Study Desk

The P'lishtim pursued Sha'ul; overtook him and his sons; and the P'lishtim killed Y'honatan, Avinadav and Malkishua, the sons of Sha'ul.

Sha'ul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it. Otherwise, these uncircumcised men will come and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer refused; he was too frightened. So Sha'ul took his sword and fell on it.

When his armor-bearer saw that Sha'ul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died.

Thus Sha'ul, his three sons and all his household died together.

When all the men of Isra'el who were in the valley saw them fleeing and that Sha'ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; then the P'lishtim came and lived in them.

The following day, when the P'lishtim came to strip the dead, they found Sha'ul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa.

They stripped him, then took his head and his armor and sent them all over the territory of the P'lishtim to carry the news to their idols and to the people.

They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull to the temple of Dagon.

all their warriors set out, took away the body of Sha'ul and the bodies of his sons, brought them to Yavesh, buried their bones under the pistachio tree in Yavesh and fasted seven days.

These are David's chief warriors, who, under his rulership, joined forces with him and with all Isra'el to make him king, as Adonai had said concerning Isra'el;

here is the list of David's warrior-heroes: Yashov‘am son of a Hakhmoni, the chief officer; he is the one who raised his spear against 300 men and killed them in a single encounter.

Avishai the brother of Yo'av was chief of these three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them; thus he had a reputation even among the three.

Here is how he killed an Egyptian, a man who was very tall, seven-and-a-half feet: the Egyptian had a spear in his hand the size of a weaver's beam; he went down to him with only a stick, seized the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.

He had more honor than the thirty, but he did not achieve the status of the first three. David put him in command of his personal guard.

Y'dia‘el the son of Shimri, Yocha his brother, the Titzi,

Following are the men who joined David at Ziklag while he was still being kept away from Sha'ul the son of Kish; they were among the warriors who helped him fight his battles.

From M'nasheh some defected to David when he was about to go with the P'lishtim to fight against Sha'ul; but they ended up not helping them; because the rulers of the P'lishtim, after consultation, sent David away, saying, "He will defect to his master Sha'ul at the cost of our heads."

As he was on his way to Ziklag, those who defected to him from M'nasheh included ‘Adnach, Yozavad, Y'dia‘el, Mikha'el, Yozavad, Elihu and Tziltai, commanders of thousands from M'nasheh.

also Tzadok, a young man, strong and brave, with twenty-two commanders from his father's family.

When they arrived at Kidon's threshing-floor, the oxen stumbled; and ‘Uza put out his hand to steady the ark.