So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;
Saul died for his transgression - in having spared the king of the Amalekites, and taking the flocks of the peoples as spoil, as well as in having consulted a Pythoness. Both of these acts were great sins; the first as a violation of God's express and positive command, and the second as contrary to a well-known statute of the kingdom (Leviticus 19:31).