On the morrow after this disastrous battle, the bodies of Saul and his three sons were found by the Philistines, when they came to strip the slain. With savage glee they cut off his head, stripped him of his armour, and sent it into their own land, to be placed as a trophy in the temple of Ashtaroth, probably at Ashdod, and fastened his body and those of his three sons to the wall overhanging the open space in front of the gate of the Canaanite city of Beth-shan[271]. On the mountain-range beyond Jordan in full view of Beth-shan[272] was the town of Jabesh-Gilead, by his heroic relief of which Saul had inaugurated his reign[273]. Hearing from the fugitives what had occurred to their king, the grateful inhabitants, mindful of past services, determined that his remains should not continue thus dishonoured. Their valiant men arose, crossed the Jordan, and under cover of night took down his body and those of his sons, buried them under the terebinth of their native town, and fasted seven days (1 Sam. xxxi. 13). Such was the news David now received at Ziklag from a young Amalekite, who had been present at the battle. Deeming himself sure of the reward that greeted the bearer of glad tidings, he had brought with him Saul’s crown and the bracelet that was on his arm, and pretended to have slain him at his own request (2 Sam. i. 1–12). But David’s wrath was kindled, and having sternly rebuked him for touching _the Lord’s anointed_, he bade one of his young men put him to death, and then burst into a strain of passionate lamentation over Saul and Jonathan. Forgetting all that had passed between him and the fallen king, he remembered only the better features of his character, while towards Jonathan his whole soul gushed forth in expressions of the tenderest affection (2 Sam. i. 17–27). BOOK IX. THE REIGNS OF DAVID AND SOLOMON. CHAPTER I. _DAVID’S REIGN AT HEBRON._ 2 SAM. II.–IV. B.C. 1055–1048. THE hour which the prophet of Ramah had long ago foretold was now come. The long period of trial and discipline was over. The brave shepherd, the conqueror of Goliath, the daring but prudent leader of attached followers was the only one left, to whom the Israelites could look for guidance in this great crisis of their national history.