50 Fun Facts About King Saul

Which strayed animals was young Saul searching for on his father's orders when he first met Samuel?

Donkeys led Saul to a kingdom: after three days of fruitless searching, his servant suggested consulting a local seer, who turned out to be expecting him.

Where was Saul found hiding when Israel's tribes met and the lot picked him as their first king?

Among the baggage is where the reluctant king turned up, and only after the people inquired of the LORD where he was. They had to run and fetch him before they could cheer him.

Which instrument did young David play to soothe King Saul whenever a troubling spirit came over him?

Harp playing is what first brought David to court: a servant recommended a young man from Bethlehem as a skilled player, and the king grew so fond of him that he kept him.

Why did Saul walk alone into the cave at En Gedi where David and his men happened to be hiding?

To relieve himself is the reason 1 Samuel gives, and it left the king defenceless. David crept close enough to kill him but only cut a piece from his clothing.

In which village did a disguised Saul consult a medium on the night before his final battle?

Endor was a risky trip for both of them: Saul himself had driven mediums out of the land, and the woman feared his request was a trap to get her killed.

What did Saul try to dress David in before the fight with Goliath, only for David to take it off?

His own armor, with a bronze helmet and a coat of mail, was what Saul offered. David said he had not tested them and went out with a staff, a sling and five smooth stones.

Which weapon did a jealous Saul hurl at David, trying to pin him to the wall as he played music?

A spear was rarely out of Saul's hand in 1 Samuel, and David dodged it more than once. The king later threw one at his own son Jonathan for defending David.

Which common English saying comes from David's lament over Saul and Jonathan?

How the mighty have fallen is the refrain of the Song of the Bow, David's grief for a king who had hunted him for years. He ordered the people of Judah to learn it.

Which physical feature of Saul does 1 Samuel note both at his introduction and when he is made king?

His height made Saul look the part of a king: he stood head and shoulders above the crowd, which made it all the stranger that he had just been hiding from it.

Saul came from which tribe, described in his own words as the smallest of the tribes of Israel?

Benjamin was also, Saul protested, home to the least important family of all: his own. Samuel answered by seating him at the head of about thirty guests.

Which daughter of Saul married David and later let him down through a window to escape her father?

Michal was Saul's younger daughter. Her older sister had been promised to David first, but when the time came she was married to another man instead.

Whom did Israel's elders say they wanted to resemble when they demanded the king who became Saul?

The other nations had kings to lead them into battle, and Israel wanted the same. Samuel took the request as a rejection, and was told it was the LORD they had rejected.

Which act by Saul at Gilgal, done rather than keep waiting for Samuel, cost his family the throne?

Offering the sacrifice was meant to wait for Samuel, but after seven days Saul's frightened army was slipping away. Samuel arrived just as he finished and said his kingdom would not last.

How did Saul die, hard-pressed by enemy archers, after his terrified aide refused to kill him?

He fell on his sword rather than be captured and abused, and his aide then did the same. A later messenger claimed to have finished the king off, and David had him executed.

What did Samuel pour on Saul's head from a small flask before kissing him and declaring him ruler?

Oil poured on the head made Saul the LORD's anointed, a title that later protected him: David refused to harm him because of it, even with the king at his mercy.

Which food did Jonathan taste, unaware that Saul had cursed any soldier who ate before evening?

Honey nearly cost Jonathan his life: the lot exposed him, Saul ordered his own son's death, and only the army's refusal to allow it saved him.

Which apostle, himself also called Saul, recalls King Saul's reign in a sermon recorded in Acts 13?

Paul told a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch that Saul reigned forty years before God removed him and raised up David, a man after his own heart.

Whose victory song enraged Saul by crediting David with ten times as many kills as the king?

The women of Israel came out dancing with tambourines to greet the returning army. From that day on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

Which kind of leaders had guided Israel's scattered tribes before Saul became the first king?

Judges still led the tribes when Saul was young, and Samuel travelled a yearly circuit as one. The elders demanded a king when Samuel grew old and his sons proved unfit to follow him.

Which cheer did the whole crowd raise when Samuel presented Saul as the man the LORD had chosen?

Long live the king greeted Saul at his first public appearance, but not everyone was won over: some scoffed that he could never save them and brought him no gifts.

Which animals did David say he had killed, to prove he was fit to face Goliath?

A lion and a bear had each raided his father's flock, David said, and he had killed both. Saul was persuaded and sent him out with a blessing.

On which mountain did Saul and three of his sons die in a rout by the Philistine army?

Mount Gilboa saw Israel's army break and run. Towns across the valley were then abandoned to the Philistines, undoing much of what Saul had spent his reign fighting for.

Which Amalekite king did Saul take alive and spare, defying the order to destroy everything?

Agag walked up to Samuel cheerfully, sure that the danger had passed. Samuel cut him down himself, then never visited Saul again.

Which sound exposed Saul's claim that he had destroyed everything the Amalekites owned?

Bleating sheep and lowing cattle were plainly audible when Samuel arrived. Saul blamed the soldiers and said the best animals had been saved for the altar.

Who was the father of King Saul, in whose family tomb at Zela the king's bones were finally laid?

Kish had servants and livestock of his own, so Saul was no pauper. Years after the king's death, David moved his bones and Jonathan's into the family tomb.

To which hometown did Saul return after being made king, a town later known by his own name?

Gibeah stayed Saul's base for his whole reign: he held court there under a tamarisk tree, and messengers seeking help came to find him there.

What tore as Samuel turned to walk away from Saul, a sign that the kingdom was torn away?

The prophet's robe ripped in Saul's hand, and Samuel turned it into a verdict: the kingdom had been torn from him that day and given to a better man.

What did Saul cut into pieces and send throughout Israel to summon an army against the Ammonites?

A pair of oxen, chopped up and sent out with a threat that every shirker's animals would get the same, raised a huge army. Saul had just come in from working the fields behind them.

What did Nahash the Ammonite demand from each man of a besieged town before Saul marched to save it?

His right eye was the price of surrender, meant to shame all Israel. The town won seven days' grace to seek help, and the news reached Saul just in time.

What did Jonathan use as a secret signal in a field to warn David that Saul meant to kill him?

Arrows shot beyond a servant boy, with a shout that they lay farther on, told the hidden David to flee. The day before, Saul had hurled a weapon at Jonathan for taking David's side.

Which town, saved by Saul from a siege early in his reign, later sent men to rescue his body?

Jabesh Gilead never forgot its debt: its men marched all night to take the bodies of Saul and his sons down from a Philistine city wall, then fasted for seven days.

What did David's wife, a daughter of Saul, tuck into his bed to fool the men sent to arrest him?

A household idol, topped with goats' hair and covered with clothes, passed for a sick man in bed. It bought David a night's head start before Saul demanded he be carried in, bed and all.

What overcame Saul, like three groups of his men before him, when he went to seize David at Ramah?

Prophesying seized each party in turn as it reached the band gathered around Samuel. Saul stripped off his clothes and lay there a day and a night while David got away.

Which commander of Saul's army later set a surviving son of Saul on the throne at Mahanaim?

Abner sat at Saul's side at meals and slept beside him in camp, where David once taunted him from a hilltop for failing to guard the king.

Why did Saul order the deaths of eighty-five priests from the town of Nob?

They had helped a fugitive, David, with bread and a weapon. Their leader protested that he knew of no quarrel between the king and his own son-in-law.

Which craftsmen did the Philistines deny Israel, leaving Saul's army almost unarmed at Michmash?

Blacksmiths were so scarce that Israelites paid Philistines to sharpen their farm tools. On the day of battle only Saul and Jonathan carried proper blades.

In which Philistine city did David finally take refuge, after which Saul stopped hunting him?

Gath was the hometown of Goliath, the giant David had killed for Saul years before. Its king Achish took him in with six hundred men and their families.

What did David grant Mephibosheth, the lame grandson of Saul, out of loyalty to Jonathan?

A place at his table for life came with all of Saul's former land. Mephibosheth had been lame since the age of five, dropped by a nurse fleeing at news of the defeat.

Which composer wrote the oratorio Saul, whose Dead March was played at Winston Churchill's funeral?

Handel composed it in 1738, tracing the king's slide from admiring David to envying and hating him. The march mourns Saul and Jonathan after their last battle.

In which valley was Saul's army camped when Goliath came out to challenge it to single combat?

Elah lay between two hills, with the Philistines camped on one and Israel on the other. Saul and his whole army were dismayed, and no one answered the challenge until David did.

What did an Amalekite bring David from the battlefield, claiming he had finished off the dying Saul?

His crown and bracelet were meant to win a reward from David. Instead David tore his clothes, fasted until evening, and had the man put to death for raising his hand against the king.

Which meaning does the Hebrew name Saul carry, echoing the way Israel came to have its first king?

Asked for is the literal sense of the Hebrew Sha'ul, from the verb sha'al, to ask. It suits a king whom the elders requested over Samuel's objections.

At which feast did Saul notice David's seat empty two days running and turn on Jonathan in fury?

New Moon meals gathered the court around the king, so an absence showed. On the first day Saul assumed David was ritually unclean; on the second he exploded.

Which warrior crept with David into Saul's sleeping camp and offered to kill the king with one blow?

Abishai was told no: David would not harm a king God had chosen. They slipped away with the water jar from beside Saul's head instead, proof of how close they had come.

Which son of Saul was king over Israel for two years while the tribe of Judah followed David?

Ishbosheth was forty when the army commander made him king. Two of his own captains murdered him during his midday rest, and David executed them for it.

Which Edomite herdsman of Saul informed on the priests of Nob and then cut them down himself?

Doeg was the only one willing: Saul's own guards refused to touch the priests. He went on to destroy the whole town, and a single priest's son escaped to David.

On the wall of which city did the Philistines hang Saul's body after his final defeat?

Beth Shan displayed the body while the king's battle gear went to a temple of the Ashtaroth as a trophy. Loyal men from a town he had once saved stole the corpse back by night.

Which concubine of Saul guarded the bodies of her executed sons from birds and wild animals?

Rizpah kept her vigil on a rock from the start of the barley harvest until the rains came. Word of it moved David to gather the bones of Saul, Jonathan and the hanged men for burial.

By which name does the Quran refer to the king traditionally identified with the Bible's Saul?

Talut is appointed over the Israelites' objections: in the Quran they at first reject him as their king because he is not wealthy.

Which people did Saul warn to leave before he struck the Amalekites, repaying an old kindness?

Kenites lived among the Amalekites, so Saul sent word for them to get out first. They had shown kindness to Israel on the way up from Egypt, and they left before the fighting began.