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Saul's guilt was described in the selection of words for his action: disobedience (verse 19), doing evil (verse 19), rebellion (verse 23), stubbornness (verse 23), rejection of God's word (verse 23), as Saul admitted himself that what he did was a sin and transgression (verse 24). [15]
Saul (/ s ɔː l /; Hebrew: שָׁאוּל , Šāʾūl; Greek: Σαούλ, Saoúl; transl. "asked/prayed for") was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity.
Saul was appointed as a king to save his people 'from the hand of their enemies' (10:1), specifically the Philistines (9:16), that had a strong presence in the central hill country of Israel, were able to send out bands of raiders into different territories of Israel and controlled the manufacture of metal equipments for agricultural and weapons. [10]
After God answered his prayer, with his newfound strength, Samson knocked down the pillar, causing the temple to crumble on himself and 3,000 Philistines. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Death of Saul (detail), 1562. Another story in the Old Testament regarding suicide is of King Saul and his armor-bearer.
Jabesh-Gileadites recover the bodies of Saul and his sons, Gustave Doré. The men of Jabesh-gilead, remembering Saul's action on their behalf (1 Samuel 11:1–13), came to take the bodies of Saul and his sons for cremation and burial, a more honorable treatment than that of the Philistines to the bodies of Saul and his sons. [17] [18]
Saul's search led him to the prophet Samuel, who privately anointed Saul as king and provided three signs as confirmation to its legitimacy, [14] all of which were fulfilled in 1 Samuel 10:2–7. [16] Throughout the account, Saul appeared to be humble, but also showed lack of confidence and perhaps doubts about his calling to kingship. [14]
Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets? [23] "Stripped off his clothes": may be symbolic to the loss of his kingdom, just as Saul's tearing of Samuel's clothes signifying the tearing away of Saul's kingdom (1 Samuel 15:27–28) and Jonathan giving his clothes to David signifying the acceding of his throne to the latter (1 Samuel 18:1).
"And there they made Saul king": The Septuagint reads, "and Samuel anointed Saul king there," which is not improbable, as later David also had his original anointing by Samuel in front of his family (1 Samuel 16:12-13), then was twice publicly anointed, first as king of Judah (2 Samuel 2:4), and again as king over all Israel (2 Samuel 5:3), but ...