2 Samuel 1:8

8 “He responded, ‘Who are you?’ “‘I am an Amalekite,’ I told him.

2 Samuel 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:8

And he said unto me, who [art] thou?
&c.] Being willing to know whether a friend or an enemy, which by his coming behind him he could not tell:

and I answered him, I [am] an Amalekite:
which he might be; but it is not likely he should tell Saul he was, which would not recommend him to him; though indeed he was now in such circumstances, that the Amalekites had nothing to fear from him; and if he was slain by him, as Josephus ^F6 affirms he was, it seems to be a just retaliation on him for sparing any of that race, contrary to the will of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14. sect. 7.

2 Samuel 1:8 In-Context

6 The man answered, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear with the enemy chariots and charioteers closing in on him.

7 When he turned and saw me, he cried out for me to come to him. ‘How can I help?’ I asked him.

8 “He responded, ‘Who are you?’ “‘I am an Amalekite,’ I told him.

9 “Then he begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible pain and want to die.’

10 “So I killed him,” the Amalekite told David, “for I knew he couldn’t live. Then I took his crown and his armband, and I have brought them here to you, my lord.”