Why does saul kill himself

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. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame.

His name was Mephibosheth. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth? But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron. Keep in mind that Saul and his son Jonathan, among other sons of his, all died in the battle against the Philistines.

And yet, Saul had one more son remaining: Ishbosheth. What do we believe? In all honesty, 1 Samuel 31 is the more accurate account for a few reasons. Why would Saul have chosen the Amalekite over his own armorbearer? The Amalekite wants to rewrite the account, but thankfully, we have 1 Samuel 31 to fall back on when assessing the two accounts.

Last but not least, why would the Amalekite bring back the crown and bracelet if he only killed Saul because Saul told him to? What was the point of bringing those spoils of war back? If you lose someone who matters to you at war, are you thinking about bringing back a crown and bracelet? No, not at all.

In the end, we see that the Amalekite is lying when he talks with David. In the process of lying, it cost the Amalekite his life because assuming to have been the killer of King Saul is a feat only a wicked, evil persons would want to claim. No honest person would want to claim he or she killed or murdered someone.

This answers my befuddlement somewhat. I know that David had a scribe to record his actions and perhaps there was one to record the conversation between him and the gentile. How did we get that private and intimate conversation between two men who both died at their own hands?

I love this energies of the scripture, very well elaborated All that's you have said is very correct and an in total agreement. But I still have a pertinent Q. If this account of the amalekite is false, then why would the Holy Spirit allow it to be in the Bible, what lesson do we learn from it There must be a hidden revelation.

The Bible says after two or three witnesses every word will be established. There is another account of king Saul's death in 1 Chro. The Amalekite's testimony was not recorded in the Chronicles. Th erefore the truth is that the Amalekite lied to David. But the hidden truth or Spiritual meaning of Saul's death is found in 1Chro. To Rita Anderson: in regards to the Philistines needing a way to identify Saul and his son So from this Amalekite's report, we must ask: 1.

Why did Saul have to repeat himself as he had already told his armour-bearer what he desired to be done 1 Sam. If Saul was "leaning on his spear, with the chariots and riders almost upon him," why didn't the Amalekite just volunteer to do the job instead of Saul having to restate it.

Wasn't the situation obvious? Since the armour-bearer died after Saul did, why didn't he protect Saul from the Amalekite as he was sworn to do? Why didn't the Amalekite even mention the armour-bearer? If "the chariots and riders" 2 Sam. Yet, the Amalekite was able to escape after allegedly killing Saul, but Saul was not able to escape before being slain?

If it was possible for the Amalekite to escape, why didn't the armour-bearer at least suggest the idea of escaping to Saul? Or why didn't the Amalekite help Saul escape? The jury is out; the Amalekite's story has more holes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese. Thus, like a police detective, we can piece together what happened: Saul, after being wounded by the Philistines, killed himself. His armour-bearer also committed suicide. Then the Amalekite happened by, recognized Saul, took his crown and bracelet, and supposing to make the most of his good fortune, he then escaped from the battle and made his way to David in Ziklag and presented his story.

His supposed good fortune, however, turned into his own death warrant. We must note that some lies are included in the Biblical record. For example, Satan's lie to Eve in Genesis is without immediate reference to its false nature - unless it is compared to the Genesis 2 account to understand the text more fully. Another example is the lie of the older prophet in 1 Kings But this does not mean that the lies are truth; it is merely true that a lie was told and thus recorded.

The Bible does not hide the fact that people and even angels lie. But the Bible does say that God cannot lie Num. And so, while it is true that the Amalekite told the "story" as recorded in the Bible, it does not mean that it is necessarily the truth. It was with the other evidence that we had available and detective work that there is a reasonable and truthful explanation: Saul committed suicide while he was in battle with the Philistines.

Answer by Dr. Shemesh, in his study of six cases of suicide in the Hebrew Bible, concludes that, in extreme situations, suicide may be viewed with sympathetic eyes. He wrote:. We can infer from these stories that suicide is a legitimate option in exceptional and extremely difficult situations and that a person who chooses that route is not to be condemned out of hand.

In the case of Samson, the biblical narrator praises him for the manner of his death, which continues his mission of avenging the Israelites against the Philistines The Old Testament does not forbid suicide, but it is silent about whether it is allowed. Although Judaism condemns suicide, the Midrash says that under mitigating circumstances, suicide is not wrong. As Christians, we believe the preservation of life is of supreme importance because human beings are created in the image of God.

Suicide is a heinous act, but suicide should not be classified as murder. Although the Old Testament is silent on the issue of suicide, the Old Testament does not approve suicide nor does it say that suffering is a valid reason for suicide.

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Like Like. Many people apply the 1 Corinthians passage to suicide. However, I doubt that Paul was talking about suicide. In the weeks to come I hope to finish my series of posts on suicide by presenting a Christian perspective on suicide. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address:. Sign me up! Claude Mariottini — Professor of Old Testament. Skip to content. He wrote: We can infer from these stories that suicide is a legitimate option in exceptional and extremely difficult situations and that a person who chooses that route is not to be condemned out of hand.