The End of Saul’s Reign

INTRODUCTION: God knows how to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. Those who stayed by the stuff got their share of the spoil and Saul received the end of his disobedience (Romans 2:6).

1. THE DESTRUCTION OF ZIKLAG (1 Samuel 30:1-10)
1. The Attack of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:1-2)
1. The city burned (1 Samuel 30:1)
2. The people taken (1 Samuel 30:2)
2. The Grief of Davids Company (1 Samuel 30:3-6)
1. They discover the city (1 Samuel 30:3).
2. They weep for their loss (1 Samuel 30:4-5).
3. They speak against David (1 Samuel 30:6).
1. David is distressed because of the people.
2. David is encouraged in the Lord (Psalm 42:5; Psalm 56:3-4).
3. The Word from the Lord (1 Samuel 30:7-10)
1. He inquires of the Lord (1 Samuel 30:7).
2. The Lord says to pursue (1 Samuel 30:8).
3. Two hundred stay behind (1 Samuel 30:9-10).
2. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AMALEKITES (1 Samuel 30:11-20)
1. They Find an Egyptian (1 Samuel 30:11-15).
1. His recovery (1 Samuel 30:11-12)
1. They find an Egyptian in the field (1 Samuel 30:11).
2. They bring him to David (1 Samuel 30:11).
3. They nourish him (1 Samuel 30:11-12).
1. They give him bread (1 Samuel 30:11).
2. They make him drink water (1 Samuel 30:11).
3. They give him a piece of a cake of figs (1 Samuel 30:12).
4. They give him two clusters of raisins (1 Samuel 30:12).
4. His spirit comes again to him (1 Samuel 30:12).
5. He has been without food and water for three days and three nights (1 Samuel 30:12).
2. His story (1 Samuel 30:13-14)
1. David questions the young man (1 Samuel 30:13).
1. To whom belongest thou?
2. From whence art thou?
2. The young man tells his story (1 Samuel 30:13-14).
1. He is a young man of Egypt (1 Samuel 30:13).
2. He is a servant to an Amalekite (1 Samuel 30:13).
3. He was left behind because he fell sick (1 Samuel 30:13).
4. They had made an invasion upon (1 Samuel 30:14)
1. The south of the Cherethites
2. The coast which belongeth to Judah
3. The south of Caleb
5. They burned Ziklag with fire (1 Samuel 30:14).
3. His assistance (1 Samuel 30:15)
1. David seeks the assistance of the slave.
2. The slave offers assistance on two conditions.
1. If David promises not to kill him
2. If David promises not to deliver him into the hands of his master
2. They Smite the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:16-20).
1. The feasting of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:16)
1. The Amalekites are eating, drinking, and dancing.
2. They are celebrating the spoil they have taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.
2. The smiting of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:17)
1. David smites them from the twilight unto the evening of the next day.
2. Only four hundred young men escape.
3. The recovery of the captives (1 Samuel 30:18-20)
3. THE DIVIDING OF THE SPOILS (1 Samuel 30:21-31)
1. To Those Who Stayed by the Stuff (1 Samuel 30:21-25)
1. They return to those who have waited (1 Samuel 30:21).
2. Some who went with David want to withhold the spoil from the two hundred that stayed behind (1 Samuel 30:22).
3. David refuses to yield to them (1 Samuel 30:23-24).
4. A new statute is made in Israel (1 Samuel 30:25).
2. To Several Cities in Judah (1 Samuel 30:26-31)
1. David sends spoil to various cities in Judah (1 Samuel 30:26-31).
2. These cities are locations where David and his men were likely to haunt (1 Samuel 30:31). Note: A haunt is a place where one frequents.
4. THE DEATH OF SAUL AND SONS (1 Samuel 31:1-6)
1. The Defeat of Israel (1 Samuel 31:1)
1. The Philistines fight against Israel.
2. The men of Israel flee and fall down slain in mount Gilboa.
2. The Death of Sauls Sons (1 Samuel 31:2)
1. The Philistines follow hard upon Saul and his sons.
2. They slay Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.
3. The Death of Saul (1 Samuel 31:3-6)
1. Saul is wounded by the archers of the Philistines (1 Samuel 31:3).
2. Saul takes his own life (1 Samuel 31:4).
1. He requests that his armourbearer thrust him with a sword.
2. The armourbearer refuses.
3. Saul falls upon his own sword.
3. The armourbearer takes his life (1 Samuel 31:5).
5. THE BURIAL OF SAUL AND SONS (1 Samuel 31:7-13)
1. The Israelites Flee Their Cities (1 Samuel 31:7).
1. The Israelites flee their cities at the sign of defeat.
2. The Philistines come in and dwell in their cities.
2. The Philistines Display Sauls Body (1 Samuel 31:8-10).
1. They find the bodies of Saul and his sons (1 Samuel 31:8).
2. They cut off Sauls head and fasten his body and the body of his sons to a wall (1 Samuel 31:9-10).
3. They pass Sauls armour around and place it in the house of Ashtaroth (1 Samuel 31:9-10).
3. The Men of Jabesh Bury Saul (1 Samuel 31:11-13).
1. The men remove the bodies and burn them (1 Samuel 31:11-12).
2. They bury the bones under a tree at Jabesh (1 Samuel 31:13).

CONCLUSION: The victories for David continue to mount, but the life of Saul is extinguished by his own sword. What a terrible end for the first king of Israel!