for gold, what
is he, if he returns to the dominion of avarice, but Saul hurrying to the cave
of the enchantress? He was originally beguiled by the witchery of money, and he
escaped from the witchery; and now he is again giving himself up to that
witchery. If a man have been the slave of his appetites, and if he have felt the
degradation, and acted on the resolve of “keeping under the body,” and if he
then plunge back into sensuality, what is he, if he allow his passions to
re-assume the lost sovereignty, but Saul consorting with the wizard? He was
originally under the spell of voluptuousness, and he broke that spell; and now
is again weaving that spell. If a man have lived in utter carelessness with
regard to another world, and if he have been stirred from his insensibility, so
that he have set himself in good earnest to the making provision for death and
for judgment; and if, after awhile, he relapse into moral apathy, what is he,
as he goes back to his stupor, but Saul seeking out a woman with a familiar
spirit? Observe, we entreat of you, that it was not until Saul had consulted
God, and God had refused
to answer him by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets, that he took the fatal
resolve of applying to the necromancer. We fear for those of you on whose minds
some serious impressions may have been wrought, and who have been made uneasy
as to their spiritual condition, lest, not finding much comfort in religion,
they should seek it once more in the world. Men are apt to forget, when roused
to anxiety as to the soul, how long they have made God wait for them, and how
justly, therefore, they might expect that the peace and happiness of the gospel
will not be imparted at the first moment they are sought; and then there is
great danger of their being quickly wearied, and turning to other and worthless
sources of comfort. They have consulted God, and they have received no answer,
“whether by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets”; and therefore they seek peace
in earthly fascinations, and strive to lull the conscience by enchantments of
the sorceress. Oh! if there be any amongst you who, in order to get rid of
uneasy thoughts about their souls, would bury themselves in the occupations and
pleasures of the world, we stand here to arrest them in their fatal
determination.
II. There is
something very touching in the fact that it was Samuel whom Saul desired the
witch to call up. Samuel had boldly reproved Saul, and, as it would appear,
offended him by his faithfulness. And yet Saul said, “Bring up Samuel.” And
herein is an instance of what frequently occurs. How many who have despised the
advice of a father or a mother, and grieved their parents by opposition and
disobedience, long bitterly to bring them back, when they have gone down to the
grave, that they may have the benefit of the counsel which they once slighted
and scorned I If they could go to the necromancer in the hour of their
distress, it would not be, “Bring me up the companion who cheered me in my
gaieties, who was with me at the revel, and the dance, and the public show,”
but “Bring me up the father, with his grey hairs, who solemnly told me that
‘the way of transgressors was hard’; or the mother who, with weeping eyes and
broken voice, admonished me against sinful indulgences.” Yet if you neglect the
Lord, and continue to resist the strivings of His Spirit, so that at length He
departs from you as He departed from Saul, what would it avail that the grave
should give up its inhabitants--that the parent, or the friend, or the minister
should return at your bidding? The father or the mother could only say, “Why
hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? and wherefore dost thou ask of me,
seeing the Lord has departed from thee, and become thine enemy?” And thus also
is it with your minister. He has reproved and admonished week by week, and year
after year, and you have been either indifferent to his offended at their
pleadings, or urgency. And then he dies; and you are, perhaps, almost pleased
to be freed from his pointed remonstrances. But you may think of him again when
you feel that this world is slipping from your grasp, and you have not laid
hold on eternal life. You shall have your wish. “An old man cometh up, and he
is covered with a mantle.” But what can you expect to hear from his lips? Your
wretchedness is of your own making. If you have no hope, it is because God hath
called a thousand times and you would not answer. If you are oppressed with
terror, it is because Christ hath entreated you for many years to receive
pardon through His blood; and you have set at nought the Mediator. What then, shall
the minister say to you, when you exclaim with Saul, “I am sore distressed, for
the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth
me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams”? what shall he say to you if not
what Samuel said to Saul--“Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?
Wherefore dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is
become thine enemy?” (H. Melvll, B. D.)
Saul’s declension
I. The possibility
that a man may fall from spiritual communion with the divine and invisible.
II. The rapidity with which a
man may fall from the highest eminence.
III. The certainty
that one day the impenitent will want their old teachers. (City Temple.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》