2 Samuel 4:10

10 when one told me, saying, `Behold, Saul is dead,' thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag; he thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings.

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 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David at Hebron, and said to the king, "Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, who sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed."

9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, "As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

10 when one told me, saying, `Behold, Saul is dead,' thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag; he thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings.

11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Shall I not therefore now require his blood at your hand and take you away from the earth?"

12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron.