1 Samuel 31:13

13 And they took the bones of them, and buried them in the wood of Jabesh, and fasted by seven days. (And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and then fasted for seven days.)

1 Samuel 31:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:13

And they took their bones, and buried [them] under a tree at
Jabesh
For though they burned the bodies, yet so as to preserve the bones; and these, together with the ashes of the parts burnt, they gathered up, and buried under a tree near this city; this tree is said to be an oak, ( 1 Chronicles 10:12 ) ; so Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, was buried under an oak, ( Genesis 35:8 ) . The Jews generally interred their dead under some oak, as aforementioned writer observes ^F17; pleased perchance with the parallel, as he expresses it, that as these plants, seemingly dead in winter, have every spring an annual resurrection, so men's dry bones shall have new sap put into them at the day of judgment:

and fasted seven days;
not that they ate and drank nothing all that time, but they fasted every day till evening, as the Jews used to do; so long it seems a man may live without eating, but not longer; (See Gill on Exodus 24:18) and (See Gill on 1 Kings 19:8); this they did, as Kimchi thinks, in memory of the seven days Nahash the Ammonite gave them for their relief, in which time Saul came and saved them, ( 1 Samuel 11:3 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Pisgah-Sight of Palestine b. 2. ch. 2. p. 82.

1 Samuel 31:13 In-Context

11 And when the dwellers of Jabesh of Gilead had heard this, and whatever things the Philistines had done to Saul, (And when the inhabitants of Jabesh of Gilead had heard this, and all the things that the Philistines had done to Saul,)

12 and all the strongest men rose (up), and went forth all that night, and they took (down) the dead body of Saul, and the dead bodies of his sons, from the wall of Bethshan; and the men of Jabesh of Gilead came, and burnt those dead bodies with fire.

13 And they took the bones of them, and buried them in the wood of Jabesh, and fasted by seven days. (And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and then fasted for seven days.)