Chapter 9: The King Falls

The Philistines gathered for war. The armies clashed on Mount Gilboa, and Israel was overwhelmed. Men fled and fell across the mountain.

The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons. Jonathan fell. Abinadab fell. Malchishua fell.

Then the archers found Saul. Their arrows struck him, and he was badly wounded. Surrounded and failing, Saul turned to his armor-bearer.

SAUL“Draw your sword - do not let these men take me alive.”

But the armor-bearer was terrified. He would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. When the armor-bearer saw that the king was gone, he did the same.

Saul, his three sons, and his men all died that day.

The next morning, the Philistines found Saul's body on the mountain. They dishonored it and put it on display for all to see.

But the men of Jabesh-gilead remembered how Saul had once delivered them. They traveled through the night, took down the bodies of Saul and his sons, burned them and buried their bones.

When word reached David at Ziklag, he tore his clothes and wept. He mourned for Saul. He mourned for Jonathan - his brother, his friend. And he sang a lament that would be remembered for generations. (2 Samuel 1:19-27)