Saul

There are two important people called Saul in the Bible.

• In the Old Testament, Saul was the first king to rule over a united Kingdom of Israel. This would suggest a date just before 1000 BCE, the approximate date at which he was succeeded by King David.
• In the New Testament, Saul (as 'Saul of Tarsus') was the name carried, before his conversion to Christianity, by the Jew who became the great apostle to the Gentiles: Saint Paul.

The name Saul is still occasionally used as a forename.

There is an oratorio by Handel called Saul.