1 Samuel 31:13

13 They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh gave up eating 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 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Samuel 31:13 In-Context

11 When the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 the brave men of Jabesh marched all night and came to Beth Shan. They removed the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and brought them to Jabesh. There they burned the bodies.
13 They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh gave up eating for seven days.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.