2 Samuel 1:14

14 Then David said to him, "How is it that you weren't afraid to raise your hand and destroy the LORD's anointed?"

2 Samuel 1:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:14

And David said unto him, how, wast thou not afraid to stretch
forth thine hand
By which it should seem that he did more than stand upon him, and press his body, that the spear might pierce through him, but that he drew his sword, and slew him; so David understood him, and is the sense of the phrase in ( 1 Samuel 17:51 ) ;

to destroy the Lord's anointed?
a reason why David did not destroy him, when it was in the power of his hands, and which he made use of to dissuade others from it; and here charges it not only as a criminal, but a daring action in this young man, at which he expresses his admiration how he could do it; hereby representing it as a very shocking and detestable action; see ( 1 Samuel 24:6 ) ( 1 Samuel 26:9 1 Samuel 26:11 ) .

2 Samuel 1:14 In-Context

12 They mourned and cried and fasted until evening for Saul, his son Jonathan, the LORD's army, and the whole house of Israel, because they had died by the sword.

13 "Where are you from?" David asked the young man who brought him the news. "I'm the son of an immigrant," he answered. "An Amalekite."

14 Then David said to him, "How is it that you weren't afraid to raise your hand and destroy the LORD's anointed?"

15 Then David called for one of the young servants. "Come here!" he said. "Strike him down!" So the servant struck the Amalekite down, and he died.

16 "Your blood is on your own head," David said to the Amalekite, "because your own mouth testified against you when you admitted, ‘I killed the LORD's anointed.'"