The accounts of Saul's death recorded in 2 Samuel 1:1-16 and in 1 Chronicles 10:1-5 seem to contradict each other. Is there an explanation for these two different accounts of the same event? -- Adeline Mathieu
The account of 1 Chronicles 10 mirrors the account of 1 Samuel 31, the chapter immediately preceding 2 Samuel 1. In the narrative, we see that Saul took his own life, whereas the Amalekite claims to have killed Saul himself. (An "assisted suicide"?) For his audacity, the Amalekite loses his life. But was he telling the truth, or simply hoping for some reward, some "bounty money"?
As the Bible twice relates that Saul fell on his own sword, and his armor-bearer did the same, there is no corroborating witness for the Amalekite's version of what happened.
My conclusion: he was lying. (And David judges the Amalekite by his own words.)
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