1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
2 And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.
4 Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.
7 And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
8 And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in mount Gilboa.
9 And when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols, and to the people.
10 And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.
11 And when all Jabeshgilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
14 And enquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.
<html><b>And the Philistines fought with Israel</b> He relates only Saul’s downfall; when relating the story of David, he does not tell of his disgrace, only of his heroism and greatness, because the Book pertains to him and to the kings of Judah.</html>
<html><b>and the archers discovered him</b> Come and see that (Prov. 21:30): “… there is neither wisdom nor understanding, etc. against the Lord,” because man’s ways are before the Lord. Benjamin’s enemies would fall before them [when they used] the bow because they were well trained with the bow, as it is written: “[Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite,] a man with a shriveled right hand,” (Judges 3:15). And so it is written, concerning Jonathan (I Samuel 20:20): “And I shall shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a mark.” And it is written below (I Chron. 12:2) concerning Benjamin: “Armed with bows, shooting with the right and left hands, etc.” and concerning Asa in this Book (II 14:7): “… and out of Benjamin, who bore shields and drew bows, etc.” But when the Lord turned away from Saul [who was from the tribe of Benjamin], he fell into the hands of the archers, into something that was his own craft. and he was terrified of the archers וַיָחֶל like (Esther 4:4): “…and the queen was extremely terrified (וַתִּתְחַלְחַל).”</html>
<html><b>and brought them to Jabesh</b> to Jabesh Gilead <b>and they fasted seven days</b> Why did they imperil their lives more than the rest of Israel to remove the bodies of Saul and his sons from Mount Gilboa? Because Saul had done them a favor by saving them when Nahash the Ammonite marched upon them. [They fasted seven days] corresponding to the seven days that they [the Ammonites] gave them [to see] if a savior would come [to save] them, [at which time] they fasted seven days; perhaps a savior would come to them. Since Saul came and saved them, they fasted now too seven days, and also because of the mourning which was customary to observe seven days, because they were also their kinsmen, for when Israel slew the inhabitants of Gibeah in the incident of the concubine in Gibeah (at the end of Judges), the people of Jabesh Gilead gave their daughters to Benjamin, when they grabbed them from the dances.</html>
<html><b>And Saul died because of the treachery that he had committed</b> He committed two treacherous acts by inquiring of the familiar spirit: one when he inquired after Samuel, and one when he inquired of familiar spirits, and in the Aggadah of Samuel (24:6) we learn that he committed five treacherous acts <b>concerning the word of the Lord that he did not keep</b> that which Samuel had commanded him, as it is written (I Sam. 10:8): “Seven days shall you wait,” and because he dealt treacherously in the war of Amalek [by sparing Agag].</html>