Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. [5] And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.
1 Samuel 31 1
Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me." But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
Saul, Jonathan, and Jonathan's brothers were killed in a battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa. Despoiled and exposed by the Philistines, the bodies were rescued by men from Jabesh-Gilead and buried in Jabesh. Years later, David reinterred the remains in the tomb of Kish in the land of Benjamin.
His pride, jealousy, and fear displaced the faith he once had in his heart for God. Saul became spiritually hardhearted and blind to God and to his own sinful acts. Saul led the nation as king for about 42 years, but Saul did not fully obey the Lord, and thereby sinned against God.
In an act of heroism so that he, the king of Israel, would not be captured, Saul committed suicide by falling on his own sword.
In essence, Saul's root character flaw is self-exaltation and self-deception. He thinks he knows better than everyone else, including God. The biggest tragedy is that he's not even aware of it. The story shows he is completely blind to his arrogance and always believes he's in the right.
When David found out that Saul and Jonathan were dead, he mourned. He also had the man killed who took credit for Saul's death. The last verses of 2 Samuel 1 are the words of a psalm, or song, that David wrote for the occasion. David was then directed by the Lord to go to the land of Judah.
Saul decides to put Jonathan to death for breaking the ban, but relents when the soldiers protest (1 Samuel 14:45). The story of David and Jonathan is introduced in Samuel 1 (18:1), where it says that "Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself".
Did God Change Saul's Name to Paul? It is commonly thought that God renamed Saul after his conversion – and that “Saul” indicates the persecutor, while “Paul” refers to the changed, Christian man. However, in Acts 9:17, Ananias refers to him as Saul after his conversion.
According to the text, he was anointed as king of the Israelites by Samuel, and reigned from Gibeah. Saul is said to have died by suicide when he "fell on his sword" during a battle with the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, in which three of his sons were also killed.
What was the consequence of Saul's disobedience? (He would lose the honor of having the kingship continue through his posterity.)
When Saul was on the road to Damascus, he encountered God and was blinded by a bright light that surrounded him. This experience left Saul blind for three days before he went on to begin preaching about God and what He had done in Saul's life.
Saul conquered the Amalekites but decided to spare King Agag, who God ordered him to also kill. According to King Saul what did not look good he destroyed but that which appealed to him, he decided against God's instructions again to take back with him. These actions of King Saul remind us of how fleshly man behaves.
That's a myth far too many Christians believe and, more unfortunately, far too many pastors have taught Christians to believe. The truth is Saul and Paul were both the apostle's names well before his conversion to Christianity on the Damascus road. Like Jews living in the Roman empire, Paul had two names.
Self-appointed apostle of Jesus, whom he never met, Paul was born Saul in Tarsus and was probably a Roman citizen. He was definitely a devout Jew, and among those who persecuted the early followers of Jesus for breaking Jewish law.
In 1 Samuel 24-26 we see that when Jesus waited on God's justice and timing he ascended to his throne and made a place for us at his right hand, forever.
He is stuck, and everywhere he turns, cops are surrounding him. He finally takes to hiding in a dumpster, trying to scramble for his phone to call Ed the Disappearer. But his luck seems to have run dry, and he fumbles everything he's holding. That's when the police find and capture him.
According to 2 Samuel 2:8–4:12, after his father's death, Ishbosheth was proclaimed king of Israel by Abner, Saul's cousin and commander in chief, who then became the real power behind the throne.
Saul sent men to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, "If you don't run for your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed." So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
Saul's jealousy stemmed from fear and insecurity. Saul was afraid because David was closer to God than he was, and he was worried David would take over as king of the Israelites. Saul fed his own insecurities and let his jealousy grow, and in doing that he gave Satan a foothold in his life.
The oldest manuscripts, namely the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Samuel from the late 1st century BCE, the 1st-century CE historian Josephus, and the major Septuagint manuscripts, all give Goliath's height as "four cubits and a span" (6 feet 9 inches or 2.06 metres), whereas the Masoretic Text has "six cubits and a span" (9 ...
Saul did not obey God's instructions for the war against Amalek. God had told him not to bring back any of the animals from Amalek (15:3). In fact, Saul brought back many of the best sheep and cows from there. He did that because, in his opinion, he had a better plan for those animals.
He sinned against his soldiers by placing an undue burden on them, and then he sinned against Jonathan, his son, sentencing him to death for breaking an oath that Jonathan had not even known about. Saul is beginning to reveal himself as a selfish tyrant in regard to God's people.
Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul. So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns.
God chose David because he saw that his heart was good.
What did Samuel then do to make David King? What did God give David as he was anointed?