** The text of 1 Sam. xxxi. 10 says, in a vague manner, “in the house of the Ashtaroth” (in the plural), which is corrected, somewhat arbitrarily, in 1 Chron. x. 10 iato “in the house of Dagon” (B.V.); it is possible that it was the temple at Gaza, Gaza being the chief of the Philistine towns.

The people of Jabesh-Gilead, who had never forgotten how Saul had saved them from the Ammonites, hearing the news, marched all night, rescued the mutilated remains, and brought them back to their own town, where they burned them, and buried the charred bones under a tamarisk, fasting meanwhile seven days as a sign of mourning.*

* 1 Sam. xxxi.  It would seem that there were two narratives describing this war:  in one, the Philistines encamped at Shunem, and Saul occupied Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxviii. 4); in the other, the Philistines encamped at Aphek, and the Israelites “by the fountain which is in Jezreel” (1 Sam. xxix. 1).  The first of these accounts is connected with the episode of the witch of Endor, the second with the sending away of David by Achish.  The final catastrophe is in both narratives placed on Mount Gilboa and Stade has endeavoured to reconcile the two accounts by admitting that the battle was fought between Aphek and “the fountain,” but that the final scene took place on the slopes of Gilboa.  There are even two versions of the battle, one in 1 Sam. xxxi. and the other in 2 Sam. i. 6-10, where Saul does not kill himself, but begs an Amalekite to slay him; many critics reject the second version.

[Illustration:  330.jpg THE HILL OF BETHSHAN, SEEN FROM THE EAST]

     Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 79 of the Palestine
     Exploration Fund.

David afterwards disinterred these relics, and laid them in the burying-place of the family of Kish at Zela, in Benjamin.  The tragic end of their king made a profound impression on the people.  We read that, before entering on his last battle, Saul was given over to gloomy forebodings:  he had sought counsel of Jahveh, but God “answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.”  The aged Samuel had passed away at Ramah, and had apparently never seen the king after the flight of David;* Saul now bethought himself of the prophet in his despair, and sought to recall him from the tomb to obtain his counsel.

     * 1 Sam. xxv. 1, repeated 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, with a mention
     of the measures taken by Saul against the wizards and
     fortune-tellers.

The king had banished from the land all wizards and fortune-tellers, but his servants brought him word that at Endor there still remained a woman who could call up the dead.  Saul disguised himself, and, accompanied by two of his retainers, went to find her; he succeeded in overcoming her fear of punishment, and persuaded her to make the evocation.  “Whom shall I bring up unto thee?”—­“Bring up Samuel.”—­And when the woman saw