The events of 1 Samuel 31 surrounding the death of King Saul began already back in chapter 28. David had been asked by King Achish of Gath to join the Philistine forces against Saul. Then David and Achish had joined up with the Philistine forces at Aphek (1 Sam. 29:1-3), the location of the Philistine victory and their capture of Israel's ark of the covenant a generation earlier. The other Philistine forces dismissed David since they did not trust him. While David headed back for Ziklag (as related in our previous section), the Philistines joined their comrades at Shunem (28:4), north of Mount Gilboa, just opposite Saul's forces.

There is no consensus today about why Saul allowed himself to be in such a precarious position; he seems to have been playing into the hands of the Philistines (Bright 1981, 194). His forces were on one hill, and the Philistines were opposite him on another hill. The plains between the hills provided excellent terrain for the Philistines and their chariots (2 Sam. 1:6). Here Israel lost its king (and even lost his corpse) when the Philistines killed Saul and recovered his body from the field of battle.

First Chronicles 10:10 adds some additional information: "They put his armor in the temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon."

The excavation at Beth-shean has revealed multiple temples, clarifying the information from Samuel and Chronicles about putting the armor in one temple and the corpse in another. In earlier chapters I have already provided some information about findings at the site. In our discussion about the ceramic anthropoid coffin lids at Deir el-Balah, the lids were compared with similar coffin lids at Beth-shean (p. 94). We also briefly compared the temples at Tell Qasile with those at Beth-shean. This section will focus on the archaeology of Beth-shean, primarily as it relates to the period of Saul, including the temple in which his body might have been hung.

Beth-shean is at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, along a rivulet that flows into the Jordan River a short distance to the east. When you are at Beth-shean, it is hard to realize that you are 350 feet below sea level. The mound rises impressively above the surrounding terrain. Its location was important, since it lay at a crossroads for traffic going north-south or east-west. In New Testament times, when its name was Scythopolis, it was a spot where caravans would gather before traveling on together for safety reasons.

Already back in the Late Bronze Age and especially by the thirteenth century B.C., Beth-shean was controlled by the Egyptian empire as an important fortified site helping to control the trade routes. This control continued well into the twelfth century B.C. during the reign of Ramesses III, the pharaoh who defeated the Sea Peoples and who evidently settled them, including the Philistines, in garrison towns such as Deir el-Balah and Beth-shean.

During the conquest of Canaan by Israel, Beth-shean became part of Manasseh's allotment (Josh. 17:11-13). The Joshua text points out a problem that is supported in Judges 1:27, "Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages." Beth-shean and its Canaanite population were then under the control of the Egyptians. The evidence suggests a strong Egyptian presence throughout the Late Bronze Age and especially during the reigns of the pharaohs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, which brings us into the Iron Age and Joshua's time. Some of the pharaohs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties who had forces at Beth-shean were Seti I, Ramesses II (the pharaoh of the exodus?), Merneptah, who battled some of the Sea Peoples (see chap. 3, pp. 51-53), and Ramesses III.

Several stelae of the pharaohs have been found during the excavations at Beth-shean. A stele is an upright standing stone, and quite often it includes a text, images, and symbols. Stelae of Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses III at Beth-shean describe military campaigns and also have the names of Egyptian gods inscribed on them.

The smaller finds at Beth-shean, such as Egyptian scarabs, amulets (some with an ankh symbol, an Egyptian sign of life), plaques, pottery and other ceramic objects, and jewelry decorated with various goddesses, all display a heavy Egyptian influence. Other objects demonstrate influence from the Aegean and from Mesopotamia; however, there is a scarcity of Philistine pottery at Beth-shean. But remember the Bible does not refer to Beth-shean as being either a Philistine or an Egyptian town; it only states that Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants. All the evidence indicates that this was a Canaanite town dominated by Egypt during most of the Late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age, through the reign of Ramesses III in the mid-twelfth century B.C. There was definitely a Philistine presence there in the mid-twelfth century, but perhaps no more than a garrison force.

The stratum VI period of Ramesses III has been pinpointed by the finds of a pottery form well known to you by now -- Mycenaean IIIC:1b, the form that may span most of the reign of Ramesses III (Dever et al. 1986, 87 n. 176). This is the pottery that appears at Philistine sites with the arrival of the Sea Peoples.

The strong Egyptian influence at Beth-shean during both the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, strata VII and VI, is illustrated by the fifty anthropoid coffin burials with grave goods, similar to those at Deir el-Balah. The later coffins of level VI from the Twentieth dynastic period, dated by the grave goods such as the pottery, can be assigned to the Sea Peoples, who were influenced by the way the Egyptians buried their dead. The Philistine pottery that was found at Beth-shean is not the classic, pretty bichrome pottery but is cruder. The unique headgear displayed on five coffin lids of tombs 66 and 90 in the Beth-shean burials is not duplicated in any other burials in Egypt or Canaan, but resembles the headgear of the Philistines at Medinet Habu, pictured by Ramesses III (T. Dothan 1982a, 271-72 with pictures). The feathered headgear can also be seen on the ivory game box and on the conical seal from Enkomi mentioned earlier on pages 60 and 87 (see also A. Mazar 1990, 305). Enkomi, on Cyprus, was one of the staging areas for the thrust of the Sea Peoples towards the south and eventually into Egypt. According to T. Dothan, the use of anthropoid coffin burials at Beth-shean began in the thirteenth century B.C., level VII, when the Nineteenth-Dynasty pharaohs controlled the site, and before the Philistine presence. This mode of burial continued there into the Twentieth Dynasty of Pharaoh Ramesses III, as evidenced by findings in level VI from the twelfth and eleventh centuries B.C. Tombs 66 and 90 support the conclusion that the Philistines had adopted the Egyptian mode of burial. These two tombs are dated to the time of Israel's King Saul.

Now let us look at the temples that have been excavated at Beth-shean. Both levels VII and VI of the thirteenth and twelfth centuries B.C. at Beth-shean contain temples sharing a similar design. The level VI temple is associated with Pharaoh Ramesses III of the early twelfth century B.C. It was constructed of sun-dried brick and was approximately fifty feet long, running north and south. It was almost as wide as it was long on the northern end. The temple was entered by passing through two courtyards. A ninety-degree turn led from the first to the second, and then from the second, a similar turn led into the sanctuary. In the sanctuary stood an altar, and behind it was a series of seven steps leading into the Holy of Holies, with another altar and storerooms on the left and right wings. The floor of the Holy of Holies was blue, and on it was the figure of the god Horus (a hawk figure) bearing the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. From inscriptions, it is known that this temple dates to the reign of Ramesses III. He may have been successful in defeating the Sea Peoples, but some time after these battles, Egypt appears to have lost control over Canaan, including Beth-shean, for the level VI buildings, including its temple, were found in ruins.

There are two temples above this one that are of particular interest. These are from level V (the beginning of the eleventh century), and the southernmost of the two was built directly over the ruins of the temple attributed to Ramesses III. This southern temple had a different orientation from the Ramesses III temple, west to east, and was about fifty feet long, with a twenty-six-foot-wide pillared hall leading to the eastern end, where the altar would have stood with steps leading up to it. On either side of the six-pillared hall were storerooms, making this temple almost square. The two center pillars had foundation deposits, one containing a jug of gold ingots and the other containing a pot of silver ingots.

This southern temple was separated from the northern level V temple by a corridor. The northern temple was rectangular, approximately forty feet by twenty-seven feet. It had four stone bases for roof supports. Like the southern temple, it had an entrance that prevented a passerby from glancing into the sanctuary.

We are now ready to return to 1 Samuel 31:9-10 and 1 Chronicles 10:10, where mention is made of the disposal of Saul's body and armor. Fitzgerald provides detail about clay figurines of Astarte and other cult objects found in the level V temples (1967, 193-96; Rowe 1940, 22-24). Figurines of her and of other goddesses, either in gold pendant form or as clay figurines with the molds to make them, were found throughout the Late Bronze Age levels at Beth-shean. Fitzgerald mentions that a typical cult object of level V was the ceramic cult stand. These stands were cylindrical in shape, open at the top and bottom; on their sides were windows in which sculpted doves were perched. The stands had two handles, and also had snakes slithering up the sides (see Shanks 1984, 58-59 for pictures of similar stands). These cult stands, along with other cult objects, led Fitzgerald to conclude that it was the goddess Anat that dominated the cult at Beth-shean. She was the sister and consort of the god Baal, and she, like Astarte, was also a goddess of war and love. Her temple, the northern one described above, would have been the logical repository for the armor of Saul. The temples from level V were contemporaneous to the second and third of the three temples at Tell Qasile discussed on pages 113-18 in connection with Samson. Like the northern Beth-shean temple, the small shrine near the third temple at Qasile may have been used for the major deity's consort or for a minor god (A. Mazar 1977, 85).

The southern temple at Beth-shean was that of Dagon, where Saul's body was hung, as told to us in 1 Chronicles 10:10 (see also Rowe 1940, 22-24, 31, 33). The story of King Saul ends with the events related in 1 Samuel 31:11-13: