Israel's FIRST king — a tall young Benjaminite sent to look for lost donkeys who came home anointed (1 Samuel 9-10). He is the answer to a demand the people made and were warned about: 'give us a king to judge us like all the nations.' ⚠️ His reign is a study in a man unravelling: early victories, then two acts of disobedience that cost him the kingdom — offering the sacrifice himself at Gilgal, and sparing Agag and the best of the flocks when told to destroy AMALEK (1 Samuel 15) — followed by jealousy of David, a spear thrown at him twice, the massacre of the priests of Nob, and a night visit to a medium at En-dor. He dies by his own sword on Mount Gilboa with three of his sons, and David, whom he hunted for years, tears his clothes and composes his elegy (2 Samuel 1). Not to be confused with SAUL of Tarsus, the apostle Paul, who was named after him.