Tuesday, July 13, 2004
The Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel
Kellia: 1 Samuel 31:1-13 Epistle: Hebrews 2:2-10 Gospel: St. Matthew 14:1-13
1 Samuel 31:1-13, especially vs. 4: "Then Saul said to his armor-bearer,
'Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and make sport of
me.'" Spiritually perceived, the death of King Saul was a natural consequence of his turning away from the Lord, as was
his descent into madness which began with his disobedience to the command of God in connection with his attack on the
Amalekites (1 Sam. 15). Concerning that fateful day, the Prophet Samuel declared to Saul: "Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king" (1 Sam. 15:22,23). Could Saul
have repented? Was the Divine rejection a final judgment or an early warning?
In fact, Saul continued as the king of God's Holy People, and the Lord left him many days to humble himself and return to
Him with fasting and weeping; but such saving acts never happened. Instead, Saul's judgment became increasingly erratic.
In twisted thinking, he turned himself into the enemy of David who was his stalwart and loyal champion. So loyal was
David that even after Saul's many efforts to kill him, he steadfastly declined to murder Saul when an opportunity was
effortlessly afforded him (1 Sam. 26:8,9). Rather David declared: "As the Lord lives, the Lord will smite him; or his day
shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish" (1 Sam. 26:10). Today's reading describes the fulfillment of
David's prophetic words. Now let us observe the death of Saul: wounded by archers in battle, his sons lying dead before
his eyes, the Philistines closing in on him, he chose not to fight to the death or to be killed by them (1 Sam. 31:4). Instead,
he begged his armor bearer to kill him. The Rabbis believe the armor bearer was Doeg the Edomite, but, whoever,
respecting Saul's person, he refused to strike the king. Thus, King Saul followed his consistent path of rebellion against
God, the pattern of his entire career, and he committed suicide (vs. 4), his armor bearer following his example.
Orthodox history records a different kind of royal death on the battlefield at Kosovo. The Islamic forces of Sultan Murat I
(1362-1389), after a day-long struggle, prevailed against the Serbian army under the saintly Tsar Lazar. Though the Sultan
himself was stabbed fatally during the fray, yet his son, Bayazid, led the final charge that overran the wounded Tsar. With
the battle still raging, Turkish officers brought Tsar Lazar to the tent where Murat lay dying. Already the dead bodies of
three Serbian generals were lying there; and before these bodies the Turks held the Tsar standing straight upright over his
comrades allowing his blood to flow from his wounds. As the Tsar stood waiting for death, an angel appeared to him
amidst jeers, curses, and laughter. God's messenger told him, "the cross raised from the field of Kosovo to heaven will
lead your people through the wilderness of servitude [and] out into the promised land of freedom - not just earthly,
symbolic, and temporal freedom, but freedom that is true, immortal, and angelic." And thus the Tsar martyr courageously
waited until Bayazid ordered him beheaded.
The final, spiritual heroes of the battle at Mt. Gilboa, in addition to Jonathan and Saul's other sons who were loyal even to
the death by combat, were the men of Jabesh-Gilead who took the bodies of Saul and "his sons from the wall of Beth-shan;
and ...buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh" (vss. 12,13) so they would not be desecrated by carrion birds and
beasts.
These God-fearing men held the bodies of the anointed King and his sons as holy to the Lord.
Illumine our hearts with the light of Thy countenance, O Lord, that we may maintain the shield of our faith unassailed by
the enemy and ever remain Thy warriors to our life's end.
