SAUL (Heb. Ša'ál = "obtained by prayer"). First king of Israel (c. 1040–1000 BC). With his father Kish (Qš), of the tribe of Benjamin, he lived in Gibeah. He went to consult Samuel (q.v.) to find the lost asses; the seer discerned in this man of exceptional stature the king chosen by God. On the return journey, Samuel communicated to him his calling as the first king of Israel.
Israel had again fallen under Philistine domination (1 Sam 10:5; 13:3); Saul was chosen by God as a deliverer and was secretly anointed by the now elderly Samuel as leader (nāghīdh) of Israel (ibid., 9:16ff.). Samuel then summoned the tribes to Mizpah, where by lot Saul was chosen and acclaimed by all, except for a few whom Saul pretended to ignore. Modestly returning to his fields, he awaited the circumstances that would compel him to assume command over the men of Israel (ibid., 9:1–10:16). From his wife Ahinoam, Saul had the sons Jonathan (q.v.), Abinadab, Malchishua, Ish-bosheth (q.v.), and the daughters Merab and Michal (q.v.) (1 Sam 14:49; 31:2; 1 Chr 8:33). From his concubine Rizpah he had the sons Armoni and Mephibosheth (q.v.). His cousin Abner (q.v.), son of Ner and brother of Kish, was a valiant military commander.
When the inhabitants of Jabesh sent to Gibeah for help against the Ammonites, Saul summoned the people to arms and organized the troops at Bezek in Ephraim; the enemy, attacked by surprise before dawn, was routed. Samuel took advantage of the popular enthusiasm to enthrone the king at Gilgal and invest him with authority (1 Sam 11–12). According to Acts 13:21, Saul’s reign lasted forty years. Saul organized and equipped a standing army (1 Sam 13:2, 19–22), a third of which he entrusted to his young son Jonathan. A sortie by Jonathan provoked a Philistine counterattack; the Israelites feared an imminent Philistine offensive and awaited Samuel at Gilgal to offer a sacrifice before battle, but after seven days of waiting in vain, Saul himself offered the sacrifice. When Samuel arrived, he rebuked Saul for his lack of faith and foretold as punishment that his sons would be excluded from the throne (ibid., 13:3–14). Through Jonathan’s heroism, Saul defeated the Philistines at Michmash, but due to his imprudence he did not fully exploit the victory; the Philistines regained strength, particularly in the Valley of Socoh, where David later slew Goliath (ibid., 13:15–14:46; 17:1–18:4). The struggle against the Philistines continued unabated. Saul also fought Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Zobah (ibid., 14:47, 52). Among other things, Samuel had ordered Saul to annihilate the Amalekites (q.v.), devoted to the ban (q.V. CHEREM), including people and goods; but after the victory, Saul spared the king (q.v.) and the best of their livestock. As punishment for this second failure, Saul was rejected by God from the throne of Israel (ibid., 15:1–15). Obedient to the divine command, Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint as king, unbeknownst to Saul, the youthful shepherd David (q.v.).
After his rejection due to his two failures, Saul fell from one error to another. Afflicted by neurasthenia and seized by violent fits, he summoned David to his court, where David’s harp playing soothed him. Saul made David his armor-bearer and son-in-law (1 Sam 16:14–23; 18:17–30). But blinded by morbid envy of the acclaim David received, Saul twice attempted to strike him with his spear and forced him to flee and hide; finally, Saul sent him to lead a thousand men in guerrilla warfare, hoping in this way to be rid of him, but David was victorious everywhere. While Saul pursued him to kill him, David twice spared Saul’s life as he slept, but eventually Saul reconciled with him (1 Sam 19:1–27:12). As a decisive Philistine attack loomed in the Jezreel plain and he could obtain no response from God, Saul consulted a medium at Endor, who summoned Samuel’s spirit, which foretold his defeat (ibid., 28:8–23). The next day Israel was routed by the Philistines at Aphek on Mount Gilboa, and among many other casualties Saul’s three sons (Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua) fell; Saul then fell upon his own spear (ibid., 29:1; 31:1–13). David mourned him deeply (2 Sam 1:1–27). Another of Saul’s sons, Ish-bosheth (q.v.), supported by Abner, would later reign over Israel for two years.
The name Saul was also borne by a king of Edom (Gen 36:37), by an ancestor of Samuel from the Levitical family of Kohath (1 Chr 6:24; this Saul is probably to be identified with Joel in 1 Chr 6:36), and finally by Saul of Tarsus (Acts 7:57–13:9), a Benjaminite like King Saul.
— See pl. CXXX.