ABSTRACT

Scholars paid neither special attention to the significance of the war after Saul's death, nor to the length of time that elapsed between Saul's death and David's accession. This chapter examines carefully the events after the battle at Gilboa, and shows that there was probably a link between the circumstances of Saul's death, the civil war that followed, David's policies and the eventual schism. It shows that the schism did not occur overnight, but that it was the result of a series of events beginning with Saul's death. In order to support the argument further it is important to try to establish the length of time which elapsed between Saul's death and David's accession. The chapter proposes the hypothesis that Judges contains information which refers to Saul. It offers to extend this hypothesis to Judges, that is, the civil war so briefly reported in Samuel may be supplemented by the material found in Judges.