2 Samuel 1

1 After Saul died and David returned from defeating the Amalekites, David stayed in Ziklag two days.

2 On the third day a man came from Saul's camp. His clothes were torn, and he had dirt on his head. When he came to David, he immediately bowed down with his face touching the ground.

3 "Where did you come from?" David asked him. "I escaped from the camp of Israel," he answered.

4 "What happened?" David asked him. "Please tell me." The man answered, "The army fled from the battle, and many of the soldiers died. Saul and his son Jonathan are dead too."

5 "How do you know Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?" David asked the young man who had brought him the news.

6 The young man answered, "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Saul was there leaning on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen were catching up with him.

7 When he looked back and saw me, he called to me, and I said, 'Yes?'"

8 "He asked me, 'Who are you?' "I said to him, 'I'm an Amalekite.'

9 "He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me. I'm alive, but I'm suffering.'

10 "So I stood over him and killed him, since I knew he couldn't survive after he had been wounded. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band that was on his arm and brought them here to you, sir."

11 Then David grabbed his own clothes and tore them in grief. All the men with him did the same.

12 They mourned, cried, and fasted until evening because Saul, his son Jonathan, the LORD's army, and the nation of Israel had been defeated in battle.

13 David asked the young man who had brought him the news, "Where are you from?" And the young man answered, "I'm an Amalekite, the son of a foreign resident."

14 David asked, "Why weren't you afraid to take it upon yourself to destroy the LORD's anointed king?"

15 Then David called one of [his] young men and told him, "Come here and attack him." David's young man executed him

16 while David said, "You are responsible for spilling your own blood. You testified against yourself when you said, 'I killed the LORD's anointed king.'"

17 David wrote this song of mourning for Saul and his son Jonathan.

18 He said, "Teach this kesheth to the people of Judah." (It is recorded in the Book of Jashar.)

19 "Your glory, Israel, lies dead on your hills. See how the mighty have fallen!

20 Don't tell the news in Gath. Don't announce the victory in the streets of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will be glad, and the daughters of godless men will celebrate.

21 You mountains in Gilboa, may there be no dew or rain on you or on your slopes, because warriors' shields were tarnished there. Saul's shield was never rubbed with olive oil.

22 From the blood of those killed and the fat of the warriors, Jonathan's bow did not turn away, nor did Saul's sword return unused.

23 Saul and Jonathan were loved and well-liked while they were living. They were not separated even when they died. They were swifter than eagles and stronger than lions.

24 Daughters of Israel, cry over Saul, who dressed you in decorated, red clothes, who put gold jewelry on your clothes.

25 See how the mighty have fallen in battle! On your hills Jonathan was killed!

26 I am heartbroken over you, my brother Jonathan. You were my great delight. Your love was more wonderful to me than the love of women.

27 See how the mighty have fallen! See how the weapons of war have been destroyed!"

2 Samuel 1 Commentary

Chapter 1

This book is the history of the reign of king David. It relates his victories, the growth of the prosperity of Israel, and his reformation of the state of religion. With these events are recorded the grievous sins he committed, and the family as well as public troubles with which he was punished. We here meet with many things worthy of imitation, and many that are written for our warning. The history of king David is given in Scripture with much faithfulness, and from it he appears, to those who fairly balance his many virtues and excellent qualities against his faults, to have been a great and good man.

Tidings brought to David of the death of Saul. (1-10) The Amalekite is put to death. (11-16) David's lamentation for Saul and Jonathan. (17-27)

Verses 1-10 The blow which opened David's way to the throne was given about the time he had been sorely distressed. Those who commit their concerns to the Lord, will quietly abide his will. It shows that he desired not Saul's death, and he was not impatient to come to the throne.

Verses 11-16 David was sincere in his mourning for Saul; and all with him humbled themselves under the hand of God, laid so heavily upon Israel by this defeat. The man who brought the tidings, David put to death, as a murderer of his prince. David herein did not do unjustly; the Amalekite confessed the crime. If he did as he said, he deserved to die for treason; and his lying to David, if indeed it were a lie, proved, as sooner or later that sin will prove, lying against himself. Hereby David showed himself zealous for public justice, without regard to his own private interest.

Verses 17-27 Kasheth, or "the bow," probably was the title of this mournful, funeral song. David does not commend Saul for what he was not; and says nothing of his piety or goodness. Jonathan was a dutiful son, Saul an affectionate father, therefore dear to each other. David had reason to say, that Jonathan's love to him was wonderful. Next to the love between Christ and his people, that affection which springs form it, produces the strongest friendship. The trouble of the Lord's people, and triumphs of his enemies, will always grieve true believers, whatever advantages they may obtain by them.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL

This book, in many copies of the Hebrew Bible, is carried on without any new title put unto it; the reason of it is, because, by some, this, with the preceding, has been reckoned but one book: hence the Jews say {a}, Samuel wrote his book, not his books; in others it is called Samuel Second; and by the Vulgate Latin the Second Book of Samuel, which we call the Second of Kings; though why his name should be put to it at all I see not, since it neither concerns him, nor could it be written by him, being an history of events after his death. The Greek version calls it the Second of Kings; and the Syriac version, the Second Book of the Kings of Israel; whereas there is but one king of Israel it makes mention of, and of whose actions only it is an history; and therefore with greater propriety it is called, as the Arabic version, the Book of David the Prophet, of whose reign, from the beginning to the end of it, it gives an account: wherefore Isidore {b} thinks it was written by David; and if so, it has this mark of simplicity and integrity, that the writer does not spare himself, nor conceal his own faults, and particularly that very capital one, the affair of Bathsheba, and also his numbering of the people; but it is most probable that it was written by Nathan and Gad {c}, see 1Ch 29:29; but whoever was the penman of it, there is no doubt to be made of its being written by inspiration, or that it is canonical; which has never been questioned, since there stands in it a famous prophecy concerning the building of the temple by a son of David, which had an exact accomplishment, 2Sa 7:12,13; as well as of the family of David, for a great while to come, which also was fulfilled, 2Sa 7:19; and an eminent passage concerning the Messiah, the son of David, and of his divine sonship, 2Sa 7:14; quoted by the Apostle Paul in proof of it, Heb 1:5. It contains an history of about forty years, for so long David reigned, seven years and six months in Hebron, over Judah, and thirty three years in Jerusalem, over all Israel and Judah; and this book relates his last words.

{a} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 2. {b} Origin. l. 6. c. 2. {c} Alting. Theolog. Hist. loc. 2. p. 86.

\\INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 1\\

This chapter contains an account of the death of Saul and Jonathan, as related to David by an Amalekite, 2Sa 1:1-10; of the sorrow he and his men were filled with at the news of it, 2Sa 1:11,12; of his order to put to death the messenger that brought the tidings, for his concern in the death of Saul, according to his own testimony, 2Sa 1:13-16; and of a lamentation composed by David on this occasion, 2Sa 1:17-27.