DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
He consulted a medium and did not seek guidance from the Lord. "So Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord" (1 Chronicles 10:13), and the verse goes on to say he consulted a medium. 1 Samuel 31 tells the death with no verdict at all, and 1 Samuel 28:6 says Saul did ask the Lord and got no answer, "not by dreams or by Urim or by prophets."
Why it’s interesting
The verdict is typical of Chronicles, which spells out why a king was rewarded or punished. Its two key words, unfaithful and seek, are favorites of the book. Of all the Saul stories in 1 Samuel, Chronicles tells only his death, and it assumes the reader already knows the rest.
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.