And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
The scripture makes no mention of the souls of Saul and his sons, what became of them after they were dead (secret things belong not to us), but of their bodies only. I. How they were basely abused by the Philistines.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 31:8-13
And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh,.... For though they burned the bodies, yet so as to preserve the bones; and these, together with the ashes of the parts burnt, they gathered up, and buried under a tree near this city; this tree is said to be an oak, Ch1 10:12; so Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, was buried under an oak, Gen 35:8.
And they took their bones, and buried [them] under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days. (f) According to the custom of mourners.