2 Samuel 1

2 Samuel 1:1

I. DAVID’S RISE TO POWER (Chaps. 110) A. Lament over Saul and Jonathan (Chap. 1)1:1-16 First Samuel 29 records how the Lord kept David out of the battle in which Saul and Jonathan lost their lives. Instead, he was busy fighting the Amalekites, who had raided Ziklag (1 Sam. 30). After he had returned to Ziklag, a messenger came to him from the north with news of Saul’s death. The messenger wore torn . . . clothes and had dust on his headsymbols of mourning. He told how he had found Saul, leaning wounded on his spear as the enemy’s forces drew near.

He said that Saul asked him, an Amalekite, to administer the death blow, and that he complied with the king’s request. This account of Saul’s death is obviously in conflict with the one in 1 Samuel 31, where Saul is said to have committed suicide. The most reasonable explanation is that the Amalekite’s account was a lie. He thought that David would be pleased to meet Saul’s slayer and would reward him handsomely. Instead, David mourned deeply all that day, and then at evening he ordered the execution of the Amalekite because he had slain the Lord’s anointed. The Amalekites were the inveterate enemies of Israel (Ex. 17). One reason Saul lost the kingdom was because he had failed to thoroughly execute the Lord’s wrath on them (1 Sam. 15). Some Amalekites had recently been killed by David and his men for their plunder of Ziklag. So when this Amalekite arrived in camp and announced that he had killed Saul, it is little wonder that he received the sword and not a reward. 1:17, 18 It was surely a mark of greatness on David’s part that instead of rejoicing over Saul’s death, he wept bitterly. O. von Gerlach sees a parallel between David and Christ here: The only deep mourning for Saul, with the exception of that of the Jabeshites (1 Sam. xxxi. 11), proceeded from the man whom he had hated and persecuted for so many years even to the time of his death; just as David’s successor wept over the fall of Jerusalem, even when it was about to destroy Himself. David also composed a moving lamentation entitled “The Song of the Bow.” The Book of Jasher, or the “Book of the Upright,” was probably a collection of poems concerning great men of the nation of Israel (see also Jos_10:13). As far as is known, it is no longer in existence and certainly is not part of inspired Scripture. 1:19-27 David’s stirring ode laments the death of Saul and Jonathanthe beauty of Israel. In majestic poetry, it cautions against letting the cities of the Philistines know of the death of the king and his sons lest they rejoice. The mountains of Gilboa, where Saul died, are called upon to suffer drought and barrenness. There the shield of Saul was cast down unanointed with oil (v. 21); that is, it was discarded and no longer oiled for battle. Tribute is paid to the bravery of Saul and of Jonathan (v. 22) and their personal virtues. They were together in their death as they had been in their lives (v. 23), but this should not be pressed to include their eternal destiny.

Those who benefited from Saul’s reign are called on to weep (v. 24). The poem closes with a loving eulogy of Jonathan, David’s close friend. The refrain “How the mighty have fallen” (vv. 19, 25, 27) has become part of our language.