1 Chronicles 10:12

They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) All the valiant men.—Literally, every man of valour. Samuel adds, “and marched all the night.”

Took away.—Carried off. Samuel has “took,” (ceperunt).

The body.—A common Aramaic word, gûfāh, only read here in the Old Testament, for which Samuel has the pure Hebrew synonym a’wîyah. Samuel adds, “from the wall of Beth-shan.”

And brought them.—Samuel, “and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.” To burn a corpse was a further degradation of executed criminals (Joshua 7:25; Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 21:9), and as the Jews did not ordinarily practise cremation, it is supposed that the phrase “burnt them,” in 1 Samuel 31 means “made a burning for them” of costly spices, as was done at the funerals of kings (Jeremiah 34:5; 2Chronicles 16:14; 2Chronicles 21:19). But perhaps the bodies were burnt in this exceptional case because they had been mutilated by the enemy.

Buried their bones.—Samuel, “took and buried.” The phrase “their bones,” contrasted with their “corpses,” certainly seems to imply that the latter had been burnt.

The oak.—Heb., terebinth, or turpentine tree. Samuel, “tamarisk.” The difference points to another source used by Chronicles.

And fasted seven days.—In token of mourning. (Comp. the friends of Job, Job 2:11-13; and Ezekiel among the exiles at Tel-abib, Ezekiel 3:15.) For the behaviour of the men of Jabesh, comp. 1 Samuel 11

Benson Commentary

1 Chronicles 10:12. And fasted seven days — Every day till evening, after the manner of the Jewish fasts.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-14 The death of Saul. - The design chiefly in view in these books of the Chronicles, appears to be to preserve the records of the house of David. Therefore the writer repeats not the history of Saul's reign, but only of his death, by which a way was made for David to the throne. And from the ruin of Saul, we may learn, 1. That the sin of sinners will certainly find them out, sooner or later; Saul died for his transgression. 2. That no man's greatness can exempt him from the judgments of God. 3. Disobedience is a killing thing. Saul died for not keeping the word of the Lord. May be delivered from unbelief, impatience, and despair. By waiting on the Lord we shall obtain a kingdom that cannot be moved.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All his house died together - Not the whole of his family, nor even "all his sons" (see 2 Samuel 2:8-15; 2 Samuel 3:6-15; 2 Samuel 4:1-12). The phrase is perhaps an abbreviation of the expression in the parallel passage of Samuel 1 Samuel 31:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. put his armour in the house of their gods—It was common among the heathen to vow to a national or favorite deity, that, in the event of a victory, the armor of the enemy's king, or of some eminent leader, should be dedicated to him as an offering of gratitude. Such trophies were usually suspended on the pillars of the temple.

fastened his head in the temple of Dagon—while the trunk or headless corpse was affixed to the wall of Beth-shan (1Sa 31:10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, every day till evening, after the manner of the Jewish fasts.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Gill on 1 Samuel 31:1.

Geneva Study Bible

They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. took away] i.e. from the walls of Beth-shan (so Pesh.).

to Jabesh] Samuel adds “and burned them there.” The Chronicler omits this statement perhaps because the bones were not destroyed by this burning; cp. 2 Samuel 21:12-14 (the bones of Saul and Jonathan brought from Jabesh in David’s reign and re-interred in the family sepulchre). Burning was not a usual funeral rite among the Jews (cp. 2 Chronicles 16:14, note), and probably the perfunctory burning carried out by the men of Jabesh was merely a ruse to give the Philistines the impression that Saul’s remains were destroyed and that therefore it was useless to disturb his grave.

under the oak] R.V. mg., under the terebinth. Large trees, being rare in Palestine, frequently serve as landmarks; cp. Jdg 4:5; 1 Samuel 22:6 (“tamarisk tree” R.V.).

fasted seven days] Fasting involved abstinence from food during daylight. David fasted “till the evening” in mourning for Saul (2 Samuel 1:12) and for Abner (ib. 2 Samuel 3:35). The fast of Jabesh was a sevenfold fast.

13, 14 (peculiar to Chron.). The Moral of the Overthrow of the House of Saul

Such reflexions as these are characteristic of the Chronicler; cp. 2 Chronicles 12:2 (note); 1 Chronicles 22:7; 1 Chronicles 24:24; 1 Chronicles 25:27. They are not so frequent in Sam. and Kings.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Jabesh. This is the only place where "Jabesh" is used as an abbreviation for Jabesh-gilead, of which it was the chief city. Gilead comprised the lots of Reuben and Gad (Numbers 32:1-5, 25-32, 39-41) and of half Manasseh (1 Chronicles 27:21). Saul had on a celebrated occasion (1 Samuel 11:1-13) befriended the people of Jabesh-gilead, coming to their rescue against Nahath the Ammonite, of which kindness they are now mindful, show that rarest of virtues, gratitude to a fallen monarch, and are further on (2 Samuel 2:5) commended for it by David. This verse does not tell us, as the parallel (1 Samuel 31:12) does, of the first burning of the bodies, and then of the burying of the calcined bones. The silence is very remarkable. It does name the kind of tree, the "oak" or "terebinth." The word for the tree, however, in both passages is of doubtful and perhaps only generic signification. The several Hebrew words translated in various places as "oak," all share a common root, significant of the idea of strength. Dr. Thomson ('The Land and the Book,' pp. 243, 244) says that the country owns still to an abundance of oaks of very fine growth in some cases, and that these are exceedingly more plentiful and altogether a stronger tree than the "terebinth." The different names, though all connected with one root, referred to are probably owing to the large variety of oaks. With the statement of the burying of the bones under a tree, and the fasting of seven days on the part of these brave and grateful men of Jabesh-gilead, the parallel account comes to its end. 1 Chronicles 10:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

On the following day the Philistines, in their search among the fallen, found and plundered the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and sent the head and the armour of Saul round about the land of the Philistines, to proclaim the news of their victory to their people and their gods. That for this purpose they cut off Saul's head from the trunk, is, as being a matter of course, not specially mentioned. In regard to the other discrepancies between the two texts, both in 1 Chronicles 10:8-10 and in the account of the burial of Saul and of his sons by valiant men of Jabesh, 1 Chronicles 10:11, 1 Chronicles 10:12, cf. the commentary on 1 Samuel 31:8-13. In the reflection on Saul's death, 1 Chronicles 10:13 and 1 Chronicles 10:14, a double transgression against the Lord on Saul's part is mentioned: first, the מעל (on the meaning of this word, vide on Leviticus 5:15) of not observing the word of Jahve, which refers to the transgression of the divine command made known to him by the prophet Samuel, 1 Samuel 13:8. (cf. with 1 Chronicles 10:8), and 1 Samuel 15:2-3, 1 Samuel 15:11, cf. 1 Samuel 28:18; and second, his inquiring of the אוב, the summoner of the dead (vide on Leviticus 19:31), לדרושׁ, i.e., to receive an oracle (cf. in reference to both word and thing, 1 Samuel 28:7).