1 Chronicles 10:7

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.

Verse 7. - In the valley . In place of these words, the parallel ( 1 Samuel 31:7 ) has, "On the other side of the valley, and.., on the other side Jordan." We have here a clear instance of the desire of the compiler of Chronicles to compress his narrative, while the fidelity of the parallel narrative is testi-fled in the naturalness of its statements, amounting to this, that, quick as the intelligence or report could reach all those Israelites who were at all within the range of the victorious Philistines, they hastened to vacate their abodes. 1 Chronicles 10:7

7 . that were in the valley ] The “valley of Jezreel” ( Hosea 1:5 ), called in later times the “plain of Esdrelon” (Esdraelon) is meant. Even those who lived east of Jordan took to flight; 1 Samuel 31:7 . forsook their cities ] Among these was no doubt Beth-shan (Beisan) “the key of Western Palestine” (see G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog. p. 358 f.), where Saul’s body was exposed ( 1 Samuel 31:12 ). and dwelt in them ] Only perhaps until Abner reconquered this district for Ish-bosheth the son of Saul; cp. 2 Samuel 2:9 , “[Abner] made him (Ish-bosheth) king over … Jezreel .”

(7) That were in the valley. —Rather, the plain, in which the main battle was fought—that of Jezreel. Samuel has “that were on the other side of the plain, and on the other side of the Jordan.” The curt phrase “who (dwelt) in the plain,” may be compared with 1Chronicles 9:2 . The people of the surrounding districts are meant; who, when they “saw that they” (viz., Saul’s army, “the men of Israel,” Samuel) “fled,” or had been routed, deserted “their (Samuel, ‘the,’ perhaps a transposition of letters) cities” which were then occupied by the Philistines. Dwelt in them.—The pronoun here is masculine, in Samuel, feminine, which is correct.

In 1 Sam his narrative forms the conclusion of Saul's last war with the Philistines. The battle was fought on the plain of Jezreel; and when the Israelites were compelled to retire, they fell back upon Mount Gilboa, but were hard pressed by the Philistines, so that many fell upon the mountain. The Philistines pressed furiously after Saul and his sons, and slew the latter (as to Saul's sons, see on 1 Chronicles 8:33 ); and when the archers came upon Saul he trembled before them (יחל from חוּל), and ordered his armour-bearer to thrust him through. Between המּורים and בּקּשׁת the superfluous אנשׁים is introduced in Samuel, and in the last clause מאד is omitted; and instead of מהמּורים we have the unusual form מן־היּורים (cf. 2 Chronicles 35:23 ). In Saul's request to his armour-bearer that he would thrust him through with the sword, וּדקרני ( 1 Samuel 31:4 ) is omitted in the phrase which gives the reason for his request; and Bertheau thinks it did not originally stand in the text, and has been repeated merely by an oversight, since the only motive for the command, "Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith," was that the Philistines might not insult Saul when alive, and consequently the words, "that they may not thrust me through," cannot express the reason.

But that is scarcely a conclusive reason for this belief; for although the Philistines might seek out Saul after he had been slain by his armour-bearer, and dishonour his dead body, yet the anxiety lest they should seek out his corpse to wreak their vengeance upon it could not press so heavily upon him as the fear that they would take vengeance upon him if he fell alive into their hands. It is therefore a more probable supposition that the author of the Chronicle has omitted the word וּדקרני only as not being necessary to the sense of the passage, just as עמּו is omitted at the end of 1 Chronicles 10:5 . In 1 Chronicles 10:6 we have וכל־בּיתו instead of the כּל־אנשׁיו גּם כליו ונשׂא of Samuel, and in 1 Chronicles 10:7 ישׂראל אנשׁי is omitted after the words נסוּ כּי (Samuel). From this Bertheau concludes that the author of the Chronicle has designedly avoided speaking of the men of Saul's army or of the Israelites who took part in the battle, because it was not his purpose to describe the whole course of the conflict, but only to narrate the death of Saul and of his sons, in order to point out how the supreme power came to David.