Adios King Saul
- End of genealogies. Now we're into the stories.
- Remember though, these are rehashings of tales you'll find elsewhere in the Bible. If you're up on your 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, then this should be smooth sailing. If not, Shmoop is on the job.
- A little background info before we start: Saul was appointed King of Israel by Samuel (Yahweh's favorite prophet at the time). Saul starts out okay, but then slowly starts disobeying God.
- Eventually, God starts to kind of regret putting Saul in charge so he tells Samuel to go out and find a new king.
- Enter David.
- David hangs around, befriends Saul's son, marries his daughter, and wins all kinds of battles. Meanwhile, Saul falls deeper and deeper into a terrible-king hole until he's finally overpowered in battle.
- And here's where the Chronicler starts—with Saul's death.
- This is pretty much the same story you'll read in 1 Samuel 31. Saul's sons have been killed in battle with the Philistines and they're closing in on Saul.
- Instead of being torn limb from limb by the Philistines, Saul asks his armor-bearer to kill him with his sword. The armor-bearer is less than thrilled so Saul falls on his own sword and dies.
- When the Philistines find Saul's body they strip him naked, cut off his head, and start spreading the good news that the King of Israel is dead. It's a good day to be a Philistine.
- Of course this is seriously bad for Israel, but the Chronicler knows that Saul deserved it. He didn't listen to God and he even talked with a fortune teller. God despises fortune-tellers.