שמואל א, פרק ל״א, פסוק ג׳

In the tragic climax of the battle, a king faces his final moments utterly alone as enemy forces close in around him. The full weight and immense pressure of the opposing army shifted entirely onto Saul, pushing him to his absolute limit until he had no strength left to defend himself [שטיינזלץ]. Commentators agree that he bore this onslaught alone, as his three sons had already been killed and the last of his loyal warriors, who had fought fiercely to protect him, had fallen one by one [מלבי״ם, מצודת דוד, שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל].

In this grim reality, Saul's righteousness and bravery shine through. Despite watching his army flee and his sons die, he chose not to run. Instead, he willingly accepted his fate in order to secure his place in the World to Come, just as the prophet Samuel had foretold [חומת אנך].

Soon, expert enemy archers discovered his hiding place and began targeting him from a distance [רד״ק, מצודת ציון, מלבי״ם, מצודת דוד, אברבנאל]. Saul had likely hoped to continue fighting his enemies face-to-face with his sword. However, as the arrows rained down, he realized his end was near and that he could not fight back against a distant threat [שטיינזלץ].

Seeing the archers, Saul was overcome with a deep, trembling terror [מצודת ציון, רד״ק]. The primary approach among commentators is that he had not yet been struck by their arrows [רד״ק], though some suggest he was already wounded [מלבי״ם]. Regardless, the terror that gripped him was not a fear of dying, for he had already made peace with his death. His profound anxiety stemmed from the possibility that the arrows would merely injure him, leaving him unable to fight and causing him to be captured alive. He knew how deeply the Philistines hated him, and he was terrified that they would cruelly torture, mock, and humiliate him before finally taking his life [אברבנאל, מצודת דוד].