2 Samuel 4:10

10 when the one who told me, "See, Saul is dead,' thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag—this was the reward I gave him for his news.

2 Samuel 4:10 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 4:10

When one told me, saying, behold, Saul is dead
No more is related, not that he killed him, or assisted in killing him, only that he was dead; by which it appears, as Abarbinel thinks, that the Amalekite did not slay Saul, and that David did not put him to death on that account, but for what follows:

thinking to have brought good tidings;
which would have been very acceptable to David, that he would have rejoiced and exulted at it as he did; but he was mistaken; instead of that,

I took hold of him, and slew him at Ziklag;
that is, ordered one of his young men to lay hold on him, and slay him, as he did, ( 2 Samuel 1:15 ) ;

who [thought] that I would have given him a reward for his tidings;
a handsome present, as the Targum here, a gift, or raised him to some post of honour and profit.

2 Samuel 4:10 In-Context

8 They brought the head of Ishbaal to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ishbaal, son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring."

9 David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity,

10 when the one who told me, "See, Saul is dead,' thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag—this was the reward I gave him for his news.

11 How much more then, when wicked men have killed a righteous man on his bed in his own house! And now shall I not require his blood at your hand, and destroy you from the earth?"

12 So David commanded the young men, and they killed them; they cut off their hands and feet, and hung their bodies beside the pool at Hebron. But the head of Ishbaal they took and buried in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.