Deeper Reflection
ISRAEL’S DEFEAT and Saul’s death in the battle with the Philistines on Mount Gilboa is to be viewed theologically. God is not mentioned in the story, but the gods of the Philistines are (vv.9-10). How then do we see God here? The Philistines “cut off” Saul’s “head” and “stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines” as “good news to the house of their idols and to the people” (v.9). The gory head of Saul belonged to “the LORD’s anointed” (cf. 1 Sam 24:6), therefore God had been defeated.¹⁴ Saul’s armour was stripped, God could not protect His king.¹⁵ That was how the Philistines viewed the God of Israel. This was reinforced by their putting of Saul’s “armour in the house of their gods” and fastening of “his head in the house of Dagon” (1 Chron 10:10). When years ago the Philistines captured the ark of God in their defeat of Israel and placed it in the temple of Dagon, God turned the tables on Dagon (1 Sam 4:10-11; 5:1-5). But now, God was silent. God is literally – in the text – nowhere to be found. We only see in the text the glory of pagan gods. The score in the battle between God and Dagon was: Dagon 2, God 1. Has God really and finally lost? There are times God is disgraced because we have failed Him (2 Sam 12:14; Rom 2:23-24). But God also manifests His glory in His apparent defeat and disgrace. The cross points to this theological reality (1 Cor 1:23-25).

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¹⁵ Dale Ralph Davis, 326 ¹⁵ Dale Ralph Davis, 326