When the men of Jabesh-gilead received word that Saul’s corpse was pinned to the wall of a Philistine city, their hearts were stirred with compassion. Marching all night, the men of Jabesh-gilead risked their lives to recover the bodies of Saul and his sons. The bodies were so mutilated that they eventually had to burn them. But they buried their bones under a tree in their own city.

What moved these men? Why would they risk their lives, outnumbered and outmanned, to recover the headless corpse of a judged king?

I suggest it’s because of something that happened forty years previously, when Saul was presented to Israel as her king (1 Samuel 10-11). Certain people applauded. “Long live the king,” they said. But others said, “We’re not going to have this farmer from the tribe of Benjamin rule over us.” And Saul realized that the opinion about him was divided. So he went back to his farm and plowed away - until word reached him that the men of Jabesh-gilead were in trouble.

When Nahash the Ammonite threatened to wage war against the men of Jabesh-gilead, Saul was moved with compassion and rallied the men of Israel. With the 330,000 men who answered his call, Saul marched all night to rescue the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead. And the men of Jabesh-gilead never forgot it. And forty years later, when he was naked and humiliated, the men to whom Saul had shown mercy returned the favor.

In Luke 6:38, when Jesus said, “Whatever is measured out will be measured back to you,” He was talking about mercy. If we are those who learn mercy (Matthew 9:13), if we are those who love mercy (Micah 6:8), mercy will be shown to us. It might not happen for forty years - but when we need it most, it will be there (Matthew 5:7).

There was another King Whose body was pinned - not to a wall, but to a Cross. The agony was unbelievable; the humiliation, unspeakable. He was spiritually decapitated as well, for He was the Head - but where was His body? Except for John, all of His disciples had fled. He was burned in the fire of God’s righteous indignation poured out upon Him. Yet, His bones were not broken.

And so we come to His Table day after day to say, “I remember what You did for me. We were about to be done in by the enemy, but You came from Heaven to rescue us. Others might not remember. Others might not care. But we of Jabesh-gilead remember what You did when You marched all night and came to this world to save us.”