1 Chronicles 10:1

1 Chronicles 10:1 says, Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.  It seems that the Philistines were often at war with the people of Israel, and the people of Israel ran from them in fear.  As followers of Christ, we should never run away from evil in the world out of fear.  Verse two adds, And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.  This was during Saul's reign and was when Jonathan and Saul's other sons were killed.  We aren't really given any information about Saul being king before this.  Still, if we don't run away in fear, and even though God will forever protect us spiritually, we may be defeated physically.  Verse three continues, And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.  We are told of Saul being wounded in battle.  Verse four states, Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.  Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him so he wouldn't be captured and abused by the Philistines.  We are not told that he looked for God for deliverance, and this should always be our first action no matter how hopeless things might seem.  The armor bearer wouldn't do it out of fear, not of Saul but of others if they found out what he did I believe, so Saul killed himself.  We should never allow ourselves to get to the point where life seems so hopeless that we kill ourselves, but if we do, it is not an unpardonable sin in my opinion.  Verse five adds, And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died.  Saul's armor bearer killed himself when he saw Saul was dead.  He may have thought he would be blamed and didn't want to face the consequences if he was.  We should never allow the death of another person to cause us to kill ourselves.  Verse six continues, So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.  We are told that Saul and all his house died together, but we know that one of Jonathan's sons lived.  Verse seven concludes, And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.  When the people of Israel in the valley near Saul saw that Saul and his sons were dead, they fled, and the Philistines took over their cities.   We don't need to allow the defeat of others to cause us to abandon our faith in God and flee from those who oppose Him.  As long as we remain faithful, we are already victorious, so there is never a reason to run from evil in this world.