The End of Saul and Jonathan - The Books of 1 Samuel & 1 Chronicles

In this Bible Story, Saul and Jonathan pass and their deaths signify the ending to David’s exile. Now a new era of Israel can emerge to the glory of God. This story is inspired by 1 Samuel 31 & 1 Chronicles 10. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is 1 Samuel 31:4 from the King James Version.

Episode 95: The battle at Mount Gilboa was brutal and intense, and though filled with vigor, Jonathan was defeated, as were his brothers and his father, Saul. As he lay there dying he begged his armor bearer to take his life, but like David, he would not. So Saul released him and fell on his own sword to escape the shame of the Philistines. When the men of Israel saw this, they fled, and the Philistines overtook the cities of Israel.

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Music by: Andrew Morgan Smith

Bible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. Then said Saul, unto his armor bearer,
draw thy sword and thrust me through therewith lest these
uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But
his armor bearer would not, for he was sore afraid.
Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it First

(00:23):
Samuel thirty one for my God, as I listened to
day's reading, a First Samuel thirty one and First Chronicles
tend help me to recognize which battle to fight and
who to stand shoulder to shoulder with. I will not
use to stand by some one who does not carry
your spirit, as Jonathan did, as hard as it may seem,

(00:47):
give me the strength to detach from wrong relationships, no
matter how close they may be. As I rely on
your spirit, Lord, I will attach myself to individuals who
have your hand on their lives and on their endeavors.
Like myself. I will not die in the battle field
of life without having fulfilled all that I have been

(01:08):
created to fulfill. I will rest in the fact that
even in wrong relationships, you always provide a way out.
I declare that your partnerships are better than any I
can find on my own. Therefore, I will lean on
you and your understanding so that I can gain the

(01:28):
victory in any valley I walk through. I decree that
I am aligned and assigned to the right people in
Jesus name. Amen, thank you for making prayer a priority
in your day. To learn more about the Bible, stay

(01:48):
tuned for to day's story, brought to you by Bible
in a Year dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
The end of Saul and Jonathan. In our last story,
we learned about David's fractured identity among the Philistines. He
played the part of loyal's servant to Akish the Philistine king,
but was still loyal to Israel at heart. When the
Amlekites rayed David's town and steal all their families, David's

(02:23):
heroic spirit is rekindled and he mounts a rescue mission.
In this story, we learn about the death of Saul
and Jonathan, inspired by the Book of First Samuel and
First Chronicles.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
Bible in a Year podcast. In yesterday's story, we learned
that Saul consulted a medium, a woman devoted to the occult,
in order to speak to Samuel. It was not the
woman's power that summoned the prophet from the realm of
the dead. Rather, it was God who willed this to
happen and used it to deliver a devastating message to Saul.

(03:02):
His time was up, death would soon come to him
and his son's In today's scripture, we will hear of
the death of Saul and of David's dearest friend, Jonathan,
the son of the King. So let's listen to today's reading.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
The battle raged on violently, and steel clashed against steel,
and the men of Israel were choked under the weight
of the Philistine horde. Jonathan fought alongside his brothers. Jonathan's
sword flew through the battle. His strength was inspiring but waning.
His brothers had fallen, but Jonathan pressed on. Two Philistines

(03:39):
came towards him. He ran towards one, dodged his advance,
and drove his sword into his back. He delivered a
blow to the shield of the other Philistine, but he
parried with a swing to Jonathan's left calf. Jonathan wailed
in pain and knelt to the floor. Then, with one swoop,
the Philistine stood and struck Jonathan's chest. One than knelt

(04:00):
there holding his chest, and the Philistine delivered a second blow,
driving the sword into him. Jonathan lay in the dirt
of the battlefield, choking on his own blood until eventually
breathing his last to be with his God. The battle
pressed on and Saul was fighting behind the battle with
his back to the valley for easy escape. Saul struck

(04:22):
down a Philistine and knelt down behind a crack in
the canyon to catch his breath, but the archers could
see him from a distance. A Philistine archer drew his
bow and released an arrow through the sky, a direct
hit into Saul's abdomen. Saul writhed in pain on the floor.
His armor bearer, who was fighting beside him, knelt over
him trying to stop the bleeding. Saul's eyes were glazing

(04:46):
over in pain, and his breathing became miserable. Saul grabbed
his armor bearer by the tunic and said, draw your
sword and kill me now, lest I die by these
worthless philistines. They will capture me, shame me. But his
armor bearer could not kill his king. He would not.
Saul let him go, and the armor bearer ran away.

(05:09):
Saul turned on to his side and looked at the battle.
The men of Israel fought valiantly. Everything began to blur
for Saul as he propped himself up with a boulder
and drew his sword. Saul's heavy breathing began to slow,
and he thought of all he had done in his
life until that point. He remembered his journey to find
his father's donkeys, his meal with Samuel, and his first

(05:32):
victory in battle. Oh, how the people loved him back then,
back when he had the spirit of God guiding his
every step. Tears fell from Saul's eyes as he clenched
his sword in his right hand. Saul raised his sword
towards him, and with a final push, fell on to
his blade. The dead king lay there, motionless on the

(05:52):
floor of the battlefield. Dirt and blood covered him as
the Philistines began to overtake the entire army. When the
men of Israel saw that Saul and his sons had
perished along with all the other soldiers, they fled. So
the Philistines sauntered into the cities of Israel and lived
among them. They cut up Saul in Jonathan's bodies and

(06:14):
mounted them in the land of the Philistines as a
symbol of victory. A few brave men stole away the
body parts and buried them in Jabesh, but the Philistines
still had power over much of Israel. Israel once again
found themselves under the boot of another evil nation. Yet
God would not abandon them, as he had every time before.

(06:36):
God would send a hero, a man of bravery, wisdom,
and purity of heart. David, a shepherd from the town
of Bethlehem, would rise up as a savior to the
oppressed and enslaved people, an image that would echo throughout
all history.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Today's story begins on the battlefield. The Philistines are far
too powerful for Israel's army, and man after man falls
dead in the fight. This was the battle that David
narrowly avoided fighting in, as God intervened to keep him
from joining the Philistine army in battle, and this grace
proves even greater as Jonathan, David's closest friends, one who's

(07:18):
like a brother, falls to the Philistine's swords. One can
only imagine the guilt David would have felt had he
been on the wrong side of this fight when Jonathan died.
Jonathan's death reminds us that sin not only hurts the
ones that commit them. Sauws rejection of God cost him
the throne and ultimately his life, but it also cost

(07:40):
his sons, including Jonathan, even though Jonathan had stood faithfully
by David through it all. He had imagined ruling alongside
of David, serving the man of God chosen to lead Israel.
But none of that would ever happen, all because of
his father, Sauls unfaithfullness. He heard in yesterday's story, God

(08:02):
had told Saul that he and his sons would die
the very next day. Jonathan's death was just the beginning.
As the battle went on, Saul was hit by an
arrow and fell to the ground. He knew the end
was near. Death had finally come for him. Surely, in
that moment, he remembered many of the things that had
led him to this point, how he had followed his

(08:24):
own impulses and desires, rejecting God's rule in his life.
He had no one to blame but himself. In a
final act of pride, not wanting to be humiliated by
the enemy, or maybe it was just the fear of
torture that would befall him had he been captured, Saul
asked his armor bearer to kill him, but the young

(08:45):
man would not strike the king dead, so Saul fell
on his own sword, taking his life. His armor bearer
followed suit and died with Saul. The rest of Israel's army,
seeing what had happened, fled, along with the people living
in the cities nearby. So the Philistines conquered the territory
and lived in the cities. But they were not content

(09:05):
with victory. They wanted to humiliate their foe, so they
took the bodies of Saul and his sons and cut
them up, displaying them as a trophy of their victory.
But faithful Israelite stole the bodies and returned them to Jabesh,
where they were buried. Israel lay in shambles under the
cruel torture of the enemy, but God's faithfulness never wavered.

(09:29):
His plans could not be stopped, and soon David would
emerge as savior to his people, rescuing them from the
enemy and foreshadowing another David who would come one day
at Bethlehem and then to Calvary and deliver us from
the clutches of evil the power of Satan, and give
us eternal life. Dear Lord, thank you for your word today.

(09:50):
Thank you for reminding us of the consequences of disobedience,
but also of the grace that is supplied to all
who look to you. May we look to you, Savior
and Lord Jesus Christ, for our salvation, our deliverance, our strength,
and our hope forever. Amen. Thank you for listening to
today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm pastor Jack Graham

(10:14):
from Dallas, Texas. Please download thepray dot Com app and
make Bible study and prayer a priority in your life.
And if you enjoyed this podcast, share it with someone
you love. And if you want more resources as to
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visit Jack Graham dot org. God bless you