They on the other side Jordan Or, rather, on this side Jordan; for the Hebrew word signifies either side. And there was no occasion for those beyond Jordan to flee. Saul and his three sons “The Scripture,” as Mr. Henry well observes, “makes no mention of the souls of Saul and his sons, what became of them after they were dead; secret things belong not to us.” They cut off his head As the Israelites did by Goliath, and fastened it in the temple of Dagon, 1 Chronicles 10:10. In the house of their idols To give them the glory of this victory. And by this respect shown to their pretended deities, how do they shame those who give not the honour of their achievements to the living God! They fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan To expose it, as we do the bodies of great malefactors, to public shame and reproach. And thus, as appears by 1 Samuel 31:12, they did with the bodies of his sons.
Related Commentaries of 1 Samuel 31:7
1 Samuel 31:7-10
7 And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
8 And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.
9 And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.
10 And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.