The Story of the Bible

On the next day a great battle was fought on the side of Mount Gilboa. The Philistines did not wait for Saul's warriors to attack them. They climbed up the mountain, and fell upon the Israelites in their camp. Many of the men of Israel were slain in the fight, and many more fled away. Saul's three sons were killed, one of them, the brave and noble Jonathan.

When Saul saw that the battle had gone against him, that his sons were slain, and that the enemies were pressing closely upon him, he called to his armor-bearer, and said, "Draw your sword and kill me; it would be better for me to die by your hand than for the Philistines to come upon me and slaughter me."

But the armor-bearer would not draw his sword upon his king, the Lord's anointed. Then Saul took his own sword and fell upon it, and killed himself among the bodies of his own men.

THE DEATH OF SAUL

On the next day the Philistines came to strip off the armor and carry away the weapons of those who had been slain. The crown of King Saul and the bracelet on his arm had been already carried away; but the Philistines took off his armor and sent it to the temple of their idol, Dagon; and the body of Saul and those of his three sons they fastened to the wall of Beth-shan, a Canaanite city in the valley of the Jordan.

You remember how Saul, in the beginning of his reign, had rescued the city of Jabesh-gilead from the Ammonites. (See Story One in this Part.) The men of Jabesh had not forgotten Saul's brave deed. When they heard what had been done with the body of Saul they rose up in the night and went down the mountains and walked across the Jordan, and came to Beth-shan. They took down from the wall the bodies of Saul and his sons, and carried them to Jabesh; and that they might not be taken away again, they burned them and buried their ashes under a tree; and they mourned for Saul seven days. Thus came to an end the reign of Saul, which began well, but ended in failure and in ruin, because Saul forsook the Lord God of Israel.

Saul had reigned forty years. At the beginning of his reign the Israelites were almost free from the Philistines, and for a time Saul seemed to have success in driving the Philistines out of the land. But after Saul forsook the Lord, and would no longer listen to Samuel, God's prophet, he became gloomy and full of fear, and lost his courage, so that the land fell again under the power of its enemies. David could have helped him, but he had driven David away; and there was no strong man to stand by Sal and win victories for him. So at the end, when Saul fell in battle, the yoke of the Philistines was on Israel heavier than at any time before.

WOMEN GRINDING GRAIN IN BIBLE TIMES

The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King

II Samuel i: 1, to iv: 12.

On the third day after the battle on Mount Gilboa, David was at his home is Ziklag, on the south of Judah, when a young man came into the town, running, with garments torn and earth on his head, as was the manner of those in deep grief. He hastened to David, and fell down before him. And David said to him, "From what place have you come?"

And the young man said, "Out of the camp of Israel I have escaped."

And David said to him, "What has taken place? Tell me quickly."

Then the man answered, "The men of Israel have been beaten in the battle; very many of them are slain, and the rest have fled away. King Saul is dead, and so is Jonathan, his son."

"How do you know that Saul and Jonathan are dead?" asked David.

And the young man said, "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa in the battle; and I saw Saul leaning upon his spear wounded, and near death, with his enemies close upon him. And he said to me, 'Come to me, and kill me, for I am suffering great pain.' So I stood beside him and killed him, for I saw that he could not live. And I took the crown that was on his head, and the bracelet on his arm, and I have brought them to you, my lord David."

Then David and all the men that were with him tore their clothes, and mourned, and wept, and took no food on that day, on account of Saul, and of Jonathan, and for the people of Israel who had fallen by the sword.

And David said to the young man who had brought to him the news, "Who are you? To what people do you belong?"

And he said, "I am no Israelite; I am an Amalekite."

"How was it," said David to him, "that you were not afraid to slay the king of Israel, the anointed of the Lord? You shall die for this deed."

And David commanded one of his men to kill him, because he had said that he had slain the king. He may have told the truth, but it is more likely that he was not in the battle, and that after the fighting he came upon the field to rob the dead bodies, and that he brought a false story of having slain Saul, hoping to have a reward. But as David would not slay the anointed king, even though he were his enemy, he would not reward, but would rather punish the stranger who claimed to have slain him.