Mountain ridge in northern Israel on the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley. Mount Gilboa is the site of Saul's last battle against the Philistines and of his death (1 Samuel 28:4; 31:1-13; 2 Samuel 1:6, 21; 21:12; 1 Chronicles 10:1-12). The Philistines gathered themselves together to fight against Israel; Saul gathered Israel and encamped in Gilboa; Saul, anxious about the LORD's withdrawal of guidance from him, consulted the witch of Endor on the night before the battle to summon up Samuel from the dead, who delivered the LORD's judgment: to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me (1 Samuel 28:19). The next day the Philistines fought against Israel; the men of Israel fled and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa; the Philistines slew Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's three sons; the archers wounded Saul; Saul fell upon his own sword rather than be taken by the uncircumcised Philistines; his armor-bearer fell upon his sword and died with him. The next day the Philistines found their bodies, cut off Saul's head, and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. The valiant men of Jabesh-Gilead went all night, took the bodies, and burned them at Jabesh, burying the bones under the tree at Jabesh. David's great lament over Saul and Jonathan invokes Mount Gilboa: Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil (2 Samuel 1:21). The patriarchal-Reformed reader receives Mount Gilboa as the place of Saul's tragic end — the king whose unbelief and disobedience throughout his reign culminated in spiritualist consultation and suicide on the battlefield.