The mighty have fallen
1 Samuel 31 - 2 Samuel 1
Proverbs 22:8: Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.
Main Idea: Unrepentance always leads to death, while repentance always leads to life.
I. The Fall of Saul (1 Samuel 31)
1 Samuel 31: Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.
Here then is Jonathan’s obituary. He remained a true friend to David and a faithful son of Saul. He surrendered his kingship to David (18:1–4); he sacrificed his life for Saul. In this hopeless fiasco, Jonathan was nowhere else but in the place Yahweh had assigned to him—at the side of his father…maybe this is not tragic at all. What is tragic about remaining faithfully in the calling God has assigned us? Was it tragic when Jonathan laid aside a kingdom he could not have to enter a kingdom he could not lose?
~ Dale Ralph Davis
Saul falls in battle on Mount Gilboa (v 1): Mountains are associated in the scriptures with worship. Normally, temples were built on high places, and they are always symbolically called high places. David will pick up on this in his lament, “Your glory is slain on the high places.” The mighty have fallen on high places.
Saul falls on his sword (v 4): In 1 Samuel 17, David refused Saul’s weapons and instead relied on God. In his speech to Goliath, he explicitly rejected the need of weapons. Now Saul dies by those very same weapons. Saul’s armour is placed in the temple of the Philistines (31:8–10). Perhaps it has returned home, for Saul’s attitude to military power has always been Philistine. “If you live by the sword you will die by the sword (Matthew 26:52).” But perhaps it is a reminder of when the ark was brought into Dagon’s temple in chapter 5, and therefore a reminder that God can bring victory out of defeat.
Saul falls from the throne: The Philistines did not remove him from his throne; David did not remove him from his throne (he refused to do so); Saul did it himself. He fashioned his own downfall through his faithlessness and disobedience. This was then confirmed by his suicide.
II. The Rise of David (2 Samuel 1)
2 Samuel 1:1-2: After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
When he comes to David, David repeats Eli’s question after a previous battle with the Philistines: “What happened?” (1 Samuel 4:16; 2 Samuel 1:4). The first question marked the end of a priestly house; the second, the end of a royal house.
A . Glory/beauty/gazelle slain; mighty fallen, v. 19
B. Daughters of Philistia do not rejoice; no offerings to Dagon, v. 20
C. Fallen shield, v. 21
C. Bow and sword in life, v 22-23
B. Daughters of Israel, weep: contrast to the Philistine women, v. 24
A. Mighty fallen; Jonathan slain on heights v. 25
1 Samuel 2: God reverses
2 Samuel 1: The mighty are fallen (the house of Saul)
2 Samuel 22: The lowly are raised (the house of David)
Mark 15:10: Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
