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1 Chronicles10:7–10

The Philistines Possess the Towns

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1 Chronicles 10:7–10 — The Philistines Possess the Towns. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

7

When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kāl- ’îš yiś·rā·’êl ’ă·šer- bā·‘ê·meq way·yir·’ū kî nā·sū wə·ḵî- šā·’ūl ū·ḇā·nāw mê·ṯū way·ya·‘az·ḇū ‘ā·rê·hem way·yā·nu·sū p̄ə·liš·tîm way·yā·ḇō·’ū way·yê·šə·ḇū bā·hem

Word by word19 · parsed
כָּל־kāl-When allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
אִ֨ישׁ’îšthe IsraelitesH376
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular construct
ʼîysh: a man as an individual or a male person Bound to Israel in construct, the singular noun makes a whole population one man. The Chronicler is not counting casualties; he is describing a body that behaves as one and flees as one. K&D reads the compression as deliberate: the writer's subject is the death of Saul and his sons, not the course of the battle.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֤לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
בָּעֵ֙מֶק֙bā·‘ê·meqin the valleyH6010
√ ʻêmeq — a vale (iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
ʻêmeq: a vale The definite article fixes this as the known plain of Jezreel, the fertile corridor that any army holding it controls. Ellicott and Cambridge both insist on "plain" rather than "valley." The geography is the point: what is lost here is not a gorge but the breadbasket and the road.
וַ֠יִּרְאוּway·yir·’ūsawH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
râʼâh: to see A consecutive imperfect; the flight begins the moment sight arrives. Nothing is said of a message or a council. Pulpit stresses exactly this speed, that as quickly as the report could travel the people vacated their homes.
כִּ֣יkîthatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
נָ֔סוּnā·sū[the army] had fledH5127
√ nûwç — to flit, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
nûwç: to flit, flee The first of two occurrences in one verse. Its subject is unstated in the Chronicler's compressed text, which is why translators bracket "[the army]."
וְכִי־wə·ḵî-and thatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
שָׁא֣וּלšā·’ūlSaulH7586
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וּבָנָ֑יוū·ḇā·nāwand his sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
מֵ֖תוּmê·ṯūhad diedH4191
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
mûwth: to die Qal perfect, plural, flat and final. The Chronicler has already told the deaths in vv. 1 to 6; here they function as the news that empties a country. Henry reads the whole chapter as the record of why the kingdom had to pass to David.
וַיַּעַזְב֤וּway·ya·‘az·ḇūthey abandonedH5800
√ ʻâzab — to loosen, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
ʻâzab: to loosen, forsake The verb of letting go, of releasing a hold. It is the word used elsewhere for abandoning covenant and for abandoning a person; here it is houses and fields that slip out of Israel's hand. The land granted under Joshua is being unclenched in a single afternoon.
עָרֵיהֶם֙‘ā·rê·hemtheir citiesH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural
ʻîyr: a city, a place guarded by waking or a watch The root sense is a watched place. That is the irony: the watched places are left unwatched, and Cambridge notes that Beth-shan, called the key of western Palestine, was almost certainly among them.
וַיָּנֻ֔סוּway·yā·nu·sūand ran awayH5127
√ nûwç — to flit, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
nûwç: to flit, flee The same verb as at index 7, now with the townspeople as subject. Army and civilians share one word, and the repetition is the verse's structure: they fled, so they fled.
פְלִשְׁתִּ֔יםp̄ə·liš·tîmSo the PhilistinesH6430
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
וַיָּבֹ֣אוּway·yā·ḇō·’ūcameH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
וַיֵּשְׁב֖וּway·yê·šə·ḇūand occupiedH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
yâshab: to sit down, dwell The theological weight of the verse sits here. Foreigners do not merely raid; they settle. Cambridge limits the occupation in time, holding that it perhaps lasted only until Abner reconquered the district for Ish-bosheth, so that even this dispossession is not final.
בָּהֶֽם׃סbā·hem[their cities]
Prepositionthird person masculine plural
8

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî mim·mā·ḥo·rāṯ p̄ə·liš·tîm way·yā·ḇō·’ū lə·p̄aš·šêṭ ’eṯ- ha·ḥă·lā·lîm way·yim·ṣə·’ū ’eṯ- šā·’ūl wə·’eṯ- bā·nāw nō·p̄ə·lîm bə·har gil·bō·a‘

Word by word15 · parsed
וַיְהִי֙way·hîH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔תmim·mā·ḥo·rāṯThe next dayH4283
√ mochŏrâth — the morrow or (adverbially) tomorrowPreposition-mNounfeminine singular
mochŏrâth: the morrow, tomorrow A comparatively rare time-word (32 verses) that in Hebrew narrative almost always introduces a discovery. Here the Philistines rise the morning after their victory and find what they hoped for. In 1 Samuel 5:3 and 5:4 Philistines rise on the morrow and find their own god broken, which is the same word doing the opposite work.
פְלִשְׁתִּ֔יםp̄ə·liš·tîmwhen the PhilistinesH6430
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
וַיָּבֹ֣אוּway·yā·ḇō·’ūcameH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
לְפַשֵּׁ֖טlə·p̄aš·šêṭto stripH6584
√ pâshaṭ — to spread out (iPreposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct
pâshaṭ: to spread out, strip off (Piel) The intensive stem of a moderately uncommon root (42 verses). Stripping the slain is the ordinary business of an ancient battlefield, and the Chronicler reports it without comment; the horror is in how routine it is. The same root returns in v. 9 in the causative stem, aimed at the king.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
הַֽחֲלָלִ֑יםha·ḥă·lā·lîmthe deadH2491
√ châlâl — pierced (especially to death)ArticleNounmasculine plural
châlâl: pierced, especially to death A participial noun from a root that also carries the sense of profaning. The slain of Israel lie on Gilboa as pierced bodies, and the writer who reports it will conclude the chapter by naming Saul's own unfaithfulness as the cause.
וַֽיִּמְצְא֤וּway·yim·ṣə·’ūthey foundH4672
√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
שָׁאוּל֙šā·’ūlSaulH7586
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Shâʼûwl: Shaul, asked for The name of Israel's first king, whom the people had asked for. He is found here as an object among objects, between the direct object markers, in a list of what the Philistines discovered.
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
בָּנָ֔יוbā·nāwand his sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
נֹפְלִ֖יםnō·p̄ə·lîmfallenH5307
√ nâphal — to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)VerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
nâphal: to fall A participle, holding the fall open. K&D notes that the beheading which v. 9 presupposes is not narrated, being taken as a matter of course: the text shows the bodies and lets the reader supply the knife.
בְּהַ֥רbə·haron MountH2022
√ har — a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
har: a mountain or range of hills Construct with Gilboa.
גִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃gil·bō·a‘GilboaH1533
√ Gilbôaʻ — Gilboa, a mountain of PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
Gilbôaʻ: Gilboa, a mountain of Palestine A rare proper name (8 verses). Its other memorable use is David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, which makes Gilboa a place-name that carries mourning with it in the canon. The Chronicler names the mountain and moves on; the poetry belongs to Samuel.
9

They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yap̄·šî·ṭu·hū rō·šōw wə·’eṯ- way·yiś·’ū ’eṯ- kê·lāw way·šal·lə·ḥū ḇə·’e·reṣ- p̄ə·liš·tīm sā·ḇîḇ lə·ḇaś·śêr ’eṯ- ‘ă·ṣab·bê·hem wə·’eṯ- hā·‘ām

Word by word15 · parsed
וַיַּ֨פְשִׁיטֻ֔הוּway·yap̄·šî·ṭu·hūThey stripped SaulH6584
√ pâshaṭ — to spread out (iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine pluralthird person masculine singular
pâshaṭ: to strip off (Hifil) The causative stem singles Saul out from the mass of the slain stripped in v. 8. What was done to an army is now done, deliberately, to its king, and the pronoun suffix keeps him nameless in the Hebrew: they made him bare.
רֹאשׁ֖וֹrō·šōwcut off his headH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
rôʼsh: the head, as most easily shaken The head of the anointed king becomes portable property, listed beside the armor as a second item of plunder. In v. 10 the writer will drop this ordinary word and reach for a blunter one.
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
וַיִּשְׂא֥וּway·yiś·’ūtookH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
nâsâʼ: to lift A very common verb doing uncommon work. Ellicott compares Genesis 40:19, where Pharaoh will lift a head from off a man, and hears the same idiom of execution and display behind this clause. The English "cut off" tells the fact; the Hebrew tells the gesture of raising a trophy.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כֵּלָ֑יוkê·lāwhis armorH3627
√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
kᵉlîy: something prepared, an implement A general word for gear, here the king's war equipment. It is the first of the two trophies and the one that will be dedicated in v. 10.
וַיְשַׁלְּח֨וּway·šal·lə·ḥūand sentH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
shâlach: to send away, for, or out (Piel) The intensive stem of sending: a coordinated circuit, not a single messenger. What travels is not a report but the objects themselves.
בְאֶֽרֶץ־ḇə·’e·reṣ-messengers throughout the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
פְלִשְׁתִּ֜יםp̄ə·liš·tīmof the PhilistinesH6430
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
סָבִ֗יבsā·ḇîḇ. . .H5439
√ çâbîyb — (as noun) a circle, neighbour, or environsAdverb
çâbîyb: a circle, environs An adverb of circuit; the trophies go round about the whole Philistine territory, town by town.
לְבַשֵּׂ֛רlə·ḇaś·śêrto proclaim the newsH1319
√ bâsar — properly, to be fresh, iPreposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct
bâsar: to bear tidings, especially good news This is the Old Testament's own herald-verb, the root that gives Hebrew its word for a bearer of good news. Ellicott records that it serves for tidings good and bad, with a preference for the good, and cites 2 Samuel 18:19-20. The Chronicler lets the Philistines have it: their gospel is that the Lord's anointed is dead.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
עֲצַבֵּיהֶ֖ם‘ă·ṣab·bê·hem[in the temple] of their idolsH6091
√ ʻâtsâb — an (idolatrous) imageNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
ʻâtsâb: an idolatrous image The noun is built on a root associated with toil and pain, a standing Hebrew sneer at manufactured gods. Ellicott catches what the syntax implies, that these deities are conceived so locally they could neither see nor hear beyond their own temples, so the news has to be walked to them.
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
הָעָֽם׃hā·‘āmand among their peopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)ArticleNounmasculine singular
ʻam: a people as a congregated unit Idols and people are joined by a single direct object marker, both alike recipients of the announcement. The Chronicler sets the Philistine public and the Philistine images in the same grammatical slot.
10

They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung his head in the temple of Dagon.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yā·śî·mū ’eṯ- kê·lāw bêṯ ’ĕ·lō·hê·hem wə·’eṯ- ṯā·qə·‘ū gul·gā·lə·tōw bêṯ dā·ḡō·wn

Word by word10 · parsed
וַיָּשִׂ֙ימוּ֙way·yā·śî·mūThey putH7760
√ sûwm — to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
sûwm: to put, to set A consecutive imperfect opening the dedication. JFB explains the custom behind it, that a victor vowed the armor of an enemy king to his god and hung such trophies on the pillars of the temple; the act is liturgy, not storage.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כֵּלָ֔יוkê·lāwhis armorH3627
√ kᵉlîy — something prepared, iNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
kᵉlîy: something prepared, an implement The same word as 10:9, now inside a shrine. Israel's royal war-gear has become a votive offering to a foreign god.
בֵּ֖יתbêṯin the templeH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
bayith: a house, in the greatest variation of applications Twice in one verse, and the same noun that quietly links this scene to v. 7: Philistines are dwelling in Israel's houses while Israel's king is nailed up in theirs. The word is a home before it is a temple, which is why Hebrew can say house of Dagon as easily as house of the Lord.
אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם’ĕ·lō·hê·hemof their godsH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
ʼĕlôhîym: gods in the ordinary sense The plural is genuinely plural here, a pantheon, and the Chronicler declines to name it. Ellicott suggests the omission may be a repugnance to writing the idol's name, since Samuel reads house of Ashtaroth at this point.
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
תָקְע֖וּṯā·qə·‘ūand hungH8628
√ tâqaʻ — to clatter, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
tâqaʻ: to clatter, to drive, to thrust A violent, percussive verb: it is used for driving a peg into the ground and for sounding a trumpet blast. A Qal perfect rather than the chain of consecutive imperfects that runs through the rest of the unit, so the sentence lands here with a deliberate thud. The skull is fixed in place, and the narrative stops.
גֻּלְגָּלְתּ֥וֹgul·gā·lə·tōwhis headH1538
√ gulgôleth — a skull (as round)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
gulgôleth: a skull, as round A rare noun (12 verses); elsewhere in the canon it is the counting word of the census, so many persons by their skulls, as at Numbers 1:18 and 1 Chronicles 23:24. The Chronicler, who elsewhere numbers Israel head by head, here records one skull that has stopped being a number and become a trophy. Ellicott connects the word to the Golgotha of Matthew 27:33.
בֵּ֥יתbêṯin the templeH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
דָּגֽוֹן׃סdā·ḡō·wnof DagonH1712
√ Dâgôwn — Dagon, a Philistine deityNounpropermasculine singular
Dâgôwn: Dagon, a Philistine deity A rare name (7 verses), and the canon's other memorable use of it is 1 Samuel 5, where the ark is set in this same god's house and Dagon is found on the morrow fallen and broken. Geneva's marginal gloss describes the idol as a fish below and a man above. The Chronicler names the god without comment; the reader who knows 1 Samuel 5 supplies the irony.

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i. A country unclenched in an afternoon — 10:7

The verse moves by sight and by feet: they saw, they fled, they forsook, they fled again. Ellicott insists the setting is not a valley but the plain, the battlefield of Jezreel, and Cambridge identifies it with the later plain of Esdraelon; Poole locates it beneath Mount Gilboa, where the fight was. The people in view, Ellicott says, are the people of the surrounding districts, who deserted their cities. Pulpit fastens on the speed, that as quickly as the report could travel the Israelites within reach of the victorious Philistines hastened to vacate their abodes. What the Hebrew adds to all of them is the verb וַיַּעַזְב֤וּ (ʻâzab, H5800), to loosen or let go: the grip on the inheritance simply opens. And the occupying verb is not military at all. וַיֵּשְׁב֖וּ (yâshab, H3427) means to sit down and dwell. ⚙ Cambridge alone keeps the door open, holding that the Philistines perhaps dwelt there only until Abner reconquered the district for Ish-bosheth, which is an inference from 2 Samuel 2:9 rather than anything this verse says.

ii. The morning after, and the pierced — 10:8

The scene is hinged open by וַיְהִי֙, untranslated in the English, and by מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת (mochŏrâth, H4283), the morrow. The Philistines come to strip, and the objects of the stripping are הַֽחֲלָלִ֑ים, not "the dead" in general but the pierced, per the lexicon. Ellicott observes that apart from the number of Saul's sons these verses run word for word with Samuel, and Pulpit notes the same difference, that the parallel at 1 Samuel 31:8 says explicitly three sons. K&D supplies what the Chronicler leaves out: that the head was cut from the trunk for this purpose is, as a matter of course, not specially mentioned. Henry, commenting on the chapter as a whole, draws the Chronicler's own moral, that the sin of sinners will find them out and that Saul died for his transgression, which is precisely the verdict the writer will state in vv. 13 and 14. ⚙ Note what the grammar does with the bodies: נֹפְלִ֖ים is a participle, so Saul and his sons are not reported as having fallen but are held there, falling, on the mountain.

iii. Glad tidings carried to the idols — 10:9

Three verbs carry the verse: they made him bare (Hifil of pâshaṭ), they lifted his head (וַיִּשְׂא֥וּ, nâsâʼ, H5375), and they sent. Ellicott is the one who catches the second: better "carried off his head," he says, comparing Genesis 40:19, where Pharaoh lifts a head from off a man. The most startling word is לְבַשֵּׂ֛ר (bâsar, H1319), the Piel of the herald's verb. Ellicott records that it serves for tidings good and bad, especially good, citing 2 Samuel 18:19-20. Cambridge explains the medium: the news was published by the exhibition of trophies of the victory in the Philistine temples, and adds that the reading in Chronicles is inferior to Samuel's house of their idols. Pulpit, more acidly, finds the practice in unexpected and perhaps unwished accord with the ecclesiastical habits of his own century. ⚙ The syntax leaves the idols themselves as the audience, with no word for temple in the Hebrew, and Ellicott draws the conclusion: the strictly local conception of deities implied in the act, as if their idols could neither see nor hear beyond their own temples.

iv. Armor on the pillar, skull on the wall — 10:10

JFB gives the custom: it was common among the heathen to vow the armor of an enemy king to a deity in the event of victory, and such trophies were usually suspended on the pillars of the temple. Ellicott gives the philology, rendering the clause literally as "and his skull they fastened in the house of Dagon," and naming the word gulgôleth with Golgotha of Matthew 27:33 alongside it. Geneva's marginal note describes Dagon as an idol shaped fish below and man above, a traditional picture rather than a settled fact. Cambridge judges that the Chronicles reading is almost certainly a misreading of Samuel, where the body is fastened to the wall of Beth-shan, while holding that the stated fact is probably true anyway; Ellicott replies that it is hardly likely either reading is a corruption of the other, and Pulpit argues the omission in Samuel of the fate of the head is as remarkable as the omission here of the fate of the body. That disagreement is real and unresolved, and we mark it as such. Benson turns the whole scene on the reader: if we give not God the glory of our successes, even Philistines will rise up in judgment with us. ⚙ The grammar underlines his point. Every verb in this unit runs on consecutive imperfects except one: תָקְע֖וּ is a plain perfect with the object fronted, and the root means to drive or thrust. The unit ends on a hammer blow.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. Four verses, and the Chronicler never once says what he thinks of them. He reports that a nation let go of its cities, that a king's corpse was found face down, that his skull was hammered into a fish-god's house, and he adds no lament; the lament is Samuel's business and David's. What he does instead is choose words. Israel lets go (ʻâzab) and the Philistines sit down (yâshab) in the houses Israel let go of, and then Israel's king is hammered up in a house belonging to their gods. One noun, bayith, holds both ends of the exchange. And at the center sits bâsar, the verb of glad tidings: the first gospel proclaimed in this passage is a Philistine one, and its content is that the Lord's anointed is dead and his god has nothing to say. That is a real gospel with a real evidence, a skull you can go and look at, and for one chapter nobody contradicts it. The Chronicler's answer, when it comes in vv. 13 and 14, is not that the Philistines lied but that Saul was unfaithful, so that the kingdom was turned over to David. Which means this passage will not let us make Israel's defeat a scandal to be explained away. It is a verdict, executed by enemies who think they are doing it for Dagon. The reader who remembers 1 Samuel 5, where Philistines came on the morrow and found Dagon himself face down and broken, will hear the irony without being told: the house that can hold a dead king's skull could not hold its own god upright before the ark. The line set apart below is our own sentence, not Scripture.

The first gospel preached in this chapter is Dagon's, and its evidence is a skull nailed to a wall; the answer to it is not a denial but a resurrection.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

On the morrow, in the house of Dagon verbal / quotation: confirmed

Two of this unit's rarest words meet in one earlier scene. מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת (mochŏrâth, H4283, "on the morrow") opens 10:8, and דָּגֽוֹן (Dâgôwn, H1712) closes 10:10; both stand together in 1 Samuel 5:3 and 5:4, where Philistines who had set the captured ark in Dagon's house rose on the morrow and found the god himself fallen. ⚙ The Chronicler reports a Philistine morning that ends with Israel's king fixed in that house; the earlier text reports a Philistine morning that ends with the god of that house broken on his own floor. Neither text tells the reader to compare them. The shared vocabulary does.

1 Samuel 5:3 · 1 Samuel 5:4

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1712 Dâgôwn (rare, in 7 verses) and H4283 mochŏrâth (in 32 verses) in both 1 Samuel 5:3 and 5:4. The rarity of H1712 carries the tier; no quotation of one text by the other is claimed, only a genuine and uncommon shared vocabulary.

The Samuel parallel the Chronicler compressed verbal / quotation: confirmed

1 Chronicles 10:8-9 stands beside 1 Samuel 31:8-9 as the same report in nearly the same words. Ellicott observes that apart from the number of Saul's sons the two verses agree word for word; Pulpit notes the same single difference; K&D describes the Chronicler as abridging throughout, omitting the men of Israel in v. 7 because he had already spoken of their flight in v. 1. ⚙ The differences are therefore not errors but the visible seams of an editorial purpose, which Henry names as the preservation of the records of the house of David.

1 Samuel 31:8 · 1 Samuel 31:9

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6584 pâshaṭ (in 42 verses), H7586 Shâʼûwl (in 335 verses), H6430 Pᵉlishtîy (in 244 verses). The moderately uncommon H6584 plus the near-identity of the clauses, attested independently by Ellicott and Pulpit, supports a verbal link between synoptic accounts; this is literary dependence within the Hebrew Bible, not a citation formula.

The Philistine victory liturgy structural / thematic: confirmed

Judges 16:23 records Philistine lords gathering to sacrifice to their god and to rejoice over a delivered enemy of Israel; 1 Chronicles 10:9-10 records Philistines carrying trophies round their land to announce a victory to their idols and their people, then dedicating the armor and fixing the skull. ⚙ The pattern is the same and it is a liturgical one: a military outcome is converted into a claim about whose god is stronger. Cambridge describes the mechanism precisely, that the news was published by the exhibition of trophies in the Philistine temples, and JFB supplies the votive custom behind the dedication.

Judges 16:23

basis: Verifier records only the common lexeme H6430 Pᵉlishtîy (in 244 verses) as shared, which is far too frequent to carry a verbal claim. The link recorded here is a shared pattern (temple proclamation of a victory over Israel's fallen deliverer), tiered structural for that reason.

Gilboa, and the lament this book does not sing structural / thematic: confirmed

גִּלְבֹּֽעַ (Gilbôaʻ, H1533) is a rare name, and its other prominent occurrences are in David's lament over Saul and Jonathan at 2 Samuel 1:6 and 1:21. ⚙ The Chronicler names the mountain twice in this chapter and grieves nowhere; Samuel's account gives the same mountain a poem. The difference is a real datum about the two books, and Henry states the reason on the Chronicler's side, that these books exist to preserve the records of the house of David rather than to retell Saul's reign.

2 Samuel 1:6 · 2 Samuel 1:21

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1533 Gilbôaʻ (rare, in 8 verses) and H7586 Shâʼûwl (in 335 verses). The rare place-name is a genuine lexical tie, but the relation between the texts is one of contrasting genre and treatment, not quotation, so the tier is held at structural rather than verbal.

A skull that used to be a number structural / thematic: confirmed

גֻּלְגָּלְתּ֥וֹ (gulgôleth, H1538) is an uncommon noun, and its ordinary canonical use is administrative: the census counts Israel by skulls, head by head, at Numbers 1:18, and the Chronicler himself uses it that way when numbering the Levites at 1 Chronicles 23:24. ⚙ Here the same word names one skull that has fallen out of the count and been driven into a wall. The Chronicler is a genealogist by trade, nine chapters of names deep before this one; the irony of the word choice sits inside his own vocabulary.

Numbers 1:18 · 1 Chronicles 23:24

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H1538 gulgôleth (rare, in 12 verses). The lexeme is genuinely uncommon, but the senses differ (a counting term for persons versus a severed skull), so no quotation or allusion is claimed and the tier is held at structural.

The head or the body? A disputed text flagged: verify source

Chronicles says the skull was fastened in the house of Dagon; 1 Samuel 31:10 says the body was fastened to the wall of Beth-shan, and 2 Samuel 21:12 records the recovery of the bodies from Beth-shan. The commentators do not agree. Cambridge holds that the Chronicles reading is almost certainly a misreading of Samuel while granting that the fact stated is probably true; Ellicott replies that it is hardly likely either reading is a corruption of the other, and proposes that the Chronicler drew on an additional source, or that a clause dropped out of Samuel; Pulpit finds Samuel's silence about the head as remarkable as Chronicles' silence about the body, and reports that Bertheau explains it as compression while Thenius and Ewald posit a lost sentence. ⚙ We record the disagreement and take no side.

1 Samuel 31:10 · 2 Samuel 21:12

basis: Verifier basis for 2 Samuel 21:12 is only the common lexemes H7586 Shâʼûwl (in 335 verses) and H6430 Pᵉlishtîy (in 244 verses); no basis is recorded for 1 Samuel 31:10 in this unit's candidate list. More importantly, the relation of the texts is itself contested among the named sources (Cambridge, Ellicott, Pulpit, Bertheau, Thenius, Ewald), so the link is flagged rather than confirmed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The place of a skull novel

Ellicott, reading 10:10 literally, writes that his skull (gulgôleth, compare Golgotha, Matthew 27:33) was fastened in the house of Dagon. The philological observation is his and it is uncontroversial: the Aramaic name behind Golgotha rests on this Semitic root for skull. ⚙ What we add, and mark as ours, is the pairing of the scenes. Israel's first anointed king ends as a skull driven into the wall of a pagan shrine, the trophy that proves a false god's victory. Israel's last anointed King ends at a place named for a skull, lifted up where every passerby could see him, in what looks to every witness like the same kind of trophy. The difference is not in the appearance but in the outcome: one skull stayed on the wall.

Matthew 27:33

The kingdom turned over ancient/widely-held

Henry states the governing reading of the chapter: the writer of Chronicles repeats not the history of Saul's reign but only of his death, by which a way was made for David to the throne. K&D reads the chapter's closing reflection the same way, finding a double transgression named there, the failure to keep the word of the Lord and the inquiry of a summoner of the dead. ⚙ So this unit is not simply a defeat; it is the hinge on which the Chronicler's whole genealogy of the house of David turns. The kingdom is taken from a king the people asked for and given to the king God chose, and the New Testament opens its account of Jesus by calling him the son of David (Matthew 1:1). The path from Gilboa to that title is the argument of the book this unit belongs to.

1 Chronicles 10:14 · Matthew 1:1

The king they made bare novel

The unit uses pâshaṭ (H6584) twice, in the Piel for the slain generally and in the Hifil for Saul alone: the king is singled out to be made bare, and his war-gear is hung up as a votive offering, which JFB identifies as the standing heathen custom. ⚙ The Gospels report the stripping of Jesus and the division of his clothing by the soldiers who executed him (Matthew 27:35). We name this as a resemblance of pattern, the humiliation of a king reduced to the plunder of his executioners, and nothing more. This is not a quotation, no shared vocabulary is possible across the two languages, and we do not know of an ancient writer who joins these two texts; treat it as our own reading, offered to be tested.

Matthew 27:35

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: the Chronicler's account here runs parallel to 1 Samuel 31:8-10, and the differences are small but real. The largest is at 10:10, where Chronicles reports the skull fastened in the house of Dagon and Samuel reports the body fastened to the wall of Beth-shan. Cambridge calls the Chronicles reading almost certainly a misreading of Samuel; Ellicott denies that either is a corruption of the other and appeals to an additional source or a lost clause; Pulpit reports Bertheau (compression), Thenius and Ewald (a lost sentence). We have not resolved this and have flagged the corresponding thread rather than pick a winner. At 10:9 Ellicott notes that the Septuagint of 1 Samuel agrees with the Chronicles reading against the Hebrew of Samuel, which tells against Cambridge's verdict that the Chronicles reading is inferior.

Sources: Gill's entry for every verse in this unit is only a pointer to his note on 1 Samuel 31:1, so no Gill excerpt could honestly be quoted here. Barnes' entry, repeated under each verse, comments on the phrase about Saul's house in 10:6 and not on 10:7-10, so it is not quoted. Henry's note is a single block on 10:1-14, and JFB's entries at 10:8 and 10:9 are only section headings. Geneva's entries are largely the verse text itself; the one substantive gloss is the description of Dagon at 10:10, which is traditional rather than established (modern lexicographers often connect the name with grain rather than with fish).

Data: word index 18 of 10:7 carries no Strong's number in the interlinear (it is the preposition plus suffix), so no lexical note is offered there. The thread bases are the Verifier's computed shared Strong's lexemes; most of the candidates for this unit share only the very common names Saul (335 verses) and Philistine (244 verses), which is why several plausible links are tiered structural rather than verbal. The cross-Testament items under christ carry no shared lexeme by definition and are marked as our own readings where they are ours.

Judgment: the reading of bâsar at 10:9 as a dark parody of the herald's verb is the machine layer's, built on the lexicon (to bear tidings, especially good news) and on Ellicott's note that the verb serves for tidings of both kinds. The Chronicler makes no such comment.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)