IV. =Saul's Death.= This took place B.C. 1010, when Saul had reigned 40 years. We have noticed two wars with the Philistines as prominent in the history of Saul's reign. We call the last campaign of Saul the _third_ Philistine war, as no others are related, though their existence may be inferred. This marked the flood tide of Philistine power; for it left them at Saul's death in command not only of the Plain of Esdraelon and the Jordan Valley, but of all the centre of the country. Their armies met at Aphek, in the tribe of Benjamin (their old rallying place, 1 Sam. 4:1), and thence marched northward to the Plain of Esdraelon, at the foot of Mount Gilboa, on which the Israelites were encamped. Saul, full of fear, went around the Philistine camp to the village of Endor, where he sought the counsel of a "woman having a familiar spirit," and met the spirit of Samuel, which gave him warning that on the morrow he should die. The battle was fought on the next day. Saul and three of his sons, including the princely Jonathan, were slain; and Israel experienced the heaviest defeat thus far in its history. All the middle section of the land of Palestine was conquered by the Philistines, cutting the tribes in sunder in each direction, from north to south and from east to west. At such a low ebb were the fortunes of the Chosen People, when David ascended the throne. Saul's body was fastened up on the wall of the Canaanite city of Beth-shean, but was rescued by the warriors of Jabesh-gilead, in grateful remembrance of Saul's brave deed in behalf of their city, early in his reign. (1 Sam. 31.)