1 Samuel 31:13

And they took their bones, and buried [them] under a tree at Jabesh,.... For though they burned the bodies, yet so as to preserve the bones; and these, together with the ashes of the parts burnt,

And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and And buried them under a tree at Jabesh. [ tachat (H8478) haa'eshel (H815), under the tamarisk: cf.

To testify their sorrow for the public loss of Saul, and of the people of God; and to entreat God’ s favour to prevent the utter extinction of his people. But you must not understand this word of fasting strictly, as if they eat nothing for seven whole days; but in a more large and general sense, as it is used both in sacred and profane writers; that they did eat but little, and that seldom, and that but mean food, and drunk only water for that time.

1 Samuel 31:13 And they took their bones, and buried [them] under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.Ver. 13. And they took their bones.] Half calcinated. And buried them under a tree.] Sub ulmo, some render it, under an elm: others, under a terebinth, as under a monument. And fasted seven days.] To show their great grief, as Job 2:13, all which while they fasted, non a toto, sed a tanto et tali, as Daniel 10:3, and prayed doubtless for the public wellfare. Soli Deo Gloria

(13) A tree in Jabesh.—A tree, that is “the well-known” tamarisk (êshel). For Saul’s love for trees see as an instance 1 Samuel 22:6. The men of Jabesh-Gilead well remembered this peculiar fancy of their dead king, and under the waving branches of their own beautiful and famous tamarisk they tenderly laid the remains of their dead hero and his princely sons. Evidently King David, at a subsequent period, fetched away these royal remains, and had them reverently interred in the family sepulchre of Kish, the father of Saul, in Zelah of Benjamin (2 Samuel 21:12; 2 Samuel 21:14). And fasted seven days.—This was the period the sons of Israel mourned for Jacob at the threshing floor of Atad beyond Jordan (Genesis 1:10). The grateful men of Jabesh-Gilead thus paid the last honours to the fallen Saul. It is probable that the Talmudic rule which enjoins strict mourning for seven days (fasting was mourning of the strictest kind) was originally based on these two historic periods of mourning recorded in the case of the great ancestor of the tribes, Jacob, and of the first King Saul, although the curious tradition preserved in the Babylonian Talmud gives a special reason for the period—seven days. Rav. Chisda said: The soul of the deceased mourns over him the first seven days; for it is said, Job 14:22, “and his soul shall mourn over him.” Rav. Jehudah said: If there are no mourners to condole with, ten men sit down where the death took place. Such a case happened in the neighbourhood of Rav. Jehudah. After the seven days of mourning, the deceased appeared to Rav. Jehudah in a dream, and said “Mayest thou be comforted as thou hast comforted me.”—Treatise Shabbath, fol. 152, Colossians 2. To this day among the Jews ten men are hired to perform the usual daily prayers during the seven days of mourning at the house of the deceased. On the reason for the number seven being fixed for the period of mourning, we read again in the Seder Moed of the Babylonian Talmud, “How is it proved that mourning should be kept up seven days? “It is written, Amos 8:10 : “I will turn your feasts into mourning,” and these (usually) lasted seven days.—Treatise Moed Katon, fol. 20, Colossians 1. “Again a long draught of my soul-wine! Look forth o’er the years! Thou hast done now with eyes for the actual; begin with the seer’s! Is Saul dead? In the depth of the vale make his tomb, bid arise A grey mountain of marble heaped four-square, till built to the skies. Let it mark where the great First King slumbers; whose fame would ye know? Up above see the rock’s naked face, where the record shall go, In great characters cut by the scribe. Such was Saul, so ne did; With the sages directing the work, by the populace chid— For not half, they’ll affirm, is comprised there!

Verse 13. And fasted seven days.] To testify their sincere regret for his unfortunate death, and the public calamity that had fallen upon the land. THUS ends the troublesome, and I had almost said the useless, reign of Saul. A king was chosen in opposition to the will of the Most High; and the government of God in effect rejected, to make way for this king. Saul was at first a very humble young man, and conducted himself with great propriety; but his elevation made him proud, and he soon became tyrannical in his private conduct and in his political measures. His natural temper was not good; he was peevish, fretful, and often outrageous; and these bad dispositions, unchecked by proper application to the grace of God, became every day more headstrong and dangerous. Through their violence he seems at times to have been wholly carried away and deranged; and this derangement appears to have been occasionally greatly exacerbated by diabolical influences. This led him to take his friends for his foes; so that in his paroxysms he strove to imbrue his hands in their blood, and more than once attempted to assassinate his own son; and most causelessly and inhumanly ordered the innocent priests of the Lord at Nob to be murdered. This was the worst act in his whole life. Saul was but ill qualified for a proper discharge of the regal functions. The reader will remember that he was chosen rather as a general of the armies than as civil governor. The administration of the affairs of the state was left chiefly to Samuel, and Saul led forth the armies to battle. As a general he gave proof of considerable capacity; he was courageous, prompt, decisive, and persevering; and, except in the last unfortunate battle in which he lost his life, generally led his troops to victory. Saul was a weak man, and very capricious; this is amply proved by his unreasonable jealousy against David, and his continual suspicion that all were leagued against him. It is also evident, in his foolish adjuration relative to the matter of the honey (see 1 Samuel 14:24-30; 1 Samuel 14:38-44) in which, to save his rash and nonsensical oath, he would have sacrificed Jonathan his son! The question, "Was Saul a good king?" has already in effect been answered. He was on the whole a good man, as far as we know, in private life; but he was a bad king; for he endeavoured to reign independently of the Jewish constitution; he in effect assumed the sacerdotal office and functions, and thus even changed what was essential to that constitution. He not only offered sacrifices which belonged to the priests alone; but in the most positive manner went opposite to the orders of that God whose vicegerent he was. Of his conduct in visiting the woman at En-dor I have already given my opinion, and to this I must refer.

13. under a tree] Under the tamarisk, some well-known tree at Jabesh. Chron. reads “under the terebinth,” (êlah). David removed the bones to the family sepulchre at Zelah (2 Samuel 21:12-14). fasted seven days] A sign of general mourning. Cp. 2 Samuel 1:12; 2 Samuel 3:35, &c.

Under a tree - Rather, “Under the tamarisk,” a well-known tree at Jabesh which was standing when this narrative was written. They fasted seven days - In imitation of the mourning for Jacob (marginal reference).

13. Took their bones — From which it appears that they were not burned to ashes. Buried them… at Jabesh — Where they remained until David had them removed and placed in the sepulchre of Kish at Zelah. 2 Samuel 21:14.