=The Battle on Gilboa.= Saul's courage was well illustrated in the final battle on Gilboa. His position was evidently chosen because the northern end of Gilboa commanded the valley of Esdraelon as well as that of Jezreel.^{(11)} To gain control of the highways which led across these valleys, the Philistines were therefore compelled to dislodge the Hebrew army and in so doing to fight against great odds. To make the attack directly on the north from the direction of Shunem was practically impossible, for at this point the Brook Jalud is so deep that it is impassable for an army. The rocky hills of Gilboa also rise very abruptly.^{(10)} The probabilities are that in making the attack the Philistines marched down the eastern side of the Plain of Esdraelon and then advanced toward the heights of Gilboa from the southwest by the sloping terraces that lead gradually to the top. Here they could also utilize their chariots and preserve their battle array. By this formidable army the scattered and disheartened forces that rallied about Saul were quickly defeated. The disaster was overwhelming; the valiant king and his sons fought desperately, with no thought of retreat. Thus fell on the heights of Gilboa the man who laid the foundations of the Hebrew empire, leaving the Philistines in possession of Northern Israel. The half-Canaanite town of Bethshean^{(12)} on the Plain of Jezreel appears to have surrendered at once to the Philistines, for the body of Saul was hung in derision on its walls soon after the battle. From the heights of Gilead in a midnight march across the Jordan came the men of Jabesh-Gilead to capture the body of the fallen king and to bury it within their own territory, that they might thus repay the large debt which they owed to their deliverer. =The Remnant of Saul's Kingdom.= Throughout this earlier period the east-Jordan tribes were especially loyal to the house of Saul, probably because of his early act of deliverance as well as his later wars against their foes in the east. It was natural, therefore, that the capital of the remnant of his kingdom should be established at Mahanaim in Gilead. The exact site of this important city of the east-Jordan has not yet been determined. Probably it was at the ruins of Mahneh, north of the present city of Ajlun. Others would identify it with the important later city of Gerasa, the modern Jerash, on a brook which runs north from the Jabbok. A few biblical references suggest, however, that it was nearer the Jordan, but among the highlands to the north of the Jabbok. In any case it was not far from the modern Mahneh. Here Saul's son, Ishbaal, who succeeded him, was out of the direct line of Philistine attack and beyond the reach of the southern Israelite tribes, that had asserted their independence immediately after the battle of Gilboa.