Saul’s reign as Israel’s king began with so much potential. He was head and shoulders above all the people, yet displayed humility. It wasn’t long before his reign began to go off the rails. He could have been the measuring stick by which all kings would have been measured. Instead he became a skeleton in Israel’s closet.
At the end of First Samuel, we have the record of Saul being killed during a battle with the Philistines. The Philistines took his dead body, cut off his head, took off his armor and hung his bones in Beth-Shan. It was Saul’s bones hanging in Beth-Shan but it was the skeleton of Israel’s past rattling in the wind as a reminder. Israel needed to move forward but all they could hear was the rattling of Saul’s bones.
“All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-Shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days” (1 Sam. 31:12-13). Some valiant men weren’t about to let Saul’s bones hang and rattle in the wind. The Philistines used Saul’s bones as a reminder of their victory over one of God’s people. Those valiant men, however, weren’t about to let the enemy celebrate Israel’s dark history. So they rose up, went took the bones down, and buried them.
We all have those skeletons in our closet. We all have those bones that rattle and shake that remind us of our past. The enemy of our soul likes to rattle our past failures like Saul’s bones in Beth-Shan.
The valiant men took those bones and buried them under a tree. The best place to bury the skeletons of your past is under the tree of Calvary. Your sinful history can be washed away and covered by the Blood of the Lamb.