I just finished reading 1 Samuel the other night and started on 2 Samuel today. I thought there was a descrepancy with the verses because in 1 Sam 31:4-5, it says that Saul fell upon his own sword to kill himself because he knew the Philistines were coming to finish him off. They had already hit him with some arrows and he was badly wounded (1 Sam 31:3). So the verse says,
“Then said Saul to his armorbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it.
And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword, and died with him.” 1 Samuel 31:4-5
So it appears that Saul is indeed dead. But then in 2 Samuel 1:6-10, an Amalekite claims he killed Saul. So which is true? I personally thought the Amalekite was lying.
Well, they all are true. Remember it says the “armorbearer saw that Saul was dead.” If you saw someone fall on a sword, you would automatically assume they were dead. This verse is just explaining why the armorbearer killed himself. Maybe even Saul himself thought he was dead at that moment. B/c if you look closely, verse 1:6 says:
“As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and the horsemen followed hard after him.”
This actually follows in line with everything. The chariots are coming after Saul because they already hit him with their arrows, wounded him so badly that he probably would have died eventually, but they’re coming to check it out, make sure he’s dead and if he’s not, to finish him off. It says the Amalekite sees Saul “leaning upon his spear” meaning he had thrusts it through his body, which he had done previously. This fits in with the context of the verses that follow later, because Saul later says in 2 Samuel 1:9,
“And he (Saul) said unto me, Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and slay me; for anguish hath taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me. “
Why was Saul in anguish? because he tried to kill himself before the chariots came and even after putting the sword in his body, he was still alive!! So he asked the Amalekite to finish him off, which he did.
So who killed Saul? It appears the Bible is contradictory because it says that Saul killed himself, or that he was killed by Philistines, or that he was killed by the Amalekite. There is another verse that says God killed him for his transgression and he no longer wanted Saul to be ruler of Israel (1 Chronicles 10:14)…this is not an either/or situation. All of the above are true. Saul was not an easy guy to kill so it really did take all of the above to kill him. Now the whole thing about God killing him for his transgressions is also true. Without God allowing, the battle with the Philistines would have never happened. God did kill Saul in a sense by not preventing it. Now that’s not to say that when everyone dies God is killing us off in punishment. In this particular case it was Saul’s time to go according to God’s timetable and in this particular case, we see why.
I just want to point out that when verses seem to contradict and not make sense it’s because we’re skimming or not paying much attention. It’s interesting, when you miss a little bit of the context like Saul being in anguish because he still wasn’t dead despite his efforts, you would have missed the whole thing about picturing Saul with a sword through his body which was spoken of in the prior verses. Each time it appears Saul is dead, but he’s not. It’s like watching a really good movie, where everything is recorded moment by moment, he falls on his sword and is dead…wait, no wait, there’s movement, he’s still alive! Ok now this guy comes by and officially kills him. It took all of that to kill Saul, so all of it is true. We can be quick sometimes to question the Bible, just make sure you’re not questioning it because of your own lack in reading and comprehension.
