1 Samuel 31:7
And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
News of the rout of the army and the death of Saul and his sons struck terror through the land. Even Israelites dwelling beyond the valley and across the Jordan abandoned their cities in panic and fled. The Philistines then moved in and occupied the deserted towns as their own. The desolation left behind shows how Saul's reign apart from God had brought his people to the brink of ruin.