1 Samuel 31:9

9 They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the houses of their idols and to the people.

1 Samuel 31:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:9

And they cut off his head
And fastened it in the temple of Dagon, ( 1 Chronicles 10:10 ) ; perhaps that which was at Ashdod, one of the principalities of the Philistines, ( 1 Samuel 5:1 1 Samuel 5:2 ) ;

and stripped off his armour;
or vessels ^F8, his clothes as well as his armour, and what he had about him; as for his crown on his head, and the bracelet on his arm, the Amalekite took them before the Philistines came, ( 2 Samuel 1:10 ) ;

and sent into the land of the Philistines round about:
not his head and his armour, for they were placed in the temple of their idols; unless we can suppose these were first carried about for show, and as proofs of the victory: but rather messengers, who were sent express with the news,

to publish [it in] the house of their idols, and among the people;
that so they might be glad and rejoice, and give praise to their idols, to whom they ascribed the success they had.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F8 (wylk ta) "vasa ejus", Munster, Montanus.

1 Samuel 31:9 In-Context

7 When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their towns and fled; and the Philistines came and occupied them.

8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

9 They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the houses of their idols and to the people.

10 They put his armor in the temple of Astarte; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,