What is the context?
The narrative returns to the battle at Mount Gilboa. Israel flees, and the Philistines kill Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua. The friend who encouraged David in the wilderness dies alongside his brothers.
Saul is critically wounded by archers. Fearing capture and torture, he asks his armor-bearer to kill him. The terrified man refuses, and Saul falls on his own sword. When the armor-bearer sees that he is dead, he also takes his own life.
The same day brings the deaths of Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer and the men with him. The next passage describes others fleeing, so the statement need not be expanded into a claim that no one in Israel’s whole army survived. The loss ends Saul’s reign and leaves the people facing defeat.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry and Wesley caution against deciding a person’s eternal state from the manner of death. The account describes what happens to Saul and his sons; it does not give a final verdict on their souls.
Gill takes this narration as Saul’s death by his own hand. In 2 Samuel 1:6–10, an Amalekite later claims that he finished killing Saul. Gill reads that claim as an attempt to win David’s favor, distinguishing a messenger’s account from the narration here.
1 Chronicles 10:13–14 places Saul’s fall within his unfaithfulness and the transfer of kingship to David. That explanation concerns his failed rule before God; it need not make Jonathan’s earlier faithfulness meaningless or give us an unreported reason for each person’s death.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
The New Testament itself places this change of kings within the story leading to Jesus. In Acts 13:21–23, Paul recalls God giving Israel Saul, removing him and raising up David. He then identifies Jesus as the promised Savior brought from David’s descendants.
The book therefore ends at a transition within a purpose larger than either king. Saul’s failure is real, and David’s reign will have failures of its own. The enduring hope reaches the Savior God brings through David’s line, rather than resting in the idea that another merely human king will solve everything.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.