1 Chronicles
Chapter 10
THE KINGDOM OF DAVID THE BEGINNINGS OF THE KINGDOM
Death of Saul
The Philistines attacked Israel, and the Israelites fled or were killed on Mount Gilboa.
The Philistines caught up with Saul and killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
The fighting grew heavy around Saul. Enemy arrows and badly wounded hit him.
Then Saul told the young man carrying his weapon: “Draw your sword and kill me. I do not want these godless Philistines to come and gloat over me.” But the young man was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his sword and threw it on the ground.
Then the young man threw himself on his sword, too, and died.
And so Saul died, he and his three sons and all his own, together.
All the Israelites who were in the valley heard that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead. So they abandoned their towns and ran away. The Philistines then came in and occupied them.
When the Philistines came on the following day to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa.
They stripped him and, taking his head and his armor, had them carried around the land of the Philistines to proclaim the good news to their idols and their people.
They placed his armor in the temple of their god, but his head hung in the temple of Dagon.
When all the people of Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul;
the valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons away and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak tree in Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.
Saul died because he had been unfaithful to the Lord. He had disobeyed the commands of the Lord, and he had even consulted the spirits of the dead.
As he had not consulted the Lord, the Lord put him to death and gave control of the kingdom to David, son of Jesse.
Commentaries
The Beginnings of the Kingdom.
After Saul’s death at the hands of the Philistines, the Chronicler describes David’s rise to power. Chapters 11 and beyond form a section focused on portraying David as king of “all Israel.” All the material comes from the Second Book of Samuel. However, the Chronicler has reworked it for readers familiar with David’s story, guiding them toward a new understanding of the same narrative.
Death of Saul.
The Chronicler follows 1 Samuel 31:1-13, which recounts the battle of Gilboa, where Saul dies. With Saul’s death resulting from his unfaithfulness to the Lord, which presupposes knowledge of 1 Samuel 28, the author seeks to highlight and elevate the glory of David’s reign. Nothing is mentioned about Saul’s human side or Samuel’s role.
The Kingdom of David.
This section lies at the core of the Chronicler’s work. It is divided into four main parts: the start of the reign (10-12); the transfer of the Ark to Jerusalem (13-17); David’s wars (18-20); and the internal organization of the kingdom (21-29). The Chronicler often diverges from the texts of the books of Samuel. Sometimes, he expands upon them; at other times, he alters them, and occasionally, he omits significant episodes such as the sin of David and Bathsheba (2 Sm 11), David’s rise to the throne (1 Sam 13-30), or Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sm 13-20). For the Chronicler, David is seen as the ideal king, whose kingdom serves as a model for the post-exilic community—a worship leader similar to a second Moses.