Hearing the news, Saul led his army there, intending to besiege the city.
Samuel's ghost only confirmed Saul's doom—that he would lose the battle, that Jonathan would be killed, and that Saul would soon join Samuel in Sheol.
The Bible gives a threefold account of how Saul came to be appointed king.
Saul pursued David, but whatever evil influence controlled him was no match for the spiritual power of Samuel.
David (quite foolishly if the order of the story is correct) once again played the harp for Saul, and Saul again tried to murder him.
Earlier references to Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel, however, speak of him as Jonathan's son, not Saul's.
On the foundation of his fame in winning a victory over the Ammonites, Saul amassed an army to throw off the Philistine yoke.
Saul asked his priest, Ahijah, to use divination to ask God whether he should pursue the Philistines and slaughter them, but God gave no answer.
Later it was learned that the tribe of Judah supported David in opposition to Saul and his progeny, whose support seemed to come more from the northern tribes, but few details are given.
Saul relented, and he also cut off his pursuit of the Philistines.
To conduct a war acceptable to God, Saul was instructed to slay every last one of these people, including women and children, as well as livestock.
One has only to recognize that the writers allow Saul's adversary, David, to deliver his eulogy to understand this.
In an alternative version of the story, a young Amalekite presented Saul's crown to David—here the Amalekites had not been wiped out—and claimed to have finished off Saul at his request (2 Sam.
According to the Books of Samuel, Saul was the son of a man named Kish, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
Ever caught in what modern readers would recognize as the throes of bi-polarism, Saul then decided to give David the hand of his daughter.
Saul summoned Ahimelech and castigated him for his assistance to David, then ordered henchmen to kill Ahimelech and the other priests of Nob.
Seeing that his rival had gone over to the enemy and seemed no longer to seek the throne of Israel, Saul broke off his pursuit.
Much of the later part of Saul's reign was consumed by fighting against Israel's enemies on one hand and seeking to destroy his divinely-appointed successor, David, on the other.
David learned of Saul's plan and, through divination, discovered that the citizens of Keilah would betray him to Saul.
The Philistines now prepared to attack Israel, and Saul led out his army to face them at Gilboa.
Deprived of Samuel's blessing, Saul's army became small, numbering only around six hundred men.
Evidence for this is found in the meaning of Saul's name and in that the story of Samuel's infancy seems, in some respects, to describe that of a future king rather than a prophet.
Saul determined to slay Jonathan for his offense, but the soldiers came to Jonathan's defense.
Tiring of playing cat-and-mouse with Saul, David fled to the Philistine city of Gath, the birthplace of Goliath, where he offered himself as a mercenary general to King Achish, Israel's adversary.
When the appointed time came and went without Samuel appeance, Saul prepared for battle by offering sacrifice to God.
None of Saul's henchmen were willing to do this, so Doeg offered to do it instead, and he killed 85 priests.
When the Israelites noticed the chaos in the Philistine camp, Saul joined in the attack and the Philistines were driven out.
According to 1 Samuel, Saul had three sons, Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua, and two daughters, Merab and Michal.
Three of Saul's sons—Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua—were slain.
Regarding the text itself, according to critical scholars, the story of Saul's life is essentially a splicing together of two or more originally distinct sources.
Samuel withdrew his support for Saul and declared that God has chosen another to replace him.
The narrator informs us that Saul actually hoped that the Philistines would prevail over David, but the champion returned with twice the required number.
An Edomite named Doeg told Saul that David had been hiding in a place named Nob, and that the priest there, Ahimelech, had helped David by giving material aid and consulting God for him.
David held Saul's one remaining grandson, Mephibosheth, under gentle house arrest in Jerusalem.
Saul has vowed that his men would not eat until the battle was over, and Jonathan—who has not heard the vow—consumed wild honey.
David stated that he was too poor to marry a king's daughter, but Saul insisted, telling David that the bride-price would only be one hundred foreskins from the Philistines.
Until this point, the text states that David continued to act as one of Saul's war captains, proving especially effective in several campaigns against the Philistines.
The bodies of Saul and his sons were publicly displayed by the Philistines on the wall of Beth-shan, while Saul’s armor was hung up in the temple of the goddess Ashtaroth/Astarte.
David twice eluded the king's attacks, and Saul then sent David away, fearing the lord's presence with him.
Saul requested soothing music, and a servant recommended David, the son of Jesse, who was renowned as a skillful harpist and warrior.
Saul's own declaration "Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?"
Samuel preserved a hymn praising Saul, which is characterized as having been composed by David upon hearing of Saul's death.
An objective assessment of Saul's contribution to the history of Israel necessitates an attempt to liberate the "historical Saul" from the pro-Davidic narrative that constitutes our only source for his reign.
One might picture David and Saul engaging in this type of intense spiritual-musical activity together, rather than David softly strumming while a depressed Saul lies next to him.
The story took an ominous turn, however, as the Israelite women took up the chant: "Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands."
Saul then tried to have David killed during the night, but Michal helped him escape and tricked his pursuers by disguising a household idol to look like David in bed.
In any case, Ish-bosheth/Esh-Baal apparently reigned as king of Israel from Saul's stronghold of Gibeah after Saul's death.
Convinced that God's silence was due to someone's sin, Saul conducted a lottery and discovered Jonathan's sin of eating forbidden honey.
Saul dispatched David on various military errands, and he won renown.
Leaving Samuel's protection, David went to Jonathan, who agreed to act as David's intelligence agent in Saul's house.
Saul then admitted his sin and begged for forgiveness, pleading for Samuel to return with him "so that I might worship God."
After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against their enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines.
Saul carried out a widespread assault against the Amalekites, killing all of them except their king, Agag.
Saul (or Sha'ul) (Hebrew: ???????, meaning "given" or "lent") was the first king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel who reigned from about 1020–1000 B.C.E.
Saul, who in this story had not met David previously, appointed the lad as his champion.
Samuel interpreted this as a prophetic act, confirming that God had torn the kingdom from Saul.
Broken in spirit, Saul returned to the face the enemy, and the Israelites were soundly defeated.
To escape the ignominy of capture, Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him, but commited suicide by falling on his sword when the armor bearer refused (1 Sam.
Several northern factions formerly loyal to Saul held out against David and mounted rebellions against his rule.
Jonathan and a small group of courageous Israelites cleverly snuck into a Philistine outpost without Saul's knowledge to attack them from within, causing panic.
Samuel made one concession and allowed Saul to worship God with him.
Despite subsequent military successes and a promising heir in his son Jonathan, Saul became a tragic figure.
Seeking in vain for God's advice through prophets, dreams, and divination, Saul searched for a medium through whom he could consult with the departed soul of Samuel.
David was appointed as Saul's armor bearer, playing the harp as needed to calm Saul's moods.
Saul did so, but as the hour of Samuel’s coming approached, Saul’s men begin to desert.
Jonathan dissuaded Saul from a plan to kill David and informed David of the plot.
We are told little about Saul's youth other than that he was "an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the others" (1 Sam.
The text gives us an insight into Saul's spiritual character at this point, as it describes him as "prophesying in his house" (1 Sam 18:10).