Errancy.com

Saul’s reign as king ended in death when the Philistines defeated Israel in battle. But who died with him?

In the account of Saul’s death in 1 Chronicles, Saul and all his house die together:

“Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard on Saul; and the archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and make sport of me.’ But his armour-bearer was unwilling, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. Thus Saul died; he and his three sons and all his house died together.” [1 Chronicles 10:1-6, NRSV]

Saul, however, did not have three sons but four:

“Ner became the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abindab, and Esh-baal…” [1 Chronicles 8:33, NRSV]

“Ner became the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abindab, and Esh-baal…” [1 Chronicles 9:39, NRSV]

The parallel passage in 1 Samuel 31 is subtly different to 1 Chronicles 10, saying not that all of Saul’s house died together but that all of his men died together:

“Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and many fell on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard upon Saul; the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by them. Then Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and thrust me through, and make sport of me.’ But his armour-bearer was unwilling; for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. When his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer and all his men died together on the same day.” [1 Samuel 31:1-6, NRSV]

2 Samuel then goes on to describe Saul’s fourth son Ishbaal surviving him and succeeding him as king:

But Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ishbaal son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim. He made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and over all Israel. Ishbaal, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. [2 Samuel 2:8-10, NRSV]

So did the house of Saul die together, or was Saul succeeded as king by his fourth son Ishbaal?

N.B. All posts are written in a style sympathetic to the claim of Biblical error, even in cases where the author ("Errancy") disagrees with the claim. See the About page for the site's philosophy.