Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. – 1 Samuel 31:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 24, 2019): 1 Samuel 31

We struggle with the idea of the end of life. For most of us, life is a gift that needs to be lived to the fullest until the last possible minute. Physician-assisted dying is often a controversial issue. Complicating the concept is the physical necessity of death. Death being preferred because of a terminal physical disease is often viewed at least a little more positively than death due to chronic depression or mental illness. The idea seems to be that the assisted death due to terminal physical disease and as a result of pain might be acceptable – with heavy emphasis placed on the “might” - but assisted dying due to mental illness is not acceptable, either because of the stigma we place on mental illness or the idea that mental illness can be properly treated, and that if it is properly treated, the person can lead a productive life to the full. Often what we miss is that there is very little difference between physical pain and mental pain. Both are very real. And, sometimes, both are very terminal.

The end of Saul’s life cannot really be called suicide. Saul was mortally wounded. No doctor of his time would be able to put the King back together again, even if Saul could make his way to a doctor. The truth is that his body, either or alive or dead, is about to fall into the hands of his enemies. And there is nothing that Saul can do to change that fact, and that no doctor is going to be offered to the injured king.

And so Saul decides to end his life on his terms. Our contemporary conflict over end of life issues is played out in the story of the death of Saul. Saul asks his armor bearer to run him through with a sword. The action of the armor-bearer would end the King’s life, but his sword thrust would not be the cause of death. The cause of death would be the arrows that had pierced his body from the bows of his enemies. Even though the armor-bearer would not be the root cause of the King’s death, the armor-bearer is not able to raise his sword and assist the king to die. Even knowing that Saul is in pain and that there is no possibility that Saul would be able to recover from his wounds, the life of the king is sacred and the armor-bearer refuses to hasten his death.

Because of the armor-bearer’s refusal, Saul decides to end his own life. Did that mean that Saul committed suicide? That argument continues to rages. But the reality is that Saul was already dead; all Saul did was pick the moment of his death, choosing this moment to die, over the inevitability of death in an hour, or maybe in a day, because of the wounds that had already been inflicted. And so Saul chose this moment to die.

But his armor-bearer committed suicide. He could not face the future, feeling inside of himself that he had failed his King.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 1


Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) message "Encountering a Broken World" from the series "Emptied and Filled" is now online. You can find it here