SAUL (Heb. Šāʾūl "Obtained with Prayer"). - First king of Israel (ca. 1040-1000 B.C.). With his father Kish (Qīš), of the tribe of Benjamin, he lived in Gibeah. He went to consult Samuel (v.) to recover the lost she-asses; the seer discerned in this man of exceptional stature the king chosen by God. Accompanying him on his return, he communicated to him his vocation as first king of Israel.
Israel had once again fallen under Philistine dominion (I Sam. 10, 5; 13, 3); S. was chosen by God as liberator and was secretly anointed by Samuel, now old, as leader (nāghīdh) of Israel (ibid. 9, 16 ff.). Then, having convoked the tribes at Mizpah, Samuel elected S. as king by the casting of lots, and all acclaimed him, except for a few whom S. pretended to ignore. Modestly he returned to his fields, waiting for circumstances to force him to assume command of the men of Israel (ibid. 9, 1-10, 16). By his wife Ahinoam S. had the sons Jonathan (v.), Abinadab, Ishvi, Malchishua and Eshbaal or Ish-bosheth (v.), besides the daughters Merab and Michal ([v.] ibid. 14, 49; 31, 2; I Chron. 8, 33). By the concubine Rizpah he had the sons Armoni and Mephibosheth (v.). His cousin Abner (v.), son of Ner the brother of Kish, was a valiant military commander.
When the inhabitants of Jabesh sent to ask for help in Gibeah against the Ammonites, S. called the people to arms and at Bezek in Ephraim organized the troops; the enemy, attacked by surprise before dawn, was routed. Samuel took advantage of the popular enthusiasm to enthrone the king at Gilgal and transmit to him his authority (I Sam. 11-12). According to Acts 13, 21, the reign of S. lasted 40 years. S. organized and equipped a permanent army (I Sam. 13, 2. 19-22), a third of which he entrusted to his young son Jonathan. A sortie by Jonathan drove the Philistines to seek revenge; the Israelites feared the imminent Philistine offensive, waiting for Samuel at Gilgal for the offering of a sacrifice before the battle; but after 7 days of vain waiting, S. ordered that the sacrifice be performed; when he arrived, Samuel reproached him for his lack of faith and predicted as punishment the exclusion of his sons from the throne (ibid. 13, 3-14). He defeated the Philistines near Michmash through the heroism of Jonathan, but through his imprudence did not fully exploit the victory; the Philistines regained strength, especially in the valley of Socoh, where David struck down Goliath (ibid. 13, 15-14, 46; 17, 1-18, 4). The struggle against the Philistines had no respite. S. also fought Moab, Ammon, Edom and Zobah (ibid. 14, 47. 52). Among other things, S. received from Samuel the order to annihilate the Amalekites (v.), devoted to the ban (v. HEREM), persons and goods; but after the victory he spared King Agag (v.) and the best beasts of their flocks. In punishment for this second fault,
S. was rejected by God from the throne of Israel (ibid. 15, 1-15). Docile to the divine command, Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint as king there, without S.'s knowledge, the adolescent shepherd David (v.).
After the reprobation due to his two faults, S. fell from error into error. Undermined by neurasthenia, seized by furious crises, he summoned David to his court, who by playing the harp calmed him. He made him his armor-bearer and his son-in-law (ibid. 16, 14-23; 18, 17-30). But, blinded by morbid envy at the acclamations that David received, S. twice tried to pierce him with his spear, and forced him to flee and hide; he finally sent him to wage war at the head of a thousand men, hoping thus to rid himself of him, but David was victorious everywhere; while S. pursued him to kill him, twice David surprised him in his sleep, but magnanimously spared him; finally S. was reconciled with him (ibid. 19, 1-27, 12). As a decisive attack by the Philistines in the plain of Jezreel was imminent, having been unable to obtain a response from God, S. consulted a necromancer at Endor, who evoked the shade of Samuel, who predicted the defeat (ibid. 28, 8-23). The next day Israel was routed by the Philistines at Aphek on Gilboa, and with many others 3 sons of S. fell (Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua); S. threw himself upon his spear (ibid. 29, 1; 31, 1-13). David mourned him greatly (II Sam. 1, 1-27). Another son of S., Ish-bosheth (v.), supported by Abner, would later reign two years over Israel.
The name S. was also borne by a king of Edom (Gen. 36, 37), by an ancestor of Samuel, of the Levite family of Kohath (I Chron. 6, 24; this S. is probably identical with Joel of I Chron. 6, 36), and finally by St. Paul (Acts 7, 57-13, 9), a Benjaminite like King S. - See plate CXXX.
Bibliography
Clemente Morin