It was a dangerous job that left them sleep deprived, and it was for an evil man who was now dead.
But they risked their lives for it anyway.
Saul was a pretty awful king and person. He was insecure, jealous, and rebellious.
He disobeyed God by keeping some of the plunder after the Amalekite campaign, he massacred the priests at Nob, and he consulted with a witch.
He tried to kill David, including twice when he threw a spear at him. He even tried to kill his own son Jonathan with a spear!
God was angry with him, and he told him that he would take the kingdom away from him and give it to David.
When Saul was killed in battle, you’d think that many people would rejoice that he died. Maybe many did. Proverbs 29:2 says: “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
However, when Saul died, there was a group of people from Jabesh Gilead, an Israelite city east of the Jordan river, who did something remarkable.
They went to the Philistines’ territory to recover Saul’s body. The Philistines were continuous enemies of the Israelites, and the two groups were constantly fighting in battle.
The Philistines must have been thrilled to have killed Saul and his sons. When they found his body, they cut off his head, took off his armor, and spread the news. They put his armor in the temple and hung his body on the wall.
They were going to disgrace his body.
But the men of Jabesh Gilead went to the Philistine territory, journeying all night to get there, retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall, and brought them back to Jabesh.
It was a dangerous undertaking.
Then they dealt with the bodies as respectfully as they could for that time. They burned the bodies and then buried their bones in Jabesh.
Then they fasted for seven days.
I want to emphasize that they no doubt went to great pains to take care of Saul and his sons’ bodies. This involved danger, lack of sleep, fatigue, and lack of eating. It wasn’t just an award ceremony.
It was an enormous deal for them to recognize Saul.
Why was it so important to them?
Because shortly after Saul became king, he rescued the people of Jabesh-Gilead from their cruel neighbors.
Nahash the Ammonite had told them he would make a treaty with them … that involved taking out everyone’s right eye!
The men of Jabesh Gilead then called for help, and Saul delivered spectacularly.
I Samuel 11 says that the “Spirit of God rushed upon” Saul, and he was angry. “He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the land of Israel, proclaiming, ‘This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not march behind Saul and Samuel.’” (I Samuel 11:7)
This convinced the other Israelites to help out!
Saul organized the Israelite troops, and in the morning they invaded the Ammonites and killed them.
It was one of his best recorded acts as king.
As time went on, Saul wasn’t so great. He wasn’t a believer in God. He was on team Saul.
But from the perspective of the people of Jabesh Gilead, they were still extremely grateful to him. And they showed their gratitude and respect even when he died.
King Saul’s successor, David, praised the people of Jabesh Gilead for that respect.
Their gratitude did not contradict the reality with who Saul was.
And that’s an important reminder for us today. We can still show gratitude when someone helps us or shows kindness to us in some way.
Our gratitude should be first of all directed toward God, then toward others. But the person doesn’t need to be a believer and doesn’t need to be a righteous person. Their kindness is “common grace” provided under God’s sovereignty. Loyalty, gratitude, and respect don’t have to be directed only toward ideal people, and these virtues don’t end when someone dies.
It can be much easier to point out the faults of others. And there is a time and place for that.
But there’s also a time and place for gratitude and respect for others.
May we consider the people of Jabesh Gilead as an example for us.
Spreadsheets and Overalls 