The Death of King Saul on Christian Tours to Europe

See El Amarna Letters on Christian Tours to Europe

In 2 Samuel 1:23, we are told:

“Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”

On Living Passages’ Christian tours to Europe we have a chance to see El Amarna letter #257, which was written in Canaan around 1,000 BC. The story on the tablet tells of a rebel leader of the Canaanites called the Lion Man who had been killed on a mountain top, similar to the story line as told in Samuel about King Saul’s demise. Historically, King Saul was called the Lion Man. The Philistines occupied Canaan during this time period and the Hebrew people were considered rebels to the Philistines because they came from Egypt in the Exodus to occupy the land of Canaan, now Israel – Abraham’s promised land.

1 Samuel 31 states:

“Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.”