“When the people living in Yavesh-Gil‘ad heard what the P’lishtim had done to Sha’ul, all their warriors set out, traveling all night. They took the body of Sha’ul and the bodies of his sons off the wall of Beit-Sh’an, returned to Yavesh, and burned them there. Then they took their bones, buried them under the tamarisk tree in Yavesh, and fasted for seven days.”-1 Samuel 31:11-13
When the warriors of Yavesh-Gilead retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons, afterward they did something that would raise the eyebrows of anyone who possesses even a basic understanding of the Torah.
We’re told they burned the bodies, and then took the remaining bones and buried them.
Take a look at these verses from the priestly book of Leviticus:
“If a man marries a woman and her mother,
it is depravity;
they are to be put to death by fire,
both he and they,
so that there will not be depravity among you.”
-Leviticus 20:14
And this one too:
“The daughter of a cohen who profanes
herself by prostitution profanes her father;
she is to be put to death by fire.”
-Leviticus 21:9
We see that cremation is forbidden except for those who commit the vilest of sins.
Some people think the men of Jabesh-Gilead didn’t wanna bury the bodies because they had already begun to suffer decay.
That’s utterly ridiculous.
Finding dead bodies in a state of decay was not unusual at all.
Here’s the real reason.
Many Israelites, especially those across the Jordan River, had started following pagan customs.
What these warriors of Jabesh-Gilead did had become a common practice among them.
However, they didn’t burn the bodies to the point where they were completely disintegrated.
Verse 13 tells us “They took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh.”
They would’ve placed the bones in a special box called an ossuary and buried them under the Terebinth tree in Jabesh-Gilead, as the last verse tells us.
Afterward, we’re told the people of Jabesh fasted for 7 days to honor their dead king.
It turns out this would NOT be the final resting place for Saul and his three sons.
In 2nd Samuel 21, we learn that David later had their bones moved to the territory of Benjamin and placed in Saul’s father Kish’s tomb.
Here’s your takeaway for today.
It all has to do with how freakin’ difficult it is to obey God’s commands when you’re NOT in the land.
Of course, it’s possible to disobey God’s laws while living in the land.
But it’s so much harder to keep Kosher and obey Shabbat when you’re surrounded by a gentile population who could care less about the Lord’s Torah.
Ya feel me?
My point is ya think there was a connection between the men of Jabesh-Gilead engaging in the pagan practice of burning the bodies of Saul and his sons, and the fact they were living OUTSIDE of the land.
I’d say there was homies.
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