How does king saul die

So… it looks like Saul committed suicide, was killed by an Amalekite, and was killed by the Philistines. How do you explain this? My answer is fairly simple. I believe that what is said in 1 Sam is exactly how Saul died. He fell upon his sword and killed himself.

The young Amalekite man observed this and was the first on the scene after it happened before the Philistine army got there. He expected that this lie would cause David to reward him greatly. As for 2 Sam , I believe this simply means that Saul committed suicide because he knew the Philistines had defeated him.

The account in 1 Samuel 31 is the true account of the events as they unfolded, and the account in 2 Samuel 1 is also a true account—but an account of a man lying to David, hoping for a reward. There is no contradiction here, Saul committed suicide after being mortally wounded in battle, and the Amalekite thought to take advantage of the opportunity for personal gain, only to have his plan backfire on him. As you read through the Psalms, a couple verses stand out as potential remembrances of David of this episode in his life:.

Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry , dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Donate Now. View Cart. How Did King Saul Die? Share: Email Using: Gmail Yahoo!

Outlook Other. Did the Amalekite Lie? The Amalekite makes no mention of the armor bearer, and the 1 Samuel 31 account states that the armor bearer saw Saul die from a self-inflicted wound.

Yet we are told in 1 Samuel that the armor bearer someone who no doubt had been in many battles and witnessed death many times verified that Saul was dead before he also committed suicide. It can hardly be thought Saul would ask an uncircumcised foreigner to kill him; since he might as well have died by the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, which he endeavored to avoid 1 Samuel So we have to decide whether it is more consistent for Saul to ask his fellow-Israelite armor bearer to kill him or to ask an Amalekite to do so.

If we view the Amalekite story as being an addendum to the 1 Samuel 31 account and having any germ of truth, then Saul had already been hit by several arrows, had fallen on his sword, convinced his armor bearer he was dead, and then revived, stood up and leaned on his spear, and was still not dead yet! The Amalekite states that Saul was leaning on a spear, yet the 1 Samuel account records Saul falling on his sword.

The Amalekite never mentions that Saul had been pierced with arrows, another thing that seems strange 1 Samuel The Amalekite mentions that the chariots of the Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul, how would he then have time to talk to Saul, kill him, steal his crown, and take a bracelet off of his arm—and still get away, outrunning chariots?

Are we expected to believe that they would not have wanted the royal crown and a gold bracelet? According to this account, Saul killed himself. According to Scripture, the Amalekite says that he killed Saul because Saul told him to:. So it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.

And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord. It seems highly suspicious, designed to bring glory and fame to the one bringing the bracelet and crown to King David. In verse 10, the man says he did as Saul instructed him to do and killed him. Is there one account that we can deem the correct one? If so, which one is incorrect and wrong or falsified? This makes sense, seeing that armorbearers, by nature, are loyal to their King or leader.

Thus, we can believe that Saul asked his armorbearer to kill him. Thus, when Saul told his armorbearer to kill him, he did so to prevent his death at the hands of the Gentiles around him he was in battle with the Philistines.

In these verses, we see the lie. King Saul fell on his sword after asking the armorbearer to kill him. The armorbearer died after him, having seen him fall on his sword. What time was there for the Amalekite to come along and kill Saul? Very little; in fact, none at all. So when he says that Saul asked who he was, he was lying for two reasons. He was far away from the scene where Saul was killed. How would he have ever had any contact with Saul? He would have had to be in the battle for Saul to talk with him.

Saul, apparently, told the Amalekite twice to kill him. But why would he have been talking to the Amalekite? What time would he have had as a wounded man to even address the Amalekite?

If the armorbearer died after Saul, and Saul died before him, then how would any of this imaginary conversation with the Amalekite have happened? In the sequence of events, when could it have happened? Was he omniscient? Was he a medical doctor? How then, could he kill Saul on his own personal estimation? He was hoping that claim credit would promote him in the eyes of David. The Amalekite took advantage of a vulnerable situation because there were no witnesses the armorbearer and King Saul had died , so no one could vouch for the conversation or contradict it.

And yet, what happened to the Amalekite was unlike anything the Amalekite believed in his mind:. David and his men mourned for Saul and Jonathan, as well as the nation, because of what had happened. This tells us that David had no way of knowing. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. For Beeroth also was part of Benjamin, 3 because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.

He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled.