Death of Saul
1 Now the Philistines fought against the Israelites who, in their flight, fell mortally wounded on Mount Gilboa.
2 The Philistines surrounded Saul and his sons and killed Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchi shua, Saul’s sons.
3 The battle raged around Saul, and he was afraid when he saw that the archers had found him.
4 Then Saul commanded his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through lest these uncircumcised men come and stab me themselves, making fun of me.” But his armor-bearer did not move because he was greatly terrified. So Saul drew his own sword and fell upon it.
5 Seeing that Saul was dead, the armor-bearer also fell upon his sword and died with him.
6 Thus, Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer and all his men died together on the same day.
7 When the Israelites on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and occupied those cities.
8 The following day, the Philistines came to strip the slain and found Saul and his three sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa.
9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor and then sent messengers throughout the Philistine lands to proclaim this good news in the temples of their idols and among the people.
10 They put his armor in the tem ple of Ashtaroth and pinned his body on the wall of Bethshan.
11 When the in habitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 all their warriors set out, marched through the night and removed the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Bethshan. They then returned to Jabesh and burnt the bodies there.
13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, after which, they fasted for seven days.
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Comments 1 Samuel, Chapter 31
• 31.1 There will be no further question of Saul in the Bible: no competition with David. But it had to be a respectful silence. All his people shared the responsibility of his failure because of the little support they had given him, and could they condemn him without accusing God and Samuel?