1 Samuel 31:10

10 And they putted his armours in the temple of Ashtaroth; but they hanged his body in the wall of Bethshan. (And they put his armour in the temple of Ashtoreth/And they put his arms, or his weapons, in the temple of Astarte, but they hung up his body on the wall of Bethshan.)

1 Samuel 31:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 31:10

And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth
A temple dedicated to their deities, called by this name; of which (See Gill on Judges 2:13); Nothing was more common with the Gentiles than to place in their temples the arms they took from their enemies, as is strongly expressed by Homer ^F9 and Virgil ^F11; and indeed the Jews did the same, as appears by the sword of Goliath being laid up in the tabernacle, ( 1 Samuel 21:9 ) . Here also the Heathens ^F12 hung up their own arms when the war was ended:

and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan;
which Josephus ^F13 says is the same which in his time was called Scythopolis, from the Scythians that possessed it, before called Nysa, according to Pliny {n}: it was given to the tribe of Manasseh, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of it, so that it was always in the possession of others, ( Joshua 17:11 ) ( Judges 1:27 ) ; where it is called Bethshean; to the wall of the city they fastened the body of Saul with nails, as it is commonly understood; but it is more likely they hung it on a gibbet without, and near the walls of the city; so the Targum, they hung his body; or, as Josephus ^F15, they crucified it there; and so they did also the bodies of his sons, as appears from ( 1 Samuel 31:12 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (teucea sulhsav) , Iliad. 7. ver. 83.
F11 "Multaque praeterea sacris in postibus arma" Aeneid. 7. ver. 183. So Persius, Satyr. 6. ver. 45.
F12 Messal. Corvin. de August. Progen.
F13 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14.) l. 8.
F14 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18. Vid. Solin. Polyhistor. c. 49.
F15 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14. l. 8.)

1 Samuel 31:10 In-Context

8 Forsooth in the tother day made, Philistines came, that they should despoil the slain men, and they found Saul, and his three sons, lying in the hill of Gilboa; (And the next day, the Philistines came to rob the dead men, and they found Saul, and his three sons, lying there dead on Mount Gilboa;)

9 and they cutted away the head of Saul, and despoiled him of his armours; and sent into the land of Philistines by compass, that it should be told in the temple of idols, and in the peoples. (and they cut off Saul's head, and stripped him of his armour/and robbed him of his arms, or of his weapons; and then they sent messengers into all the land of the Philistines, so that it could be told to their idols, and to their people alike.)

10 And they putted his armours in the temple of Ashtaroth; but they hanged his body in the wall of Bethshan. (And they put his armour in the temple of Ashtoreth/And they put his arms, or his weapons, in the temple of Astarte, but they hung up his body on the wall of Bethshan.)

11 And when the dwellers of Jabesh of Gilead had heard this, and whatever things the Philistines had done to Saul, (And when the inhabitants of Jabesh of Gilead had heard this, and all the things that the Philistines had done to Saul,)

12 and all the strongest men rose (up), and went forth all that night, and they took (down) the dead body of Saul, and the dead bodies of his sons, from the wall of Bethshan; and the men of Jabesh of Gilead came, and burnt those dead bodies with fire.