1 Samuel 31 Study Notes

31:9 First Ch 10:10 notes that Saul’s head was placed in the temple of Dagon, perhaps at Ashdod (1Sm 5:1-2), symbolizing Dagon’s victory over Israel’s king.

31:10 Ashtoreths designated images of the Canaanite goddess Ashtoreth, consort of Baal (7:3-4; 12:10). Beth-shan was an Israelite city at the mouth of the valley near the Jordan River, probably abandoned by the Israelites in the wake of the Philistine victory (v. 7).

31:11 Jabesh-gilead was a city east of the Jordan River whose citizens Saul rescued from Nahash, king of Ammon (11:1-11).

31:12 Retrieving the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons would have been risky since the Philistines occupied the valley, but Jabesh-gilead’s brave men did so—probably under cover of darkness. At Jabesh, they burned the bodies, not to ashes, but on a funeral pyre to remove the flesh, probably to protect them from further abuse by wild animals. The men had not been able to repay the king for saving them during his life, but they would do what they could now to honor his memory.

31:13 Fasting was a sign of mourning out of deep respect for Saul and his sons.