2 Samuel 1:14

14 So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to 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 wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

13 And David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner,” he answered. “I am an Amalekite.”

14 So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”

15 Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died.

16 For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”