Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 10:9

"And they stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto their idols, and to the people." — 1 Chronicles 10:9 (ASV)

And when they had stripped him. —Better, and they stripped him, and carried off his head, etc. Samuel, “and they cut off his head, and stripped his armour off.” With the phrase “carried off his head,” compare Genesis 40:19, “Pharaoh will lift thy head from off thee,” where the same Hebrew verb is used (yissâ).

And sent (Saul’s head and armour) to carry tidings to their idols. —The verb bassçr is used for good and bad tidings, especially the former, as in 2 Samuel 18:19–20.

To their idols. —Samuel, “house of their idols.” But the Septuagint reading there is the same as here: τοῖς εἰδώλοις. The expression in Samuel looks original, though it may have been copied by mistake from 1 Chronicles 10:10. Note the strictly local conception of deities implied in this act of the Philistines. It was as if their idols could neither see nor hear beyond their own temples. (Compare 1 Kings 20:23; 1 Kings 20:28; Psalms 94:9.)