A king is ordinarily one who rules a kingdom, but in the case of Saul, a kingdom had first to be won. His encounters with the Philistines were successful, but his reign proved to be a continual campaign against them. Gradually Saul became estranged from Samuel, who represented the best element in Israel. Priests of a later period assigned the difference between them as having arisen over Saul's leniency toward his captives, but it is believed that instead it came naturally between two men whose ideals were wide apart. Saul was incapable of taking an exalted view of his people's mission, as did his priest and prophet.
Beset on all sides by the enemy, estranged from Samuel and in general from the priesthood, Saul became moody and subject to fits of melancholia. To dispel these, David, son of Jesse, was brought from his father's flocks on the mountainside, to gladden the king's idle hours. David was accomplished upon the harp, and his music had power to quiet the restless king, who heaped favors and honors upon him—after the nature of his impulsive disposition. As armour-bearer to the king, David had frequent opportunities to distinguish himself, while he and the king's son Jonathan became fast friends. However, as David grew in favor with the people, Saul became intensely jealous of him. Where the kingship was but an experiment, popularity was important to a ruler. In his disordered brain, Saul conceived that a plot was being laid by his son and David, and as a result, David was obliged to flee for his life. He raised his standard as an outlaw chief, and all the dissatisfied element of the land flocked to his side. Yet even here David favored the people of Israel whenever he could; for protection he went into the service of the Philistine king of Gath, but we are told that when he was supposed to be fighting against the Hebrews, he was in reality fighting off their desert enemies.
The division within the ranks of Israel once more gave opportunity to the watchful Philistines. They made ready for a final assault, and the moody and disheartened Saul prepared to fight them back. He was no longer able to rouse his kinsmen as at first. Many were discontented with his rule, and many favored David. Before the battle, Saul, grown more superstitious with the pressure of circumstance, visited the witch of Endor to learn by her art the issue of the battle. Never does the king, tall in stature and once confident, but now broken in spirit, appear more tragic. When she predicted defeat—and small art was needed to foretell such an apparent outcome—Saul felt that all was lost. One feels as when the voice of Cæsar spake unto Brutus in the great play: "Thou shalt see me at Philippi"—the battle is lost before it is begun.
When all was lost, Saul gave his sword to his armour-bearer to stab him lest he fall into the hands of the enemy. When he lacked courage, he plunged it into his own breast. Both he and his noble son Jonathan went down on that fateful field, and so ended the first reign in Israel. David is believed to have composed his beautiful elegy "How are the Mighty Fallen" upon this occasion.
David's Lament.
Thy glory, O Israel,
Is slain upon thy high places!
How are the mighty—
Fallen!
Tell it not in Gath,
Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you,
Neither fields of offerings:
For the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away,
The shield of Saul, as of one not anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain,
From the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.