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SAUL (Heb. shd'ul, " asked ")
Online EncyclopediaOriginally appearing in Volume
V24,
Page 236
of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also: SAUL (Heb. shd'ul, " asked ") , in the Old Testament, son of See also:Kish, and See also:
47-51 may be supplemented by 2 Sam. i. 19 sqq., where the brave deeds of the loving pair Saul and his son See also: Jonathan, and their untimely See also:death, 'See also:form the subject of an old poem which vividly describes the feelings of a prostrate nation. Saul and his sons See also:fell in the See also:battle on Mt. Gilboa in the See also:north and the See also:land was thrown into confusion (I Sam. xxxi.). Jabesh-Gilead, mindful of its See also:debt, secretly carried away the dead bodies (cf. 2 Sam. xxi. 12 seq.), and See also:Abner the See also:commander hurriedly removed the surviving son, Ishbosheth,2 to Mahanaim and at length succeeded in establishing his See also:power over all Israel north of See also:Jerusalem (2 Sam. ii. 8 seq.). But the sequel is lost in the more popular accounts of the rise of David. Little old tradition is preserved of the See also:house of Saul. The See also:interest now lies in the prominence of Samuel, and more particularly in the coming supremacy of the Judaean king David (see the See also:introductory See also:verse 1 Sam. xiv. 52); as a result of this Saul is depicted in less sympathetic See also:colours, his pettiness and animosity stand in strong contrast to David's See also:chivalry and resignation, and in the See also:melancholy Benjamite See also:court with its rivalry and See also:jealousy, the romantic See also:attachment between David and Jonathan forms the one redeeming feature.The See also: great Israelite disaster is fore-shadowed in a thrilling narrative of Saul's visit to the since famous See also:Witch of See also:Endor (I Sam. See also:xxviii.). Israel had lost its mainstay through the death of Samuel (cf. xii. 23), and the king, uneasy at the approach of the enemy, invoked the shade of the prophet only to learn that his cause was lost 'through his own See also:sin. The incident is now connected with David's nearing supremacy, and refers to a previous See also:act of disobedience in his Amalekite See also:campaign. In a detailed See also:account of Saul's expedition we learn that his failure to carry out Yahweh's commands to the See also:letter had brought the prophet's denunciation (cf. See also:Ahab, I See also:Kings xx. 42), and that he had lost the divine favour (xv.).. This in turn ignores an earlier occasion when Saul is condemned and the loss of his See also:kingdom foretold ere he had accomplished the task tp which he had been called (xiii. 8-14).3 This later tendency to subordinate the history of Saul to that of David appears especially in a number of detailed and popular narratives encircling See also:Judah and Benjamin, superseding other traditions which give an entirely different See also:representation of David's move from the See also:south to Jerusalem. Consequently if proves impossible to See also:present a consistent outline'of the history. Instead of the sequel to Ishbaal's recovery of power, and instead of David's incessant conflicts north of See also:Hebron, ending with the See also:capture of Jerusalem and its See also:district from a See also:strange people (2 Sam. v. xxi. 15-22, See also:xxiii.8 sqq.), we meet with the stories of the See also: war with Benjamin and Israel, of the intrigue of Abner (q.v.) and the vengeance of See also:Joab (q.v.). While Saul's death had See also:left Israel in the hands of the Philistines, it is David who accomplishes the deliverance of the people (2 Sam. iii. 18, xix. 9). So, also, in accordance with his generous nature, David takes vengeance upon the Amalekite who had slain Saul (2 Sam. i. 6-Io, contrast the details in r Sam. xxxi.), and upon the treacherous aliens who had murdered Ishbaal (iv.). When king at Jerusalem (seven years after Saul's death) he seeks out the survivors of Saul in See also:order to fulfil his See also:covenant with Jonathan. Jonathan's son Mephibosheth 4 is found in safe-keeping See also:east of the See also:Jordan 2 Ishbosheth, i.e. Ishbaal, " See also:man of See also:Baal," cf. 1 Chron. viii. 33. 3 For other explanations see I Chron. x.13 seq. (which refers to 1 Sam. xxviii.), and See also: Josephus, See also:Ant. vi. 14, 9 (a reference to Sauls See also:massacre of the priests at See also:Nob, r Sam. xxii., a See also:crime which is See also:net brought to his See also:charge in biblical history and probably belongs so one of the latest traditions). 4 Perhaps Meribaal, " man of Baal," or Meribbaal, " Baal See also:con-tends "; for the intentional alteration of the name cf. note 2 above, and see BAAL. and is installed at court (ix.). Another impression is given by the relations between David and Saul's daughter, Michal (vi. 16 sqq., cf. also the " wives" in xii. 8), and we learn from yet another source that he handed over Saul's sons to the See also:Gibeonites who had previously suffered from the king's bloodthirsty zeal (xxi. 1-14). On this occasion (the date is quite uncertain) the remains of Saul and Jonathan were removed from Jabesh-Gilead and solemnly interred in Benjamin. During See also:Absalom's revolt, Mephibosheth entertained some hopes of reviving the fortunes of his house (xvi. 1-4, xix.24-30), and two Benjamites, Shimei and Sheba, appear (xvi. 5 sqq., xix. 16-23, xx). But there is no concerted See also: action; the three are See also:independent figures whose presence indicates that Judaean supremacy over Israel was not accepted without a protest, and that the spilt See also:blood of the house of Saul was laid upon the shoulders of David. Henceforth Saul's See also:family disappears from the pages of history. But a See also:genealogy of his descendants (1 Chron. viii. 33-40, ix. 39-44) tells of " mighty men of valour, archers," who with their sons number 150 strong, and this interesting See also:post-exilic See also:list is suggestive for the vitality of the traditions of their ancestors. In See also:surveying the earlier traditions of Saul's rise, it is clear that the desperate See also:state of Israel leaves little See also:room for the quiet picture of the inexperienced youth wandering around in See also:search of- his See also:father's asses, or for the otherwise valuable representation of popular cult at the local sanctuaries (I Sam. ix.). Since it is Saul who is commissioned to deliver Israel, it is disconcerting to meet his grown-up son who slays the Philistine " See also:garrison " (rather " officer ") in Geba (Gibeah, xiii. 3 seq.), and takes the initiative in overthrowing the Philistines (xiv. 1-16) ; yet the account wnich follows of Jonathan's violation of Saul's hasty See also:vow and its consequences pre-pares us for the subsequent stories of the unfriendly relations between the two.Finally the See also: absence of any prelude to the Philistine oppression is perplexing. On the other See also:hand, Judg. x. 6 sqq. (now the introduction to the Gileadite See also:Jephthah and the Ammonites) contain references (now obscure) to the See also:distress caused by the Philistines, the straitened circumstances of the people, and their penitent See also:appeal to Yahweh. When at length Yahweh " could See also:bear the misery of Israel no longer," it is evident that in the See also:original connexion some deliverer was raised. But the sequel cannot be found in the Danite See also:Samson, the See also:priest See also:Eli, or the seer Samuel, and it is only in the history of Saul that Yahweh's See also:answer to the people's cry leads to the See also:appointment of the saviour. The traces of the older accounts of Saul's rise and the fragments in the highly composite introduction in Judg. x. (vv. 7a, Sb, 10-16) agree so materially that unless both the prelude to the former and the sequel to the latter have been lost it is probable that the two were once closely connected, but have been severed in the course of the See also:literary growth of the traditions. See further SAMUEL, Books, § 6. The development of views regarding the pre-monarchical " See also:judges," the rise of the See also:monarchy and its See also:place in the See also:religion of Yahweh have been factors quite as powerful as the growth of See also:national tradition of the first king of Israel and the subordination of the narratives in order to give greater prominence to the first king of the Judaean See also:dynasty. Although a considerable See also:body of native tradition encircled the great Israelite heroes (cf.Ahab, See also: Jehu, the See also:wars of Aramaeans and Ammonites), Saul is pre-eminently a Benjamite figure. From the biblical See also:evidence alone it is far from certain that this is the earliest phase. Saul's deliverance of Jabesh-Gilead from See also:Ammon and his See also:burial may suggest (on the See also:analogy of Jephthah) that Gilead regarded him as its own. Some connexion between Gilead and Benjamin may be inferred from Judg. xxi., and, indeed, the decimation of the latter (see ibid. xx..4, 7, xxi. 13 seq.) seems to See also:link the See also:appearance of the tribe in the earlier history with its new rise under Saul. But the history of the tribe as such in this See also:period is shrouded in obscurity, and the Benjamite See also:cycle appears to represent quite secondary and purely local forms of the great founder of the Israelite monarchy, whose traditions contain features which link him now with another founder of Israel—the See also:warrior See also:Joshua, and now with the still more famous invader and conqueror See also:Jacob. See S. A. See also:Cook, See also:Critical Notes on 0. T. History (See also:Index, s.v.), and See also:art. See also:JEWS, §§ 6-8, SAMUEL (Books).(S. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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