1 Samuel 31:3

3 ¹The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.

1 Samuel 31:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:3

And the battle went sore against Saul
Pressed heavy upon him; he was the butt of the Philistines, they aimed at his person and life:

and the archers hit him;
or "found him" ^F1; the place where was, and directed their arrows at him:

and he was sore wounded of the archers;
or rather "he was afraid" of them, as the Targum, for as yet he was not wounded; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, and is the sense Kimchi and Ben Melech give of the word: he was not afraid of death, as Abarbinel observes, he chose to die; but he was afraid he should be hit by the archers in such a way that he should not die immediately, and should be taken alive and ill used; the Philistines, especially the Cherethites, were famous for archery; (See Gill on Zephaniah 2:5).

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (whaumyw) "et inveserust cum", Pagninus, Montanus.

1 Samuel 31:3 In-Context

1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

2 And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.

3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.

4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me. ” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.

5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.

Cross References

• 1. 31:3 [2 Sam. 1:6]