TRV
Translation
King James Version
And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
Complete Jewish Bible
The fighting went hard against Sha'ul; then the archers overtook and wounded him, so that he was in agony.
Berean Standard Bible
When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically.
American Standard Version
And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.
World English Bible Messianic
The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.
Geneva Bible (1599)
And when the battel went sore against Saul, the archers and bowmen hit him, and hee was sore wounded of the archers.
Young's Literal Translation
And the battle is hard against Saul, and the archers find him--men with bow--and he is pained greatly by the archers;
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Commentary on 1 Samuel 31 verses 1–7
1 ¶ Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
2 And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.
3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.
7 And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
The day of recompence has now come, in which Saul must account for the blood of the Amalekites which he had sinfully spared, and that of the priests which he had more sinfully spilt; that of David too, which he would have spilt, must come into the account. Now his day has come to fall, as David foresaw, when he should descend into battle and perish, Sa1 26:10. Come and see the righteous judgments of God.
I. He sees his soldiers fall about him, Sa1 31:1. Whether the Philistines were more numerous, better posted, and better led on, or what other advantages they had, we are not told; but it seems they were more vigorous, for they made the onset; they fought against Israel, and the Israelites fled and fell. The best of the troops were put into disorder, and multitudes slain, probably those whom Saul had employed in pursuing David. Thus those who had followed him and served him in his sin went before him in his fall and shared with him in his plagues.
II. He sees his sons fall before him. The victorious Philistines pressed most forcibly upon the king of Israel and those about him. His three sons were next him, it is probable, and they were all three slain before his face, to his great grief (for they were the hopes of his family) and to his great terror, for they were now the guard of his person, and he could conclude no other than that his own turn would come next. His sons are named (Sa1 31:2), and it grieves us to find Jonathan among them: that wise, valiant, good man, who was as much David's friend as Saul was his enemy, yet falls with the rest. Duty to his father would not permit him to stay at home, or to retire when the armies engaged; and Providence so orders it that he falls in the common fate of his family, though he never involved himself in the guilt of it; so that the observation of Eliphaz does not hold (Job 4:7), Who ever perished being innocent? For here was one. What shall we say to it? 1. God would hereby complete the vexation of Saul in his dying moments, and the judgment that was to be executed upon his house. If the family must fall, Jonathan, that is one of it, must fall with it. 2. He would hereby make David's way to the crown the more clear and open. For, though Jonathan himself would have cheerfully resigned all his title and interest to him (we have no reason to suspect any other), yet it is very probable that many of the people would have made use of his name for the support of the house of Saul, or at least would have come in but slowly to David. If Ishbosheth (who was now left at home as one unfit for action, and so escaped) had so many friends, what would Jonathan have had, who had been the darling of the people and had never forfeited their favour? Those that were so anxious to have a king like the nations would be zealous for the right line, especially if that threw the crown upon such a head as Jonathan's. This would have embarrassed David; and, if Jonathan could have prevailed to bring in all his interest to David, then it would have been said that Jonathan had made him king, whereas God was to have all the glory. This is the Lord's doing. So that though the death of Jonathan would be a great affliction to David, yet, by making him mindful of his own frailty, as well as by facilitating his accession to the throne, it would be an advantage to him. 3. God would hereby show us that the difference between good and bad is to be made in the other world, not in this. All things come alike to all. We cannot judge of the spiritual or eternal state of any by the manner of their death; for in that there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked.
III. He himself is sorely wounded by the Philistines and then slain by his own hand. The archers hit him (Sa1 31:3), so that he could neither fight nor fly, and therefore must inevitably fall into their hands. Thus, to make him the more miserable, destruction comes gradually upon him, and he dies so as to feel himself die. To such an extremity was he now reduced that, 1. He was desirous to die by the hand of his own servant rather than by the hand of the Philistines, lest they should abuse him as they had abused Samson. Miserable man! He finds himself dying, and all his care is to keep his body out of the hands of the Philistines, instead of being solicitous to resign his soul into the hands of God who gave it, Ecc 12:7. As he lived, so he died, proud and jealous, and a terror to himself and all about him. Those who rightly understand the matter think it of small account, in comparison, how it is with them in death, so it may but be well with them after death. Those are in a deplorable condition indeed who, being bitter in soul, long for death, but it cometh not (Job 3:20, Job 3:21), especially those who, despairing of the mercy of god, like Judas, leap into a hell before them, to escape a hell within them. 2. When he could not obtain that favour he became his own executioner, thinking hereby to avoid shame, but running upon a heinous sin, and with it entailing upon his own name a mark of perpetual infamy, as felo de se - a self-murderer. Jonathan, who received his death-wound from the hand of the Philistines and bravely yielded to the fate of war, died on the bed of honour; but Saul died as a fool dieth, as a coward dieth - a proud fool, a sneaking coward; he died as a man that had neither the fear of God nor hope in God, neither the reason of a man nor the religion of an Israelite, much less the dignity of a prince or the resolution of a soldier. Let us all pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation, this temptation. His armour-bearer would not run him through, and he did well to refuse it; for no man's servant ought to be a slave to his master's lusts or passions of any kind. The reason given is that he was sorely afraid, not of death, for he himself ran wilfully upon that immediately; but, having a profound reverence for the king his master, he could not conquer that so far as to do him any hurt; or perhaps he feared lest his trembling hand should give him but half a blow, and so put him to the greater misery.
IV. His armour-bearer who refused to kill him refused not to die with him, but fell likewise upon his sword, Sa1 31:5. This was an aggravating circumstance of the death of Saul, that, by the example of his wickedness in murdering himself, he drew in his servant to be guilty of the same wickedness, and perished not alone in his iniquity. The Jews say that Saul's armour-bearer was Doeg, whom he preferred to that dignity for killing the priests, and, if so, justly does his violent dealing return on his own head. David had foretold concerning him that God would destroy him for ever, Psa 52:5.
V. The country was put into such confusion by the rout of Saul's army that the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities (on that side Jordan, as it might be read) quitted them, and the Philistines, for a time, had possession of them, till things were settled in Israel (Sa1 31:7), to such a sad pass had Saul by his wickedness brought his country, which might have remained in the hands of the uncircumcised if David had not been raised up to repair the breaches of it. See what a king he proved for whom they rejected God and Samuel. They had still done wickedly (it is to be feared) as well as he, and therefore were consumed both they and their king, as the prophet had foretold concerning them, Sa1 12:25. And to this reference is had long after. Hos 13:10, Hos 13:11, "Where are thy saviours in all thy cities, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath; that is, he was a plague to thee living and dying; thou couldst expect no other."
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–7. Public domain.
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Verecundus of JuncaAD 552
COMMENTARY ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL CANTICLES, ON DEUTERONOMY 43
“I will inebriate my arrows with blood, and my sword will devour flesh.” These are the spiritual arrows of the Lord with which he strikes the heart of the human race and drains our spiritual blood. For just as Christ himself is called an arrow, chosen by the hand of the Father, so also his apostles are named arrows metaphorically, whom his powerful bow dispersed throughout the entire breadth of the world. Perhaps Jonathan shot the same arrows as a sign that David should flee from the hand of his cruel king. And Saul was struck by these very arrows, that such an obviously worthless king would be deprived of the Israelite kingdom. These are the arrows that drink the blood of our infidelity and carnal sins, for which reason it is said concerning them: “They will eat the sins of my people.”
BedeAD 735
Commentary on Samuel
The entire weight of the battle turned upon Saul, etc. The gentiles were exerting all their strength to destroy the kingdom of Judea. And men most adept in the arts of deception drew near to him, and the leaders of that kingdom were severely seduced and corrupted by them, who, by seizing the simplicity of the truth from their hearts, inflicted a multi-faceted wound of fraud and cunning. For just as an enemy's sword signifies an open enticement to idolatry and graver sins, so the subtler arguments of deception are represented by an arrow. Saul did not perish by the sword of the Philistines, but by arrows; because the leaders of the Jewish kingdom did not perish, with the kingdom, by open crimes, which no one would doubt to be deadly, but rather by those acts which, under the guise of piety, bore the most impious poison of death. For example, when God says: "Honor your father and mother," they, on the contrary, taught their listeners to say to their parents: "Whatever gift is from me, will benefit you," and thus completely cease to honor them. Similarly, they said: "Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; whoever swears by the gold of the temple, is obligated," and other such things, which the Lord sternly reprimands them for in the Gospel, especially that they killed the very Lord of the Law and the Gospel as if He were a transgressor of the Law. All of these arguments of sins are imitated by the gentiles for cunning, when they turn a mind trained in philosophical studies to nefarious arts, undoubtedly falling by the arrows of the Philistines. However, nothing prevents the archers from being understood as unclean spirits, whose deceptions caused their ruin.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
1 Samuel 31:3 powerfully depicts the tragic climax of King Saul's final battle against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. It details the overwhelming defeat of Israel's forces and, more specifically, the grievous wounding of Saul himself by enemy archers. This severe injury sets the immediate stage for his desperate and ignominious death, underscoring the definitive end of his troubled reign and the Philistine's decisive victory.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several powerful literary devices to convey the gravity and pathos of the moment. Repetition is prominent, with the phrase "the archers" appearing twice, first as the agents who "hit him" and then as the source "of the archers" who "sore wounded" him. This repetition serves to emphasize the specific cause and the devastating nature of Saul's injuries, underscoring the Philistine's military prowess and the king's extreme vulnerability. Furthermore, the verse utilizes foreshadowing as Saul's grievous wounds directly precede his desperate plea for his armor-bearer to kill him and his subsequent suicide, signaling his imminent demise and the end of his reign. The description of the battle going "sore against Saul" and his being "sore wounded" creates a profound sense of pathos, evoking pity for the king in his final, agonizing moments, despite his prior failings and disobedience. There is also an element of irony in that the king, who was chosen to lead Israel's armies and protect his people, is himself fatally wounded and unable to defend himself, highlighting the ultimate failure of his reign and the withdrawal of divine favor.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
1 Samuel 31:3 stands as a stark reminder of the profound biblical truth that disobedience to God carries severe and often tragic consequences. Saul's grievous wounding and subsequent death are not merely random acts of war but the culmination of a tragic trajectory marked by his consistent self-will and rejection of God's clear commands. His end on Mount Gilboa serves as a powerful illustration of the principle that while God is merciful, He is also just, and persistent rebellion against His authority ultimately leads to spiritual and often physical ruin. This event underscores God's sovereignty in raising up and bringing down leaders, demonstrating that even through the chaos of human conflict and the failure of human kings, His overarching plan for His people will prevail, paving the way for the establishment of a righteous kingship.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
The tragic scene of Saul's final battle offers profound and enduring lessons for believers today. It serves as a sobering reminder of the critical importance of humble and unwavering obedience to God's will, even when it seems counter-intuitive, challenging, or unpopular. Saul's downfall was not due to a single isolated mistake but a cumulative pattern of prioritizing his own agenda, perceived wisdom, and popular approval over divine instruction. This narrative compels us to examine our own lives with honesty: are we truly submitting to God's authority in all areas, or are we, like Saul, subtly or overtly trusting in our own strength, strategies, or desires, perhaps rationalizing our disobedience? The vulnerability of even a powerful king like Saul also speaks to the universal human condition of mortality and the inherent limits of earthly power and human strength. It strips away any illusion of invincibility, urging us to place our ultimate trust not in human leaders, institutions, or our own abilities, but in the sovereign God who alone holds life and death in His hands and whose plans cannot be thwarted. Ultimately, Saul's story, culminating in this verse, calls us to a life of faithful dependence on God, acknowledging that true success, lasting peace, and genuine fulfillment come only through alignment with His purposes and unwavering trust in His divine wisdom.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Was Saul's death a direct judgment from God, or merely a casualty of war?
Answer: While the text describes Saul's death as a direct result of battle wounds and his subsequent suicide, the broader narrative of 1 Samuel strongly implies that his demise was the culmination of divine judgment for his repeated disobedience and rejection of God's commands. God had already declared His rejection of Saul as king in 1 Samuel 15:23 and had chosen David to replace him, anointing him in 1 Samuel 16:13. The Philistine victory and Saul's vulnerability are presented within a theological framework where God allows consequences to unfold, paving the way for His sovereign plan to establish a king after His own heart, as indicated in 1 Samuel 13:14. Therefore, it is understood as a divinely permitted outcome that served God's ultimate purpose of transitioning the kingdom.
Why is the detail about "archers" significant in this verse?
Answer: The specific mention of "archers" highlights both the nature and the severity of Saul's wounds. In ancient warfare, archers were often elite units, capable of inflicting damage from a distance, and being struck by arrows was a particularly painful and frequently mortal injury, leading to incapacitation or a slow, agonizing death from internal bleeding or infection. This detail underscores the overwhelming nature of the Philistine assault and Saul's desperate situation, as he was severely wounded without the possibility of close combat defense. It also sets the stage for his subsequent decision to take his own life rather than fall into the hands of the Philistines, who would likely have tortured and humiliated him, as he feared in 1 Samuel 31:4. The repeated emphasis on the archers reinforces that these were not minor injuries but grievous wounds that left him no viable option for survival or escape.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The tragic end of King Saul, as depicted in 1 Samuel 31:3, serves as a profound and poignant contrast to the perfect kingship and redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Saul's reign, marked by disobedience, self-will, and culminating in a humiliating death on the battlefield, underscores the futility of human leadership apart from divine guidance and the devastating wages of sin. He was a king who failed to fully obey God, leading to his rejection and a violent, inglorious end. In stark contrast, Jesus, the true King of Israel and the Son of God, perfectly obeyed His Father's will, even to the point of death on a cross, demonstrating ultimate humility and submission as described in Philippians 2:8. While Saul died because of sin (his own and the effects of a fallen world), Christ died for sin, offering Himself as the spotless Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, as proclaimed in John 1:29. Saul's suffering was a consequence of his failures; Jesus's suffering was a vicarious act of love and redemption, demonstrating God's ultimate love for humanity even while we were still sinners, as beautifully articulated in Romans 5:8. Unlike Saul, whose reign ended in defeat and death, Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave, establishing an eternal kingdom that will never end, reigning forever as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, a truth celebrated in Revelation 19:16. Saul's death paved the way for a better earthly king; Christ's death and resurrection inaugurated an eternal, perfect kingdom.