King Saul died by suicide during a battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa. Severely wounded by enemy archers, Saul feared capture and torture by the Philistines, so he asked his armor-bearer to kill him. When the armor- bearer refused out of fear, Saul took his own sword and fell on it, ending his life

. Shortly after Saul's death, his armor-bearer also killed himself by falling on his sword. Saul's three sons were killed in the same battle. The Philistines then beheaded Saul, stripped him of his armor, and displayed his body on the city wall of Beth-shan. However, the people of Jabesh-Gilead later retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons, cremated them, and buried their bones in Jabesh

. There is a secondary account from an Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul after finding him mortally wounded, but this is generally understood as a false claim, as David had the Amalekite executed for killing the Lord’s anointed king

. In summary, the biblical narrative consistently presents Saul's death as a suicide prompted by his mortal wounds and fear of enemy capture during the battle with the Philistines