Saul’s Overthrow and Death
(2 Samuel 1:1–16; 1 Chronicles 10:1–6)
Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 1Ch 10:1-121Sa 28:42Sa 1:211Sa 12:251Sa 28:11Sa 28:151Sa 29:1
The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. 1Ch 8:331Sa 14:491Ch 9:391Sa 13:161Sa 13:21Sa 18:1-41Sa 23:172Sa 1:6 When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically. 2Sa 1:61Ki 22:342Sa 1:4Amo 2:14Gen 49:23
Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run it through me, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” 2Sa 1:62Sa 1:9-10Jdg 9:542Sa 1:202Sa 17:231Ch 10:41Ki 16:271Sa 14:6
But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him. 1Ch 10:5
So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that same day. 1Ch 10:61Sa 11:151Sa 12:171Sa 12:251Sa 28:191Sa 4:10-11Ecc 9:1-2Hos 13:10-11
The Philistines Possess the Towns
(1 Chronicles 10:7–10)
When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities. 1Sa 13:6Deu 28:33Jdg 6:2Lev 26:32Lev 26:36
The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 1Ch 10:82Ch 20:25 They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people. 2Sa 1:20Jdg 16:23-241Ch 10:9-101Sa 17:511Sa 17:541Sa 31:4 They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan. Jdg 2:13Jos 17:111Sa 21:91Sa 7:32Sa 21:12-14Jdg 1:27
Jabesh-gilead’s Tribute to Saul
(1 Chronicles 10:11–14)
When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 1Sa 11:1-112Sa 2:4 all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. 2Ch 16:14Jer 34:52Sa 2:4-7Amo 6:10
When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there. Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. 2Sa 21:12-14Gen 50:101Sa 22:62Sa 1:122Sa 2:4-5Gen 35:8