What Kind of Man are You?

It's hard to describe what a real man looks like nowadays. Many women are trying to turn men into women and some women are trying to become more like men. God describes a certain group of men from a town called Jabesh Gilead as "valiant men", a trait which God seems to praise.

When Saul was first made king of Israel the town of Jabesh Gilead was surrounded by an enemy army. They asked for the surrender of the city and to gouge out the right out of every man. The people of Jabesh Gilead sent for help throughout Israel. King Saul led the Israelites and defeated the enemy force, thus  saving Jabesh Gilead from capture and humiliation. Fast forward to the end of King Saul's life. The Philistines fought the army of Israel and King Saul, his sons, and his army were defeated. The Philistines cut off Saul's head and hung his body and the body of his sons on the outside wall of a nearby town. When the men of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul..."all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days."  1 Samuel 31:12-13

Apparently the men of Jabesh Gilead, that city that King Saul rescued many years earlier, had never forgotten his good deed towards them. They came and took the lifeless body of King Saul and his sons down from a place of humiliation to give them a proper burial. The men of Jabesh Gilead were valiant, grateful, and loyal. These are qualities of real men.