1 Samuel 31:11

11 When the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

1 Samuel 31:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:11

And the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead
Who lived on the other side Jordan, about eight miles from Bethshan, according to Fuller ^F16:

heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;
not only that they had got the victory over him, and routed his army, but had abused his body, and hung it up by way of reproach and ignominy; which they could not bear to hear of, remembering with gratitude the kindness he had shown to them, in delivering them out of the hands of Nahash the Ammonite, ( 1 Samuel 11:1-13 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, b. 2. ch. 2. p. 82.

1 Samuel 31:11 In-Context

9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent men throughout Philistine territory to tell the people this good news in their idols' temples.

10 They put his armor in the temple of their goddesses--the Asherahs--and fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth Shan.

11 When the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

12 all the fighting men marched all night and took the dead bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They came back to Jabesh and burned the bodies there.

13 They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted seven days.