Gilboa

"O mountains of Gilboa,
may you have neither dew nor rain,
nor fields that yield offerings of grain.
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,
the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil."

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A sleet wind blows, and with it, bitter rain falls. Soaks deep into the warrior's skin. He came back to see if he could find his king, so he could carry him back.

On the top of the mountain, a few bodies lie strewn about. The rout had been complete. Defeat hangs thick in the air. But the king he could not find. The godless.....had taken him away.

Jonathan lay there, body mottled with blood. A mighty man of valour, laid low in the dust.

The wind howls.

The warrior surveys the battlefield as his thoughts race back forty years. The Valley of Elah. A headless Philistine, fallen hard into the ground. And a day of great victory. Today, however, forty years later, is a day of defeat and rout, on this bare mountain.

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In Beth Shan, the headless body of a mighty king is impaled on the city wall. A grisly sight. Everything happens again. A few hundred years earlier, an Israelite warrior, captured, stood in chains inside the pagan temple, between two foundation pillars. And the godless rejoiced. Sang songs.

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The warrior rides hard......into Jabesh Gilead. As he dismounts in the town square, the townspeople gather round. He shakes his head.

"The king...died a valiant death on Mount Gilboa. I found Jonathan there too, dead."

"Did you find the king's body?"

"The Philistines......have desecrated it. His headless body hangs on the wall in Beth Shan."

A shocked silence.

And amid the grey of rout and defeat, a purpose comes. Let's do for the king what he did for us. He saved us; let's save him now. In defeat, gratitude and duty still burn in Israelite hearts.

There are no words; everyone agrees. The bravest in Jabesh Gilead......leave the town square one by one. Mount their horses. Ride all night to Beth Shan. In the hour of crippling defeat, a personal debt remains to be paid. A king of Israel must be respected......even in death.

In Beth Shan, festivities suffer a rude jolt as a fierce battle ensues. The body of the king is captured.

As all Israel is scattered yet again, a solemn laying to rest is seen, under a tamarisk tree in Jabesh.

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Meanwhile an Amalekite rides a black horse to Ziklag. A brave ride, considering the decimation of the Amalekites just a few days before. But this Amalekite knows nothing of David; he only knows of Saul on Gilboa. An opportunist; perhaps David will withhold judgment because of the "news" he brings.

And the news he bears hangs on his own head, but he doesn't know that yet.

Decapitating a king is just a convenience for an opportunist. Only, he lies; he hopes his lie will safeguard his life. Who can unmask his lie? Why, here's the very crown that was on Saul's head!!! The crown of a king of Israel.

Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?"
"I happened to be on Mount Gilboa," the young man said, "and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and riders almost upon him. When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, 'What can I do?'
"He asked me, 'Who are you?'
" 'An Amalekite,' I answered.
"Then he said to me, 'Stand over me and kill me! I am in the throes of death, but I'm still alive.'
"So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord."

What a story!!!!! Snuffing out a divinely anointed king......comes easily to the godless. Only.....he lied. He'd probably never even been on Gilboa......he had, perhaps, stolen the crown from some mercenary. Or had stolen it himself before the Philistines decapitated Saul.

Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me."
But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.

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Mount Gilboa. Cursed by King David. A lonely summit, barren and arid.

On this arid summit, a king ended his life. In despair, in fear. Capitulating to forces stronger than him. Exhausted with waging war against God. In the torment of his mind, with evil foreboding and premonition, King Saul ended his life.

It had been a life on the run, reckless, heedless, with no restraining influence. Insecurity, unbridled rage and jealousy, blinding hatred, a life of defiant opposition to God.

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Today, Gilboa is still the same - barren, inhospitable, arid, grim and hopeless. David's words ring true still, hanging over the mountain like a shroud. All around is life-giving green in the plain. But Gilboa stands defiant, still in darkness.

After Gilboa, Israel walked into the light of God.......for forty years. The light of blessing, not torment. The light of yielding, not defiance. The light of security and rest, not opposition and fear.

A new fortress was born on another hill; one that survives till today.....chosen and protected by God.

David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.