When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.
Israelites in the valley and across the Jordan abandon their towns when they see the army has fled and Saul and his sons are dead; the Philistines occupy those cities.
It shows the defeat spreading into civilian flight and Philistine control.
7When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities. 8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people. 10They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.