Chapter 31

The Philistines win the battle against Saul and his army.  Saul's sons are killed.  Saul is wounded badly by archers, and asks his armor bearer to kill him so the Philistines won't mistreat him.  The armor bearer will not do it.  So Saul falls on his own sword.  He commits suicide....or at least hurries his death along.  When the nearby cities of Judah see that Saul and his three sons are dead, they abandon their cities, and the Philistines move into the cities and live there.

2021 - This seems to be concurrent to David's victory over the raiders and  his sending presents to many cities.  As David rises, Saul falls, with his entire family, and territory is lost also.

When the Philistines find Saul's body, and his sons, they cut off Saul's head, and send it home as a display.  They put his armor on display in Ashtaroth, and fasten his body to the wall of Beth-shan.  They are a pretty nasty bunch.  But some brave men from Jabesh-Gilead hear of it, and retrieve the bodies, and burn them and then bury the bones in Jabesh.

2024 - This verse:  8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. [1Sa 31:8 ESV].  It is clear from this that Jonathan, Saul, and Saul's other sons died in battle.  There is at least some consolation in this.  They were not paraded out and tortured, and then executed.  They died as men, in battle, fighting of their country, their families, and their lives.  Except for Saul...who died because he was afraid to face the end, who could have jumped into the fray and died as his sons had died, but chose instead a cowards way out.  Saul was a man of Gibeah.