FIrst Samuel devotes twenty-three chapters to the story of Saul (1 Samuel 9:1–31:13) and even then it is not quite finished. The Chronicler only allots one chapter, and that is the material parallel to 1 Samuel 31:1–13. The tortured question as to the rightness of having a king in Israel at all (1 Samuel 8:1–12:25) is not even aired here. Nor do we read of the choice of Saul (1 Samuel 9:1–27), nor of his jealous pursuit of David, which occupied the greater part of his reign and absorbed so much of the energy which should have been directed against the Philistines.1
1 Les Philistins livrèrent bataille à Israël, et les hommes d'Israël prirent la fuite devant les Philistins et tombèrent morts sur la montagne de Guilboa.