Saul

שָׁאוּל‎Saul depicted in a detail from an 1878 oil painting by Ernst Josephson King of Israel 

Successor
Ish-bosheth

Spouses
Ahinoam
Rizpah (concubine)
IssueIsh-bosheth
Issue
Ish-bosheth
Jonathan
Abinadab
Melchishua
Merab
Michal
Armoni
Mephibosheth

NamesSaul ben Kish (שאול בן קיש‎)HouseHouse of SaulFatherKish

The biblical accounts of Saul's life are found in the Books of Samuel:

House of King Saul

According to the Hebrew text of the Bible, Saul reigned for two years, but Biblical commentators generally agree that the text is faulty and that a reign of 20 or 22 years is more probable.^[3] In the New Testament book of Acts 13:21, the Apostle Paul indicates that Saul's reign lasted for forty years.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Saul was the son of Kish, of the family of the Matrites, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve Tribes of Israel. It appears that he came from Gibeah.^[6]

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Saul married Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz, with whom he sired at least five sons (Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua, Ishvi and Ish-bosheth) and two daughters (Merab and Michal).^[7]

Saul also had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, who bore him two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth.^[8]

Saul died at the Battle of Mount Gilboa,^[9] and was buried in Zelah, in the region of Benjamin.^[10] Three of Saul's sons – Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua – died with him at Mount Gilboa.^[11] His surviving son Ish-bosheth became king of Israel, at the age of forty. At David's request Abner had Michal returned to David. Ish-bosheth reigned for two years, but after the death of Abner, was killed by two of his own captains.^[12]

During a famine, God told king David that the famine happened because of how Saul treated the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites told David that only the death of seven sons of Saul would compensate them for losing their livelihood after the priests at Nob were killed under Saul's orders.  David then granted the Gibeonites the jurisdiction to individually execute Saul's surviving two sons and five of Saul's grandsons (the sons of Merab and Adriel).^[15] The Gibeonites killed all seven, and hung up their bodies at the sanctuary at Gibeah  For five months their bodies were hung out in the elements, and the grieving Rizpah guarded them from being eaten by the beasts and birds of prey.^[17] Finally, David had the bodies taken down and buried in the family grave at Zelah with the remains of Saul and their half-brother Jonathan.^[18] Michal was childless.^[19]

The only male descendant of Saul to survive was Mephibosheth, Jonathan's lame son,^[20] who was five years old at the time of his father's and grandfather's deaths. In time, he came under the protection of David.^[21] Mephibosheth had a young son, Micah,^[2] who had four sons and descendants named until the ninth generation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ish-bosheth

Illustration from the Morgan Bible depicting the death of Ish-boshethKing of Israel

Predecessor
Saul

Successor
David
House
House of Saul
Father
Saul

Ish-bosheth (Hebrew: אִישׁ־בֹּשֶׁת‎, romanized: ʼĪš-bōšeṯ, "man of shame"), also called Eshbaal (אֶשְׁבַּעַל‎, ’Ešba‘al; alternatively spelled Ishbaal, "man of Baal") was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second monarch of the Kingdom of Israel. After the death of his father, Saul, Ish-bosheth ascended to the throne and reigned for two years.^[1]

During his reign, Ish-bosheth engaged in a protracted conflict with David, who had been anointed as Saul's successor by the Tribe of Judah. This rivalry between the two leaders shaped the political landscape of the kingdom at the time. The Hebrew Bible recounts that Ish-bosheth's reign was marked by war with David's forces, as both factions vied for control and legitimacy. According to biblical accounts, he was killed by two of his own army captains, Baanah and Rechab, who believed that assassinating Ish-bosheth would earn them favour with David. This act not only brought a premature conclusion to Ish-bosheth's rule but also played a significant role in the subsequent unification of the kingdom under David's leadership.

Biblical narrative

In the biblical account, Abner, the captain of Saul's army, proclaimed Ish-bosheth king over Israel at Mahanaim in Transjordan (2 Samuel 2:8), after the slaying of Ish-bosheth's father and brothers in the battle of Gilboa (1 Samuel 31:1). Ish-bosheth was 40 years old at this time and reigned for two years (2 Samuel 2:10).

However, after the death of King Saul, the tribe of Judah seceded from the rule of the House of Saul by proclaiming David as its king (2 Samuel 2:4), and war ensued (2 Samuel 2:12). David's faction eventually prevailed against Ish-bosheth's (2 Samuel 3:1), but the war continued until Abner joined David (2 Samuel 3:6).

Before the death of Saul, David had been married to Saul's daughter Michal, Ish-bosheth's sister, until Saul and David had a falling out and Saul gave her to another man (1 Samuel 25:44). Later, at the conclusion of the war with Ish-bosheth, David's terms for peace required returning Michal to him, and Ish-bosheth complied (2 Samuel 3:14). After Abner's death, Ish-bosheth seems to have given up hope of retaining power (2 Samuel 4:1).

Two of Ish-bosheth's own army-captains, Rechab and Baanah, assassinated the deposed king, (2 Samuel 4:5) expecting a reward from David for this. David, however, refused to give any commendation for high treason; he had both killers executed and their hands and feet cut off. David's supporters buried the head of Ish-bosheth in Abner's grave at Hebron (2 Samuel 4:12).

As Ish-bosheth

He is exclusively called Ish-bosheth in the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible:

Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; and he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. Ish-bosheth Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. (2 Samuel 2:8–10, Jewish Publication Society, 1917)

When he was assassinated and King David punished the killers:

... Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, as he took his rest at noon, and they came into the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they struck him in the groin; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ... And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, and said to the king: "Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed." ... And David answered ... "shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?" ... But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron. (2 Samuel 4:5–12)

As Eshbaal

Meanwhile, in the Books of Chronicles, he is exclusively called Eshbaal:

And Ner begot Kish; and Kish begot Saul; and Saul begot Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. (1 Chronicles 8:33 and 1 Chronicles 9:39, Jewish Publication Society, 1917)

Archaeology

In 2012, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority, archaeologists had discovered a 3,000-year-old inscription on a reconstructed large ceramic jar found in Khirbet Qeiyafa, containing the name "Eshbaal ben Beda". Though this Eshbaal is a different person than the Eshbaal/Ish-bosheth of the Bible, it was the first time the name was discovered in an ancient inscription. It is one of only four Hebrew inscriptions ever discovered dating to the 10th century BC.^[4][5]

 

King David Playing the Harp (1622)
by Gerard van HonthorstKing of Israel

Reignfl. c. 1000 BCE
PredecessorIsh-bosheth^[1][2]

Successor
Solomon

Consortshow

Issueshow

House

House of David

FatherJesse

Mother Nitzevet (Talmud)