Read 1 Samuel 31 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
31:1-7 {p} The death of Saul and his sons, so that the Philistines utterly defeat Israel
31:8-13 {p} The Philistines desecrate the bodies of Saul and his sons, but the men of Jabesh Gilead recover them
1 Samuel 31:1-13 Chiastic Structure:
It is a difficult central axis, the death of Saul and his sons. I choose to look at it, as the word of YHVH that came to pass, for when Saul inquired of Samuel’s spirit, Samuel, even after death, proclaimed to him the word of YHVH, that he and his sons would be killed, and Israel defeated before the Philistines. But now, look at the Chiastic Structure for the book of 1 Samuel:
The chapters concerning the birth and childhood of Samuel are a loose end at the beginning, but look at the central axis of the book: Saul had made himself David’s enemy, and by extension, YHVH’s enemy. David did not make Saul his enemy despite the years he spent as an outlaw being hunted. But we cannot miss that through it all, YHVH preserved David. Saul did not succeed in killing him, but the death he sought for YHVH’s anointed came upon his own head instead.
Truly, we reap what we sow.
Saul sowed vengeance, and vengeance was taken upon him. David sowed humility for himself, and respect for others, and YHVH respected him back and preserved his life, and even his family, his possessions, and his men, when the Amalekites (the Prophetic Type for the enemy) tried to take those things from him. So, fear not!
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