Saul

Saul (/sɔːl/;, meaning "asked for, prayed for"; Latin: Saul; Arabic: طالوت, Ṭālūt or شاؤل, Ša'ūl) is a King in the Books of Samuel, 1 Chronicles and the Qur'an. He was the first king of ancient Israel. He ruled Israel in the 11th Century BC.

In the Bible, Saul loves and obeys God, until he stops listening to God and becomes greedy, losing God's whole interest for him. Samuel, the prophet, comes and gives him a warning that God is not with him anymore. When turning to leave, Saul grabs Samuel's robe, and it tears. Samuel says (1Samuel15:28~29), "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors - to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."

Then the spirit of the Lord leaves Saul and an evil spirit makes Saul miserable. Saul hires a shepherd named David, son of Jesse, to play a harp for him whenever the evil spirit comes because that way Saul can be happy. Later he gets jealous of David, and begins to suspect David as the 'one of your neighbors' that Samuel had mentioned. He grows afraid of David, and finally his jealousy turns to hatred, and he tries to kill him. But Saul's son Jonathan is a friend of David so Jonathan helps David escape.

Later, Saul dies at the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa. Saul kills himself because he does not want to be tortured by the 'uncircumcised' Philistines.