Shmuel Alef 31:12

12 kol ish chayil arose, and went kol halailah, and took the geviyyat Sha’ul and the geviyyot of his banim from the chomat Beit Shan, and came to Yavesh, and cremated them there.

Shmuel Alef 31:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:12

All the valiant men arose
Of the city of Jabeshgilead, fired with indignation at the Philistines' ill usage of Saul and the bodies of his sons:

and went all night;
not only for secrecy, but for haste:

and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of
Bethshan, and came to Jabesh;
brought them with them thither, the Philistines either having no knowledge of it, or not daring to oppose them:

and burnt them there:
that is, the flesh of them, for the bones they buried, as in ( 1 Samuel 31:13 ) ; and this they did, contrary to the common usage of the country, which was not to burn; but this they did, that if the Philistines should come to recover them, they would not be able to do it: though the Targum is,

``they burnt over them, as they burn over their kings there;''

they made a burning for them of spices over them; or of their beds, and other household goods, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, though they prefer the other sense; see ( 2 Chronicles 16:14 ) ( 21:19 ) perhaps the true reason might be, because they were putrid and infectious.

Shmuel Alef 31:12 In-Context

10 And they put his keli in the Bais Ashtarot; and they hung up his body on the chomat Beit Shan.

11 And when the inhabitants of Yavesh Gilead heard of that which the Pelishtim had done to Sha’ul;

12 kol ish chayil arose, and went kol halailah, and took the geviyyat Sha’ul and the geviyyot of his banim from the chomat Beit Shan, and came to Yavesh, and cremated them there.

13 And they took their atzmot, and buried them under a tree at Yavesh, and underwent a tzom shivat yamim.