1 Chronicles 10:1

[See comments on 1 Samuel 31:1]

Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. Now the Philistines fought against Israel.

1 CHAPTER 10 Saul’ s overthrow and death, . The Philistines triumph over Saul, . The kindness of Jabesh-gilead towards Saul and his sons: his sin, . Of this and the following verses till , see my notes on 1Sa 31, where we have the same thing expressed almost in thee same words.

1 Chronicles 10:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.Ver. 1. Now the Philistines.] See on 1 Samuel 31:1-2, &c.

1 Chronicles 10-29—The history of King David, who made Jerusalem the political and religious centre of Israel, organised the Levitical ministry in its permanent shape, and amassed great stores of wealth and material for the Temple, which his son and successor was to build.X. A BRIEF OF THE AND DEATH OF SAUL, BY WAY OF PRELUDE TO THE REIGN OF DAVID. 1 Chronicles 10:1-12 are parallel to 1 Samuel 31:1-13. The general coincidence of the two texts is so exact as to preclude the supposition of independence. We know that the chronicler has drawn much in his earlier chapters from the Pentateuch; and as he must have been acquainted with the Books of Samuel, it is à priori likely that he made a similar use of them. At the same time, a number of small variations—on an average, three at least in each verse—some of which can neither be referred to the freaks or mistakes of copyists nor to the supposed caprice of the compiler, may be taken to indicate the use of an additional source, or perhaps of a text of Samuel differing in some respects from that which we possess. (See Introduction.) (1) Now the Philistines fought against Israel.—For a similarly abrupt beginning, comp. Isaiah 2:1. The battle was fought in the plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon, the scene of so many of the struggles of ancient history. (Comp. Hosea 2:10 : “I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”) The men of Israel.—Heb., man—a collective expression, which gives a more vivid image of the rout. They fled as one man, or in a body. Samuel has the plural. Fell down slain in mount Gilboa.—The Jebel Faku’a rises out of the plain of Jezreel to a height of one thousand seven hundred feet. The defeated army of Saul fell back upon this mountain, which had been their first position (1 Samuel 28:4), but were pursued thither. “Slain” is right, as in 1 Chronicles 10:8.

CHAPTER X A fatal battle between the Israelites and Philistines in Gilboa, in which Saul is mortally wounded, and has three sons slain, 1-6. The Israelites being totally routed, the Philistines, coming to strip the dead, find Saul and has three sons among the slain; they cut off Saul's head, and send it and his armour about the country to the idol temples; and then fix them up in the house of Dagon, 7-10. The men of Jabesh-gilead come by night, and take away the bodies of Saul and has three sons, and bury them in Jabesh, 11, 12. The reason of Saul's tragical death; the kingdom is transferred to David, 13, 14. NOTES ON CHAP. X Verse 1. Now the Philistines fought against Israel] The reader will find the same history in almost the same words, in 1 Samuel 31:1-13, to the notes on which he is referred for every thing important in this.

There are several variations between the text given here and the text of 1 Sam., which are noticed as they occur in the following notes. 1. in mount Gilboa] In the campaign of Gilboa the Philistines shewed new and skilful strategy. Instead of at once marching eastward up the ravines which lead into Judah and Benjamin—in which there was no room for their chariots (2 Samuel 1:6) to manœuvre—they first marched northward along the sea-coast and then turned eastward just before reaching Mount Carmel. This movement brought them into the great fertile plain watered by the Kishon, ground over which chariots could act with decisive effect. At the N.E. end of the plain rose the heights of Gilboa. When Saul and his Benjamites advanced to meet the Philistines, the latter succeeded in interposing themselves between the Israelite army and its base in Benjamin—an easy achievement for an enemy who by his chariots possessed a high degree of mobility. Saul was therefore driven to take up his position on the north side of the plain on Mount Gilboa, where he was attacked by the Philistines, probably from the S.W., on which side the slopes of the mountain are comparatively gentle. The Israelites cut off from their homes, outmarched, outgeneralled, and probably outnumbered, were speedily routed. The battle of Gilboa was won like Hastings by cavalry (chariots) and archers (1 Chronicles 10:3) against infantry, which was obliged to stand on the defensive, under pain of being cut to pieces if it ventured to attack.

The present chapter contains two facts not found in 1 Samuel 31:1-13 - the fastening of Saul’s head in the temple of Dagon 1 Chronicles 10:10, and the burial of his bones, and those of his sons, under an oak 1 Chronicles 10:12.