Saul

The first king of Israel (Bucknill & Tuke, 1858; Comay, 1995; Krafft-Ebbing, 1903; Orleans, 1998; Sharp, 1807; Tuke, 1892), apparently suffered from depression (due to his belief that God had deserted him (Byers, 1998)) to such an extent that he was suicidal, but successfully treated with music therapy (Gardner, 1995; Hills, 1901; Tischler, 2006; Tuke, 1892):

            And it came to pass, when the evil spirit was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with 

            his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

            (1 Samuel 16:23, King James Bible).

Later, Saul committed suicide (Comay, 1995; Evans & Farberow, 2003; Galpaz-Feller, 2006; Gardner, 1995; Guernsey, 1883; Kastenbaum, 2003; Stone, 1997; Tuke, 1892; Winslow, 1840):

            Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these 

            uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he 

            was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

            (1 Samuel 31: 4, King James Bible)

The suicide of Saul by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

References:

Bucknill, J.C., & Tuke, D.H. (1858). A manual of psychological medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Blanchard & Lea.

Byers, P.K. (Ed.) (1998). Encyclopedia of world biography. (2^nd edition). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.

Comay, J. (1995). Who’s who in the Old Testament. London, England: Routledge.

Evans, G., & Farberow, N.L. (2003). The encyclopedia of suicide. New York, NY: Facts on File Inc.

Galpaz-Feller, P. (2006). ‘Let my soul die with the Philistines’ (Judges 16.30). Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 30, 3, 315-325.

Gardner, P. (Ed.) (1995). The complete who’s who in the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Guernsey, R.S. (1883). Suicide: history of the penal laws relating to it in their legal, social, moral and religious aspects in ancient and modern times. New York, NY: L.K. Strouse & Co.

Hills, F.L. (1901). Psychiatry – ancient, medieval and modern. The Popular Science Monthly 59, 3, 31-48.

Kastenbaum, R. (Ed.) (2003). MacMillan encyclopedia of death and dying. New York, NY: MacMillan Reference USA. 

Krafft-Ebbing, R. von (1903). Textbook of insanity: based on clinical observations. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.

Orleans, M. (1998). Encyclopedia of world biography (2^nd edition). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.

Sharp, G. (1807). The case of Saul, shewing that his disorder was a real spiritual possession. London, England: W. Calvert.

Stone, M.H. (1997). Healing the mind: A history of psychiatry from antiquity to the present. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc.

Tischler, N.M. (Ed.) (2006). All things in the Bible. Westport, CT : Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.

Tuke, D.H. (1892). A dictionary of psychological medicine. Philadelphia, PA: P. Blakiston Son & Co.

Winslow, F. (1840). Anatomy of suicide. London, England: Henry Renshaw.