‘I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,’ he replied, ‘and there was Saul, leaning on his spear. At that very moment the chariots and the cavalry were closing in on him.
But a man drew his bow without taking any special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armour. So he said to his charioteer, ‘Turn round and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded! ’
‘What was the outcome? Tell me,’ David asked him. ‘The troops fled from the battle,’ he answered. ‘Many of the troops have fallen and are dead. Also, Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.’
he went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.