1 Samuel 28:6

Hebrew Bible

4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified. 6 So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him—not by dreams nor by Urim nor by the prophets. 7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.” 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.”

1 Chronicles 10:13

Hebrew Bible

11 When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days. 13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits. 14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.

 Notes and References

"... With his army routed and his three sons killed, Saul faced the Philistine archers. Rather than suffer disgrace at their hands, he asked his weapon-bearer to kill him—in vain. Saul then took his own life, and his weapon-bearer followed suit. On seeing this, other Israelites in the area dispersed, and the Philistines took over their cities (verses 1–7). The Philistines cut off Saul’s head and stole his weapons. After sending a report to their home territory, they put the weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth and hung Saul’s body on the wall of Bethshan (verse 8–10). The citizens of Jabesh-Gilead, however, retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons, performed the burial rites, and fasted for one week (verses 11–13). This pericope is linked to the incident of the witch of Endor (especially 28:19) and to the earlier account of the Philistines mustering for this battle (29:11). The death of Saul is reported almost in heroic fashion, with touches of final courage and a record of the undying loyalty of the people of Jabesh-Gilead. Neither the higher documentary sources or the Deuteronomist chose to add an evaluation of Saul, though the Chronicler attributes his death to unfaithfulness and to the consulting of a medium (1 Chronicles 10:13–14) ..."

Klein, Ralph W. Word Biblical Commentary: 1 Samuel (pp. 557-558) Zondervan, 2018

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