Saul

Saul or Sha'ul (שאול "Demanded", Standard Hebrew Šaʾul, Tiberian Hebrew Šāʾûl) was the first king of Israel according to the Old Testament of the Bible, as taught in Judaism. His story is found in the first of the Books of Samuel.

Saul the King

Saul was the son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, "asked for"), of the tribe of Benjamin. The singular providential circumstances connected with his election as king are recorded in 1 Samuel 8-10. His father's she-asses had strayed, and Saul was sent with a servant to seek for them. Leaving his home at Gibeah (10:5, "the hill of God," A.V.; lit., as in R.V. marg., "Gibeah of God"), Saul and his servant went toward the north-west over Mount Ephraim, and then turning north-east they came to "the land of Shalisha," and thence eastward to the land of Shalim, and at length came to the district of Zuph, near Samuel's home at Ramah (9:5-10). At this point Saul proposed to return from the three days' fruitless search, but his servant suggested that they should first consult the "seer." Hearing that he was about to offer sacrifice, the two hastened into Ramah, and "behold, Samuel came out against them," on his way to the "bamah", i.e., the "height", where sacrifice was to be offered; and in answer to Saul's question, "Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is," Samuel made himself known to him. Samuel had been divinely prepared for his coming (9:15-17), and received Saul as his guest. He took him with him to the sacrifice, and then after the feast "communed with Saul upon the top of the house" of all that was in his heart. On the morrow Samuel "took a vial of oil and poured it on his head," and anointed Saul as king over Israel (9:25-10:8), giving him three signs in confirmation of his call to be king. When Saul reached his home in Gibeah the last of these signs was fulfilled, and the Sprit of God came upon him, and "he was turned into another man." The simple countryman was transformed into the king of Israel, a remarkable change suddenly took place in his attitude, causing the people to remark, as they looked on the son of Kish, "Is Saul also among the prophets?", a saying which passed into a "proverb." (Comp. 19:24.) Saul's coronation by Samuel was as yet unknown to the people; the "anointing" had been in secret. But now the time had come when the transaction must be confirmed by the nation. Samuel accordingly summoned the people to a solemn assembly "before the Lord" at Mizpeh. Here the lot was drawn (10:17-27), and it fell upon Saul, and when he was presented before them, the stateliest man in all Israel, the air was rent for the first time in Israel by the loud cry, "God save the king!" He now returned to his home in Gibeah, attended by a kind of bodyguard, "a band of men whose hearts God had touched." On reaching his home he dismissed them, and resumed the quiet toils of his former life. Soon after this, on hearing of the conduct of Nahash the Ammonite at Jabesh-gilead, an army drawn from all of the tribes of Israel gathered at his summons to Bezek, and he led them forth a great army to battle, gaining a complete victory over the Ammonite invaders at Jabesh (11:1-11). Amid the universal joy occasioned by this victory he was now fully recognized as the king of Israel. At the invitation of Samuel "all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal." Samuel now officially anointed him as king (11:15). Although Samuel never ceased to be a judge in Israel, yet now his work in that capacity practically came to an end. Saul now undertook the great and difficult enterprise of\nfreeing the land from its hereditary enemies the Philistines,\nand for this end he gathered together an army of 3,000 men (1 Sam. 13:1, 2). The Philistines were encamped at Geba. Saul, with\n2,000 men, occupied Michmash and Mount Bethel; while his son\nJonathan, with 1,000 men, occupied Gibeah, to the south of Geba,\nand seemingly without any direction from his father "smote" the\nPhilistines in Geba. Thus roused, the Philistines, who gathered\nan army of 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and "people as\nthe sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude," encamped in\nMichmash, which Saul had evacuated for Gilgal. Saul now tarried\nfor seven days in Gilgal before making any movement, as Samuel\nhad appointed (10:8); but becoming impatient on the seventh day,\nas it was drawing to a close, when he had made an end of\noffering the burnt offering, Samuel appeared and warned him of\nthe fatal consequences of his act of disobedience, for he had\nnot waited long enough (13:13, 14). When Saul, after Samuel's departure, went out from Gilgal with\nhis 600 men, his followers having decreased to that number\n(13:15), against the Philistines at Michmash, he had his\nhead-quarters under a Pomegranate tree at Migron, over against\nMichmash, the Wady esSuweinit alone intervening. Here at\nGibeah-Geba Saul and his army rested, uncertain what to do.\nJonathan became impatient, and with his armour-bearer planned an\nassault against the Philistines, unknown to Saul and the army\n(14:1-15). Jonathan and his armor-bearer went down into the\nwady, and on their hands and knees climbed to the top of the\nnarrow rocky ridge called Bozez, where was the outpost of the\nPhilistine army. They surprised and then slew twenty of the\nPhilistines, and immediately the whole host of the Philistines\nwas thrown into disorder and fled in great terror. "It was a\nvery great trembling;" a supernatural panic seized the host.\nSaul and his 600 men, a band which speedily increased to 10,000,\nperceiving the confusion, pursued the army of the Philistines,\nand the tide of battle rolled on as far as to Bethaven, halfway\nbetween Michmash and Bethel. The Philistines were totally\nrouted. "So the Lord saved Israel that day." While pursuing the\nPhilistines, Saul rashly adjured the people, saying, "Cursed be\nthe man that eateth any food until evening." But though faint\nand weary, the Israelites "smote the Philistines that day from\nMichmash to Aijalon" (a distance of from 15 to 20 miles).\nJonathan had, while passing through the wood in pursuit of the\nPhilistines, tasted a little of the honeycomb which was abundant\nthere (14:27). This was afterwards discovered by Saul (verse 42),\nand he threatened to put his son to death. The people, however,\ninterposed, saying, "There shall not one hair of his head fall\nto the ground." He whom God had so signally owned, who had\n"wrought this great salvation in Israel," must not die. "Then\nSaul went up from following the Philistines: and the Philistines\nwent to their own place" (1 Sam. 14:24-46); and thus the\ncampaign against the Philistines came to an end. This was Saul's\nsecond great military success. Saul's reign, however, continued to be one of almost constant\nwar against his enemies round about (14:47, 48), in all of which\nhe proved victorious. The war against the Amalekites is the only\none which is recorded at length (1 Sam. 15). These oldest and\nhereditary (Ex. 17:8; Num. 14:43-45) enemies of Israel occupied\nthe territory to the south and south-west of Palestine. Samuel\nsummoned Saul to execute the "ban" which God had pronounced\n(Deut. 25:17-19) on this cruel and relentless foe of Israel. The\ncup of their iniquity was now full. This command was "the test\nof his moral qualification for being king." Saul proceeded to\nexecute the divine command; and gathering the people together,\nmarched from Telaim (1 Sam. 15:4) against the Amalekites, whom\nhe smote "from Havilah until thou comest to Shur," utterly\ndestroying "all the people with the edge of the sword", i.e.,\nall that fell into his hands. He was, however, guilty of rebellion and disobedience in sparing Agag their king, and in conniving at his soldiers' sparing the best of the sheep and cattle; and Samuel, following Saul to Gilgal, in the Jordan\nvalley, said unto him, "Because thou hast rejected the word of\nthe Lord, he also hath rejected thee from being king" (15:23).\nThe kingdom was rent from Saul and was given to another, even to\nDavid, whom the Lord chose to be Saul's successor, and whom\nSamuel anointed (16:1-13). From that day "the spirit of the Lord\ndeparted from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled\nhim." He and Samuel parted only to meet once again at one of the\nschools of the prophets. David was now sent for as a "cunning player on an harp" (1\nSam. 16:16, 18), to play before Saul when the evil spirit\ntroubled him, and thus was introduced to the court of Saul. He\nbecame a great favourite with the king. At length David returned\nto his father's house and to his wonted avocation as a shepherd\nfor perhaps some three years. The Philistines once more invaded\nthe land, and gathered their army between Shochoh and Azekah, in\nEphes-dammim, on the southern slope of the valley of Elah. Saul\nand the men of Israel went forth to meet them, and encamped on\nthe northern slope of the same valley which lay between the two\narmies. It was here that David slew Goliath of Gath, the\nchampion of the Philistines (17:4-54), an exploit which led to\nthe flight and utter defeat of the Philistine army. Saul now\ntook David permanently into his service (18:2); but he became\njealous of him (ver. 9), and on many occasions showed his enmity\ntoward him (ver. 10, 11), his enmity ripening into a purpose of\nmurder which at different times he tried in vain to carry out. After some time the Philistines "gathered themselves together"\nin the plain of Esdraelon, and pitched their camp at Shunem, on\nthe slope of Little Hermon; and Saul "gathered all Israel\ntogether," and "pitched in Gilboa" (1 Sam. 28:3-14). Being\nunable to discover the mind of the Lord, Saul, accompanied by\ntwo of his retinue, betook himself to the witch of Endor, some\n7 or 8 miles distant. Here he was overwhelmed by the startling\ncommunication that was mysteriously made to him by Samuel (ver.\n16-19), who appeared to him. "He fell straightway all along on\nthe earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel"\n(ver. 20). The Philistine host "fought against Israel: and the\nmen of Israel fled before the Philistines, and fell down slain\nin Mount Gilboa" (31:1). In his despair at the disaster that had\nbefallen his army, Saul "took a sword and fell upon it." And the\nPhilistines on the morrow "found Saul and his three sons fallen\nin Mount Gilboa." Having cut off his head, they sent it with his\nweapons to Philistia, and hung up the skull in the temple of\nDagon at Ashdod. They suspended his headless body, with that of his beloved son Jonathan, from the walls of Bethshan. The men of Jabesh-gilead\nafterwards removed the bodies from this position; and having\nburnt the flesh, they buried the bodies under a tree at Jabesh.\nThe remains were, however, afterwards removed to the family\nsepulchre at Zelah (2 Sam. 21:13, 14). Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 -- Please update as needed

Other Sauls

Saul is the name of other individuals in the Bible: A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. In Christianity, another Saul was also the birth name of the apostle Paul, given to him probably in memory of King Saul (Acts 7:58; 8:1; 9:1); both men belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.\n---- {| align="center" cellpadding="2" border="2"\n|-\n| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:
Samuel\n| width="40%" align="center" | King of united Israel\n| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:
Ish-bosheth\n|} Category:Kings of ancient Israel