1 Samuel 31:5

5 When his armor-bearer saw that Sha'ul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.

1 Samuel 31:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:5

And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead
By his own hands, and not by the hands of the Amalekite, which the armour bearer would scarcely have suffered:

he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him;
some think that Saul, and his armourbearer, died by the same sword, which was the armourbearer's; and if he was Doeg, they fell probably by the same sword with which the priests of the Lord were murdered at Nob, ( 1 Samuel 22:18 ) ; and it is observed by an historian ^F4, that the murderers of Julius Caesar slew themselves with the same dagger they destroyed him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Sucton. Vit. Caesar. c. 89.

1 Samuel 31:5 In-Context

3 The fighting went hard against Sha'ul; then the archers overtook and wounded him, so that he was in agony.

4 Sha'ul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised men will come, run me through and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer refused, he was too frightened. So Sha'ul took his sword and fell on it.

5 When his armor-bearer saw that Sha'ul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.

6 Thus Sha'ul, his three sons, his armor-bearer and all his men died that same day together.

7 When the men of Isra'el who were on the other side of the valley and those who were on the far side of the Yarden saw that the men of Isra'el had fled and that Sha'ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the P'lishtim came and lived in them.