1 After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. 2 On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
3 “Where have you come from?” David asked him.
He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
4 “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.”
“The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
5 Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. 7 When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’
8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’
“‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.
9 “Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’
10 “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
11 Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?”
“I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered.
14 David asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
15 Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died. 16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):
19 “A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel.
How the mighty have fallen!
20 “Tell it not in Gath,
proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.
21 “Mountains of Gilboa,
may you have neither dew nor rain,
may no showers fall on your terraced fields.
For there the shield of the mighty was despised,
the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.
22 “From the blood of the slain,
from the flesh of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,
the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied.
23 Saul and Jonathan—
in life they were loved and admired,
and in death they were not parted.
They were swifter than eagles,
they were stronger than lions.
24 “Daughters of Israel,
weep for Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and finery,
who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.
25 “How the mighty have fallen in battle!
Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
26 I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
you were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,
more wonderful than that of women.
27 “How the mighty have fallen!
The weapons of war have perished!”
Points of Interest:
- ‘David returned from striking down the Amalekites’--as you may remember, the Philistine kings, uncertain of David’s loyalties, send David home to Ziklag from their war with Saul. When David gets there, he discovers that the Amalekites have taken advantage of the fact that the Philistines and the Israelites are focused on one another by raiding both Israel and Philistia, including David’s own town Ziklag. David, of course, sets off in hot pursuit.
- ‘he fell to the ground to pay him honor’--the man is saluting David as his new king.
- ‘I stood beside him and killed him’--this is the very kind of thing Saul was hoping to avoid by falling on his own sword: some no-name soldier being able to claim that he was the one to kill Saul. As it turns out, it still happens; and it’s one of his own soldiers, not a Philistine, who does it. The man simply lies, and since most everyone actually around Saul at the time died in battle, it would be difficult to find anyone to contradict him.
- ‘I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm’--he must have come across Saul’s body on the battlefield before the Philistines get to it. He figures that Saul is already dead-- there’s nothing he can do about that--but he can use the situation to gain favor with his likely successor. He’s a mercenary after all, suddenly now unemployed. Here’s a good chance to keep his job and maybe even get a promotion in the new regime.
- ‘Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?’--things don’t work out quite like this Amalekite imagines. David has twice passed up the opportunity to kill Saul himself, despite the fact that David’s very life was at stake. He doesn’t take kindly to this man proudly claiming to have killed his own king in the middle of battle.
- ‘Your own mouth testified against you’--this man has condemned himself as a murderer, by confessing to a murder he didn’t even commit. His greed and opportunism end up getting him executed.
- ‘he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament’--all the trouble between Saul and David began when a song starring David hit the top of the charts. David’s parting gift to Saul is to write Saul his own song. It becomes a sort of national anthem, and Saul becomes the hero in death that he so desperately wanted to be in life.
- ‘and in death they were not parted’--Saul and Jonathan didn’t have the easiest relationship, sharply divided as they were over how to treat David. But they die side by side, fellow warriors, father and son.
- ‘Your love for me was wonderful’--while so many people, Saul most particularly, were wrapped up in the controversy over which one of them would succeed Saul, Jonathan and David never concerned themselves with that question. You get the feeling that either one of them would have happily deferred to the other. They simply wanted the best for one another, and for Israel. It’s a pity that Saul’s animosity got in the way of such a strong partnership ever reaching its full potential.
Taking it home
- For you: David and his men take time to mourn the death of Saul, even creating a song as a way to pay tribute to the former king. Taking time to grieve doesn’t often make it to the top of our to-do list. It takes time we don’t ever quite seem to have; and it forces us to face the pain in our life, which few of us really likes doing. What is something in your life that you need to take time to mourn? It might be the loss of a family member or friend, the loss of a job, the ending of a relationship, or the dashing of a hope or dream. Take time to do that today, maybe even doing something special like David did to pay tribute to the one you’ve lost. Ask God to be close to you during the process of grieving, comforting you in feelings of sadness and pain.
- For your six: The poor Amalekite doesn’t seem to know what he’s getting himself into when he takes Saul’s crown. Finding himself in a crisis situation, he makes a decision quickly that, at least in his mind, seems like it could work; it spectacularly doesn’t. Ask God to protect your six in their decision-making. Pray that God would protect them from making rash decisions that might appear logical but in the end will cause them harm.
- For our church: Pray that our church could somehow play a part in inspiring the songs that captivate our country. People all over the world listen to the tunes produced by Katy Perry, Eminem, and the Black-Eyed Peas--and good for them. But sometimes a different sort of song is necessary; it’s hard to imagine Katy coming up with something like David’s song, which so powerfully set the tone for responding to Saul’s death and so helpfully interpreted the circumstances in which the nation found itself. Ask God to influence and inspire songs in our time and culture that would similarly infuse people with deep hope and a sense of purpose.
- For families: Talk about people, things, or relationships you have lost. Sometimes crying or being sad seems like a hard thing to do, but the Bible says that we are blessed when we mourn for things we have lost, and that God himself is with us while we are sad. Have you done anything special to mourn the loss of someone or something? How did that go? If you have not, spend some time today talking about what you could do to grieve.
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