“Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard.” Years earlier, when Saul had just become king, he rounded up an army and rescued the people of Jabesh Gilead from the Ammonites (1 Sam. 11:1-11). The people of Jabesh Gilead never forgot that kindness, and so went at the risk of their lives to keep Saul’s body from being desecrated. This is one of the great records of thankfulness and heroism in the Bible.