1 Samuel 31:10

31:8-13 The Scripture makes no mention what became of the souls of Saul and his sons, after they were dead; but of their bodies only: secret things belong not to us. It is of little consequence by what means we die, or what is done with our dead bodies. If our souls are saved, our bodies will be raised incorruptible and glorious; but not to fear His wrath, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, is the extreme of folly and wickedness. How useless is the respect of fellow-creatures to those who are suffering the wrath of God! While pompous funerals, grand monuments, and he praises of men, honour the memory of the deceased, the soul may be suffering in the regions of darkness and despair! Let us seek that honour which cometh from God only.

And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth,.... A temple dedicated to their deities, called by this name; of which See Gill on Judges 2:13 ; Nothing was more common with the Gentiles than to place in their temples the arms they took from their enemies, as is strongly expressed by Homer (i) and Virgil (k); and indeed the Jews did the same, as appears by the sword of Goliath being laid up in the tabernacle, 1 Samuel 21:9 . Here also the Heathens (l) hung up their own arms when the war was ended: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan; which Josephus (m) says is the same which in his time was called Scythopolis, from the Scythians that possessed it, before called Nysa, according to Pliny (n): it was given to the tribe of Manasseh, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of it, so that it was always in the possession of others, Joshua 17:11; where it is called Bethshean; to the wall of the city they fastened the body of Saul with nails, as it is commonly understood; but it is more likely they hung it on a gibbet without, and near the walls of the city; so the Targum, they hung his body; or, as Josephus (o), they crucified it there; and so they did also the bodies of his sons, as appears from 1 Samuel 31:12. (i) , Iliad. 7. ver. 83. (k) "Multaque praeterea sacris in postibus arma", &c. Aeneid. 7. ver. 183. So Persius, Satyr. 6. ver. 45. (l) Messal. Corvin. de August. Progen. (m) Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14.) l. 8. (n) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18. Vid. Solin.

10 . the house of Ashtaroth ] See on 1 Samuel 7:3 . “This was doubtless the famous temple of Venus in Askelon mentioned by Herodotus (I. 105) as the most ancient of all her temples. Hence the special mention of Askelon in 2 Samuel 1:20 .” Speaker’s Comm . they fastened his body to the wall ] Together with the bodies of his sons ( 1 Samuel 31:12 ). They were hung on the wall in the “open place” ( 2 Samuel 21:12 , E. V. street ) by the gate, that all the passers by might join in exulting over the defeat and disgrace of Israel. Beth-shan ] Now Beisân , situated in the Wady Jâlûd four miles west of the Jordan, “on the brow just where the plain of Jezreel drops down by a rather steep descent some three hundred feet to the level of the Ghôr,” or Jordan valley. After the Return from the Captivity it was known as Scythopolis ( 2Ma 12:29 ; cp. the Sept. of Jdg 1:27 ). In 1 Chronicles 10:10 this statement about Saul’s body is omitted, and in its place we read that “they fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.” 1 Samuel 31:10

In the house of Ashtaroth - This was doubtless the famous temple of Venus in Askelon mentioned by Herodotus as the most ancient of all her temples. Hence, the special mention of Askelon 2 Samuel 1:20 . The placing Saul's armour as a trophy in the temple of Ashtaroth was a counterpart to the placing Goliath's sword in the tabernacle 1 Samuel 21:9 . In 1 Chronicles 10:10 it is added that they "fastened Saul's head in the temple of Dagon," probably either in Gaza Judges 16:21 , or in Ashdod 1 Samuel 5:1-3 . This was, perhaps, in retaliation for the similar treatment of Goliath's head 1 Samuel 17:54 . The variations seem to imply that both this narrative and that in 1 Chronicles 10:1-14 are compiled from a common and a fuller document.

(10) The house of Ashtaroth. —Literally, of “the Ashtaroth.” The expression may signify that the pieces of armour belonging to the four men were divided between the different shrines of Astarte in the land, or placed together in the famous Astarte Temple, at Askelon, which Herodotus (i. 105) describes as the most ancient of the temples dedicated to the worship of the Syrian Venus. The latter supposition seems the more probable, as Askelon is specially mentioned by David in the funeral hymn of Saul and Jonathan ( 2Samuel 1:20 ). The wall of Beth-shan.—Beth-shan was in the tribe of Manasseh, some four miles west of the Jordan, and twelve miles south of the sea of Galilee. We are told in Judges 1:27, that the Canaanites, the original inhabitants of the city, were permitted by the conqueror to dwell still in the city. This Canaanitish element in the population was perhaps the reason why Beth-shan was chosen for the barbarous exhibition. The Canaanites would probably have welcomed the miserable spectacle which seemed to degrade their ancient enemies. The writer of the chronicle adds one more ghastly detail to this account: “They fastened the head (skull) of Saul in the Temple of Dagon.”

On the day following the battle, when the Philistines tripped the slain, they found Saul and his three sons lying upon Gilboa; and having cut off their heads and plundered their weapons, they went them (the heads and weapons) as trophies into the land of the Philistines, i.e., round about to the different towns and hamlets of their land, to announce the joyful news in their idol-temples (the writer of the Chronicles mentions the idols themselves) and to the people, and then deposited their weapons (the weapons of Saul and his sons) in the Astarte-houses. But the corpses they fastened to the town-wall of Beth-shean, i.e., Beisan, in the valley of the Jordan (see at Joshua 17:11 ). Beth-azabbim and Beth-ashtaroth are composite words; the first part is indeclinable, and the plural form is expressed by the second word: idol-houses and Astarte-houses, like beth-aboth (father's-houses: see at Exodus 6:14 ). On the Astartes, see at Judges 2:13 . It is not expressly stated indeed in 1 Samuel 31:9 , 1 Samuel 31:10 , that the Philistines plundered the bodies of Saul's sons as well, and mutilated them by cutting off their heads; but ראשׁו and כּליו, his (i.e., Saul's) head and his weapons, alone are mentioned.

At the same time, it is every evident from 1 Samuel 31:12 , where the Jabeshites are said to have taken down from the wall of Beth-shean not Saul's body only, but the bodies of his sons also, that the Philistines had treated the corpses of Saul's sons in just the same manner as that of Saul himself. The writer speaks distinctly of the abuse of Saul's body only, because it was his death that he had chiefly in mind at the time. To the word וישׁלּחוּ we must supply in thought the object ראשׁו and כּליו from the preceding clause. גּויּת and גּויּת ( 1 Samuel 31:10 and 1 Samuel 31:12 ) are the corpses without the heads. The fact that the Philistines nailed them to the town-wall of Beth-shean presupposes the capture of that city, from which it is evident that they had occupied the land as far as the Jordan. The definite word Beth-ashtaroth is changed by the writer of the Chronicles into Beth-elohim, temples of the gods; or rather he has interpreted it in this manner without altering the sense, as the Astartes are merely mentioned as the principal deities for the idols generally. The writer of the Chronicles has also omitted to mention the nailing of the corpses to the wall of Beth-shean, but he states instead that "they fastened his skull in the temple of Dagon," a fact which is passed over in the account before us.