1 Samuel 31

Chapter 31 closes the book with a series of deaths and one final act of loyalty. The Philistine attack on Mount Gilboa is decisive. The Israelite army flees; Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua — three of Saul's sons — are killed by the Philistines. The battle drives Saul himself into a corner; the archers find him and wound him severely. His request to his armour-bearer is the last speech of his reign: run me through, so these uncircumcised will not come and abuse me. His armour-bearer refuses in terror. Saul takes his own sword and falls on it. The armour-bearer follows. They die together on the mountain.

The aftermath of the battle is described with documentary precision: Israel flees, the Philistines occupy the vacated towns, the next day's stripping of the dead reveals Saul and his sons on the mountain. The Philistines cut off Saul's head — the symmetry with Goliath is exact — strip his armour, send news throughout their land, put his armour in the temple of their goddess, and fasten his body to the wall of Beth-shan. The closing movement of the chapter is an act of loyalty from the most unlikely source: the men of Jabesh-gilead, whom Saul delivered from the Ammonites in his first military action as king, walk through the night to retrieve his body and the bodies of his sons. They cremate them, bury the bones, and fast seven days. The book closes with Saul being honoured by the people he first saved — the only ones who come, at the end, to bring him home.