How King Saul Died
Reconciling two concepts or two facts that seem incompatible is common in most academic fields. The classic example in physics is reconciling the fact that light acts like a wave with the contrary fact that light also acts like a particle. Some scholars who study Old Testament (OT) literature however take the approach that ancient writers of the Scriptures used diverse sources and did not reconcile the sources even if they disagree significantly. With this approach, rather than attempting to see how or why two different accounts can be reasonably reconciled, the scholar assumes that one or both of the stories are not entirely true. The stories of Saul's death in 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1 are two accounts that may be seen as either contradictory or as part of a cohesive single story. The most reasonable way to take the two stories of Saul's death is that the original author intended the audience to understand that the Amalekite was lying about having killed Saul. Some sc...