and didn't inquire of Yahweh: therefore he killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
The Chronicler’s presentation of Saul supplied a backdrop and a contrast for his portrayal of David. Saul was the king the people had demanded prematurely. He was the king after the people’s heart. His name means "he who was requested." Saul failed to submit to Yahweh’s authority and to obey His Word as God had revealed it in the Mosaic Law and through the prophet Samuel (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). He failed to respond appropriately to God’s elective grace in placing him on the throne. Saul had no heart for God. Consequently God brought discipline on Saul and on Israel under him. Because Saul failed to listen to God, God eventually stopped listening to him (cf. Jeremiah 7:13-16). Finally God killed him (1 Chronicles 10:14). The reason the writer recorded the death of Saul at such length seems to have been to show that David had no hand in it. [Note: See Saul Zalewski, "The Purpose of the Story of the Death of Saul in 1 Chronicles X," Vetus Testamentum 39:4 (October 1989):465.] Disloyalty to God always results in catastrophe, especially for His servants (cf. Luke 12:48).