These questions are designed to help you read and study the Bible passage preached next week. Our prayer is that these questions will assist you in growing deeper in God’s Word as you examine the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11).

Read 1 Samuel 31:1–6.

In these tragic verses, which prominent characters die?
Let’s compare two of these men: Jonathan and his father, Saul.
Jonathan:

What do we know about his character throughout First Samuel?
What was his relationship to David?
How did he die?
What lessons can we learn from the death of Jonathan in this text?

Saul:

What do we know about his character throughout First Samuel?
What was his relationship to David?
How did he die?
What lessons can we learn from the death of Saul in this text?

Read 1 Samuel 31:7–13.

What did the Philistines do to the bodies of Saul and his sons?
How could their actions appear to cast shame on Israel and Israel’s God?
What are ways that the world may try to cast shame on us and our God today in the modern world?
Why do the men of Jabesh Gilead bravely set out to rescue the remains of Saul and his sons (see 1 Samuel 11:9–11)?
First Samuel ends in tragedy. How does this tragic ending point us to Christ and our need for a Greater King?