We read in 1 Samuel 31 how Saul, his sons and generals killed themselves rather than surrender to Philistines. The valiant men of Israel retrieved their dead bodies ,burned them and buried the bones under a tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Elsewhere, we see prominent men of Israel getting buried on their death. It is not clear why Israelites chose to cremate the dead body of Saul. What explanation do scholars offer for the same ? Inputs from any denomination are welcome.

A common practice in ancient Israel was to incorporate god's name when naming a son. Two of Saul's sons have interesting names: Merib-baal and Eshbaal (A later redactor changed the names to Mephiboshet and Ishboshet to hide the fact that their names contain the word baal.) That being said, what motivated Saul, a worshiper of Yahweh, to incorporate Baal into his sons' names? Why did Saul's sons' name do not contain "yah", instead of "baal"?

## According to Old Testament scripture, how long did reign Saul as king of Israel? Various hebrew scholars list this time between 7 and 20 years. Where does this variation come from?

I Samuel 15;10-12 tells us "The word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 'I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as King, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed my commandments'" The New Testament tells us in Romans 11:29 that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Is that a privilege only given to those under the New Covenant? King David sinned by committing adultery and murder, yet it didn't cost him his crown; Saul's sin was to offer a sacrifice when it wasn't his place to, a sin of presumption. Was this a greater sin?

In 1 Samuel 15:24-25 (NIV): > 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s > command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave > in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so > that I may worship the Lord.” Saul seems to have recognized his sin and repent/ask for forgiveness. However, he wasn't forgiven which can be seen in some verses later when the LORD rejected him and "the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel." (v. 35) Does the concept of repentance/ask for forgiveness only work in New Testament time?

In 1 Samuel 13, Saul is king and yet performs priestly duties even though he shouldn't have. Samuel rebukes Saul and tells him that his kingdom is slowly coming to an end because of his disobedience. My question is: where in the Bible is it established that a person could not hold both the positions of king and priest? Some other information that may or may not be interesting: 1) Melchizedek appears to Abram in Genesis 14 as BOTH priest and king. 2) Of course, Jesus fulfills both roles as the true Priest and true King. 3) The role of king of Israel wasn't established until the time of Saul and David, so during the writing of the Mosaic Law, kingship should not have been a thing. Were kings mentioned in the law? (if so, why?)

In 2 Samuel 21:1-14 , we see that Saul committed an awful crime, and this caused famine in Israel. David then goes to Gibeonites and asked to make amends. They agree to the death of seven of Saul's descendants. Why were two of Saul's sons and five of Saul's grandsons killed for a crime they didn't commit? Is there something I'm missing?

When Saul suspected that David was going to take his throne, he tried to capture David to prevent this from happening. How long was Saul chasing David?

Why was the sacrifice offered by Saul at Gilgal rejected by God while obviously the sacrifices of David and Solomon at a later time were evidently accepted? Did it have anything to do with the death of Samuel?

My take on this would be that the answer is "no" in the physical realm because Saul was a Pharisee and therefore obeyed the law to the letter. Was he an accomplice? Surely he was, as he held the coats of the ones who killed Steven and had people thrown in prison. That would make the answer in the spiritual realm "yes", as the Word speaks of if you hate a brother or sister you are a murderer, so standing by and letting someone stone another person to death would spiritually make you guilty of the same.

It is stated in 1 Samuel 13:19-22 that Saul's army didn't have any swords or spears, due to the Philistines "not allowing" Israeli blacksmiths. > Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land > of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves > swords or spears.” But every one of the Israelites went down to > the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his > sickle, and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the > plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for > sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. So on the day of > the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any > of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan his son > had them. (ESV) How did the Philistines achieve this? I assume this has to do with cost - what is the modern day equivalent of 2/3 or 1/3 of a shekel? Is there some other reason that Israel didn't arm themselves - or did they use mainly non-metal weapons?

1 Samuel 16 reads: > 14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing > spirit from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, > “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let our > master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a > man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will > play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon > you, and you shall be well.” and: > 23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that > David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would > become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart > from him. Why is the distressing spirit said to be from God, as God is good? EDIT: This C.SE question addresses the question "How can a Wholly Good God Deliberately Create Evil?" In this question I am looking for the reason why the distressing spirit is addressed to God, and not, for example, to satan.

After reading those verses from 1 sam 20:1-30, it seems like Saul is actually Screaming: You "SON of a *****?"?... but the Bible writers or translators seems to polish that verse with seemingly "Polite" words... by saying things like son of a rebellious woman etc...

In 1 Sam 16:14-23 (RSVCE) , **David Plays the Lyre for Saul**, the passage opens > **14** Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. God is said to be infinitely good, intelligent, wise, just, holy, etc. [cf. [The Nature and Attributes of God | New Advent\]][2] . Given these perfections of God, what is the understanding of "an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him"? Needless to say, in keeping with the criteria for acceptable questions and answers, this question is not eliciting personal opinions but scholarly and/or authoritative exegesis.