Wednesday after the Sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Scripture: 1 Samuel 31:1-13 (NKJV)

31:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3 The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.

4 Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.”

But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. 5 And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.

7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. 10 Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

11 Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Devotion

King Saul’s reign came to a humiliating end. He was wounded in battle. Yet, as bad a king as Saul had become, his armorbearer would not take the life of the Lord’s anointed. Like David, who had twice spared the life of Saul because Saul was the Lord’s anointed, the armorbearer refused the order to take King Saul’s life. Thus Saul commits suicide out of fear for what the Philistines might do to him.

Contrast Saul, who had abandoned the faith, with Stephen who was martyred. Saul was only interested in himself, right to the end. Stephen was only interested in confessing the truth of Christ, even to the point of death by stoning. But there is a commonality between the death of Saul and that of Stephen. We see in both how the godless deal with others. The abject hatred shown by the godless makes known their true father. As Jesus spoke of the godless Pharisees: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44).

We as followers of Jesus do well to heed His words: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Our lives depend on Him both now, and in eternity. We need not look for martyrdom, nor ought we fear it. Our Lord knows best how to save us, for that is who He is-–our Savior.

We pray: O God, defend us, Thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies and preserve us in faith; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.