FBC Morning Light – June 24, 2023

Good morning, people of faith. This morning, we're going to be taking our reading actually from tomorrow's reading, and we're going to be in 1 Chronicles chapter 10. In 1 Chronicles chapter 10, we have the story of the end of Saul's life.

He was in battle with the Philistines and his sons were killed. He was wounded, likely mortally wounded, and he asked his armor-bearer to finish the job, and he wouldn't, so he fell on his own sword, and then his armor-bearer fell on his own sword.

Saul’s Death and the Defeat at Mount Gilboa

We're going to pick this story up in verse 8. It says, So it happened the next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. And they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among the people.

Then they put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. Verse 11,. And when all Jabesh-Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and they brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days.

Saul’s Unfaithfulness and the Question of Legacy

Now as you look back at Saul's kingship, there was not a lot of good that he did. He made enemies out of a lot of people, including an enemy out of the Lord by not following what the Lord had commanded him to do and kind of mostly going through with those commands and sometimes doing things for a show for the people rather than to be faithful to the Lord.

So the question that I have for you that we're going to answer in more full detail tomorrow, Lord willing, in Sunday school, why did the men, the valiant men of Jabesh-Gilead, go and retrieve the bodies of Saul and his sons and then bury them under the tamarisk tree back in Jabesh-Gilead and then fast for seven days?

That's something we're going to examine more fully tomorrow, but I'm going to leave us with this question today. If that were your body, is there anyone in your life that would risk their life to retrieve your body to give you a decent burial?

I would hope so. I would hope so. And maybe even think of this question. Is there anyone for whom you would risk your life to give them the proper burial that they deserve? Now, in our day and age, that may not mean a lot because we're not at war within our confines here of Sterling, Illinois, so it's not a difficult thing to give someone a proper burial.

I mean, it's not the easiest thing in the world, but it's not risking life and limb to do so. But that's a good question to ask is, what kind of legacy would you leave or what kind of legacy has someone left with you to risk life and limb to give a proper burial?

Prayer for a Proper Burial and a Faithful Life

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the lesson that we see here in the end of Saul's life with Jabesh, Gilead, and the valiant men that came to give his body and the bodies of his sons a proper burial.

May we learn from you and your word what you have for us to learn this day. It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray, amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.