David learns of the death of Saul and Jonathan
1
Now it came about after the death of Saul 📖, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, that David stayed two days in Ziklag 📖. 2 📚On the third day it happened that a man appeared who had come from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dust on his head. And it was like this: when he came to David, he dropped to the ground and prostrated himself.3 📚And David said to him, “From where are you coming?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel”.
4 📚And David said to him, “How did things go? Please tell me”. And he answered, “The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people fell and are dead, and also Saul and his son Jonathan are dead”.
5 📚And David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 📚And the young man who told him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and saw Saul leaning on his spear. And, lo and behold, the chariots and horsemen followed him closely. 7 📚And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’
8 📚“And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ “And I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
9 “And he said to me, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, because my life is still wholly in me.’
10 📚“So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown 📖 that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord”.
1:6-10 This man fabricated this story, hoping, it seems, to gain David’s favor. He thought David would reward him if he presented himself as Saul’s executioner. Compare 1 Sam 31:1-7; 1 Chron 10:1-12.⚜
11 📚Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, as did all the men who were with him. 12 📚And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening, for Saul and for his son Jonathan and for the LORD’s people and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
1:12 David did not gloat at his enemy’s death. Compare Prov 24:17-18. The sincerity of his grief can be seen in the poetical lament which follows (vs 19-27). Saul’s death freed David from his troubles, but David well knew that there are far more important matters than being freed from personal difficulties and dangers.⚜
13 📚And David said to the young man who told him, “From where are you?” And he answered, “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite”.
14 📚And David said to him, “Why were you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
1:14 1 Sam 24:6; 1 Sam 26:9, 11, 16. To David the office of king in Israel was a sacred appointment from God, and only God should remove the king He had appointed.⚜
15 📚And David called one of the young men and said, “Go near and attack him”. And he struck him so that he died. 16 📚And David said to him, “Your blood be on your own head 📖, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the LORD’s anointed.’ ”
David’s lament
17 📚And David mourned with this lamentation 📖 over Saul and over his son Jonathan 18 📚(also he instructed them to teach the children of Judah this song of the bow. Look, it is written in the book of Jasher) 📖:
19 📚“The beauty 📖 of Israel is slain on your high places.
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
rejoice,
lest the daughters of the
uncircumcised triumph.
1:20 1 Sam 31:8-10. David is here concerned with the glory of the true God.⚜
21 📚“You mountains of Gilboa,
may there be no dew or rain on you,
or fields yielding offerings;
for there the shield of the mighty
was defiled,
the shield of Saul, not anointed
with oil.
22 📚From the blood of the slain,
from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not
turn back,
and the sword of Saul did not
return empty.
23 📚Saul and Jonathan were loved
and pleasant 📖 in their lives,
and in their death they were not
divided.
They were swifter than eagles;
they were stronger than lions.
24 📚“You daughters of Israel,
weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet,
with fine things,
who put ornaments of gold
on your apparel.
25 📚“How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!
O Jonathan, you were slain on
your high places.
26 📚“I am distressed for you,
my brother Jonathan!
Very pleasant have you been
to me.
Your love to me was wonderful,
surpassing the love of women.
1:26 1 Sam 18:1-4. Jonathan’s pure and holy friendship for David caused him to exalt David and deny himself the opportunity to be king (1 Sam 23:15-18). This is what struck David as being so exceptional, so wonderful.⚜
27 📚“How the mighty have fallen,
and the weapons of war
perished!”