2 Samuel 1:13

13 David spoke to the young man who had brought him the report. He asked, "Where are you from?" "I'm the son of an outsider, an Amalekite," he answered.

2 Samuel 1:13 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:13

And David said unto the young man that told him, whence [art]
thou?
&c.] From what place, or of what people and nation art thou? though Abarbinel thinks it neither respects place nor people, but that David thought he was another man's servant; so that the sense of the question is, to what man did he belong?

and he answered, I [am] the son of a stranger, an Amalekite;
he was not any man's servant, but the son of a proselyte, of one that was by birth and nation an Amalekite, but proselyted to the Jewish religion; he might know of what nation he originally was, by the account he had given of what passed between him and Saul, ( 2 Samuel 1:8 ) ; though the mind of David might so disturbed as not to advert to it; or if he did, he might be willing to have it repeated for confirmation's sake.

2 Samuel 1:13 In-Context

11 Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them. All of his men did the same thing.
12 All of them were filled with sadness. They sobbed over the whole nation of Israel. They didn't eat anything until evening. That's because Saul and Jonathan and the LORD's army had been killed with swords.
13 David spoke to the young man who had brought him the report. He asked, "Where are you from?" "I'm the son of an outsider, an Amalekite," he answered.
14 David asked him, "Why weren't you afraid to lift your hand to kill the LORD's anointed king?"
15 Then David called for one of his men. He said, "Go! Strike him down!" So he struck the man down, and the man died.
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