1 Samuel 31:10

And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth ,.... A temple dedicated to their deities, called by this name; of which See Gill on Judges 2:13 ; Nothing was more common with the Gentiles than to place in their temples the arms they took from their enemies, as is strongly expressed by Homer F9 τευχεα συλησας , Iliad. 7. ver. 83. and Virgil F11 "Multaque praeterea sacris in postibus arma", &c.; Aeneid. 7. ver. 183. So Persius, Satyr. 6. ver. 45. ; and indeed the Jews did the same, as appears by the sword of Goliath being laid up in the tabernacle, 1 Samuel 21:9 . Here also the Heathens F12 Messal. Corvin. de August. Progen. hung up their own arms when the war was ended:

and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan ; which Josephus F13 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14.) l. 8. says is the same which in his time was called Scythopolis, from the Scythians that possessed it, before called Nysa, according to Pliny F14 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18. Vid. Solin. Polyhistor. c. 49. : it was given to the tribe of Manasseh, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of it, so that it was always in the possession of others, Joshua 17:11 ; where it is called Bethshean; to the wall of the city they fastened the body of Saul with nails, as it is commonly understood; but it is more likely they hung it on a gibbet without, and near the walls of the city; so the Targum, they hung his body; or, as Josephus F15 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14. l. 8.) , they crucified it there; and so they did also the bodies of his sons, as appears from 1 Samuel 31:12 .