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 killed.
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29 Facts About Saul
2.
Saul married Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz, with whom he sired at least seven sons and two daughters .
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3.
Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, who bore him two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth.
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4.
Saul died at the Battle of Mount Gilboa, and was buried in Zelah, in the region of Benjamin.
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5.
Saul's surviving son Ish-bosheth became king of Israel, at the age of forty.
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6.
Only male descendant of Saul to survive was Mephibosheth, Jonathan's lame son, who was five years old at the time of his father's and grandfather's deaths.
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7.
The last of these is that Saul will be met by an ecstatic group of prophets leaving a high place and playing the lyre, tambourine, and flutes.
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9.
Samuel arrives just as Saul is finishing sacrificing and reprimands Saul for not obeying his instructions.
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10.
Saul kills all the men, women, children and poor quality livestock, but leaves alive the king, Agag, and best livestock.
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14.
Saul offers to accept a bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins, intending that David die in the attempt.
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15.
Saul sends assassins in the night, but Michal helps him escape, tricking them by placing a household idol in his bed.
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16.
Saul is later informed by his head shepherd, Doeg the Edomite, that high priest Ahimelech assisted David, giving him the sword of Goliath, which had been kept at the temple at Nob.
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17.
Saul realises he could trap David and his men by laying the city to siege.
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18.
Saul's death is described by the narrator but a conflicting account is given by a young Amalekite who lies, thinking to win David's favour.
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19.
The defeated Israelites flee from the enemy and Saul asks his armour bearer to kill him, but the armour bearer refuses, and so Saul falls upon his own sword.
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21.
Before, Saul is presented in positive terms, but afterward his mode of ecstatic prophecy is suddenly described as fits of madness, his errors and disobedience to Samuel's instructions are stressed and he becomes a paranoiac.
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22.
Josephus writes that Saul's attempted suicide was stalled because he was not able to run the sword through himself, and that he therefore asked the Amalekite to finish it.
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23.
Second view of Saul makes him appear in the most favourable light as man, as hero, and as king.
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24.
Saul was marvelously handsome; and the maidens who told him concerning Samuel talked so long with him that they might observe his beauty the more.
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25.
When he received the command to smite Amalek, Saul said: For one found slain the Torah requires a sin offering; and here so many shall be slain.
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26.
Saul expended his own substance for the war, and although he knew that he and his sons would fall in battle, he nevertheless went forward, while David heeded the wish of his soldiers not to go to war in person.
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29.
Accounts of Saul's behavior have made him a popular subject for speculation among modern psychiatrists.
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