{"id":59485,"date":"2019-07-15T22:40:57","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T19:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=59485"},"modified":"2023-02-06T08:24:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T06:24:23","slug":"saul-meets-his-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/saul-meets-his-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Saul Meets His End(s)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[366,383,885,721],"acf":{"old_id":"59485","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"263","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The ignominious demise of the first King of Israel","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In chapter 28, we saw that the spirit of Samuel, ostensibly conjured up by the Witch of Endor (see <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.929.org.il\/lang\/en\/page\/260\/post\/59137\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our comments there<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), had warned Saul that \u201ctomorrow, you and your sons will be with me\u201d (19), i.e., dead at the hands of the Philistines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The battle atop Mt. Gilboa went poorly for Israel. The troops fled, Saul\u2019s sons were killed, and he himself was mortally wounded by Philistine archers. He summoned his armor bearer and instructed him to deliver a coup de grace \u201clest these uncircumcised come and run me through and make a mockery of me\u201d (4). When the bearer declined, \u201cout of fear,\u201d Saul literally fell on his own sword. R. Yosef Kara (12<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century) expressed curiosity over the bearer\u2019s fear. Since it states that upon observing Saul\u2019s death, he, too, took his life (5), it would appear that he was not afraid of such retribution as might have befallen him at the hands of Saul\u2019s relatives. Rather, his was the fear of God and he was deign to participate in an assisted suicide. Why someone so fearful would commit his own suicide is unasked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a countervailing narrative of Saul\u2019s demise was later provided to David by an Amalekite\u2014who also referred to himself as \u201cthe son of an Amalekite <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ger<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d (meaning either a convert or a resident; 2 Samuel 1:13)\u2014who claimed to have found Saul still alive and complied with the king\u2019s request to be slain. Exegetes are of various opinions regarding the relative veracity of the two accounts, observing, in part, that the Amalekite might have embellished his role in the story in order to please David and in anticipation of a reward. If that was indeed the case, he failed miserably since David took great umbrage at the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lese majeste<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and had him executed (15-16).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus the saga of Saul, first king of Israel, whose appointment by Samuel met with both high anticipation and grave anxiety, came to an ignominious end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image: Gustave Dore &#8211; Saul Dies In Battle, 1843<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":59486,"id":59486,"title":"isam31-saul-dies-in-battle","filename":"isam31-saul-dies-in-battle.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul-dies-in-battle.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/saul-meets-his-ends\/isam31-saul-dies-in-battle\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam31-saul-dies-in-battle","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":59485,"date":"2019-07-15 19:40:46","modified":"2019-07-15 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