Summary: An Amalekite reports to David how Saul died. He says that he killed him because Saul was half alive. He was probably in the city, scavenging for dead soldiers (1:10), and he was most likely lying, hoping for some kind of reward. David kills him instead (1:15). David mourns for Saul, even after all of that chasing and plotting (1:12). David grieves over the death of Jonathan—his dear friend.
(1:1) After the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.
David returns from defeating the Amalekites to hear this news: Saul and Jonathan were not as fortunate on the battlefield as he was.
(1:2-4) On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and with dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
3 “Where have you come from?” David asked him. He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
4 “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.” He said, “The men fled from the battle. Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
The trip from Mount Gilboa to Ziklag is 80 miles (or a three-day trip).[] He looks like he just returned from the battle, so David asks to hear the report. The Amalekite gives him the bad news: Saul and Jonathan are dead.
(1:5) Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
David becomes suspicious at this point. How does this man know this? He asks the Amalekite to tell his story.
(1:6-10) “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and riders almost upon him. 7 When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’ 8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “‘An Amalekite,’ I answered. 9 “Then he said to me, ‘Stand over me and kill me! I am in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’ 10 “So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
The Amalekite tells David that he was the one responsible for killing Saul. He probably thinks that David will be happy that Saul is finally dead. The man must have collected the crown and armband before the Philistines came to capture the dead body.
1 Samuel 31 says that Saul died by suicide, but 2 Samuel 1 says an Amalekite killed him. Which account is true?
In the original manuscript, there was no division between 1 and 2 Samuel. These were all one book. Therefore, if this is actually contradictory, then the author contradicted his own story one chapter later! This seems to be too difficult to believe.
To answer this difficulty, 1 Samuel 31 is the accurate account of Saul’s death, while 2 Samuel 1 is an accurate account of the Amalekite’s false story. While the inerrant narrator explains Saul’s death in 1 Samuel 31, a lying Amalekite gives an account in 2 Samuel 1. This Amalekite, no doubt, believed that he would receive a reward from David and the new administration by telling him this story of killing Saul (i.e. taking credit for Saul’s death). However, this backfired, and David slew him (v.15). Later in 1 Chronicles 10, the author reaffirms the account in 1 Samuel 31—not the Amalekite’s story.
Bergen[] thinks that the Amalekite does give personal eyewitness details. For example, he mentions Saul “leaning on his spear” (2 Sam. 1:6). Furthermore, his presence explains how the Philistines didn’t get the crown. He thinks that the Amalekite hastened Saul’s death after Saul fell on his sword.
(1:11-12) Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
The Amalekite man wouldn’t have been prepared for this reaction. He thought that he was bringing good news (see 2 Sam. 4:10), but David and his men begin to mourn, instead. David fasts and mourns until evening, and then, he has a second conversation with the Amalekite.
(1:13) David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?”
“I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite,” he answered.
David asks the man who he is, and he reaffirms the fact that he was an Amalekite. (And David had just been killing Amalekites!)
David likely asks this question because he wanted to know if the man had some understanding of Israelite religion. When he discovers that the Amalekite claims to be a member of Israel (v.13), he acts as judge, jury, and executioner.
(1:14) David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
David himself resisted doing this very thing (1 Sam 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11).
(1:15-16) Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died. 16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
David heard the man’s confession from his own mouth.
(1:17-18) David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):
David expresses his grief through writing a song. Perhaps, writing music and poetry was a way for him to grieve.
(1:19) “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!”
The beauty of Israel has turned into a tragedy.
(1:20) “Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.”
David doesn’t want this song to reach the Philistines; otherwise, they will rejoice over it. The cities are a merism that “stand for the whole of Philistia.”[]
(1:21) “O mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain, nor fields that yield offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.”
This mention of dew and rain could refer to a curse on the land (1 Kings 17:1). Youngblood writes, “In Hebrew thought, dew was often a symbol of resurrection or the renewing of life (cf. Ps 110:3; Isa 26:19).”[] Bergen comments, “David called for the mountains of Gilboa to be denied life-giving liquid because it was on them that Saul’s life fluids were poured out.”[]
(1:22-27) From the blood of the slain, from the flesh of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied. 23 “Saul and Jonathan—in life they were loved and gracious, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold. 25 How the mighty have fallen in battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights. 26 I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. 27 How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!”
We see a contrast between the women in Philistia and in Israel. Bergen comments, “Though the Philistine daughters were to remain silent (v. 20), the ‘daughters of Israel’ by contrast were to ‘weep for Saul’ (v. 24).”[]
David mentions Jonathan first, rather than Saul. It’s interesting that David doesn’t mention any of Saul’s sins in this lament. There might be a principle here for funerals today. Under grace, we focus on the good deeds—not the sin.
“I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me” (2 Sam. 1:26a). David referred to both Saul and Jonathan as “beloved and pleasant” (v.23, nāʿîm). This surely doesn’t suggest that David was in a same-sex relationship with Saul—a man who had repeatedly tried to murder him.
“Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women” (2 Sam. 1:26b). This is a poetic lament—not a love song. When he refers to the love of Jonathan, modern people are simply committing eisegesis when they read same-sex erotic love. The “love of women” may “also include [a] mother’s love for her children and that of a wife for her husband.” Moreover, this same Hebrew word is used of “Yahweh’s love for his people (cf. Isa 63:9; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 11:4).”[]
The Amalekite was most likely lying to David, but David still took him at his word for killing Saul.
David expresses his grief through writing and music.
David’s eulogy sounds like there was no problem between them. David was able to view Saul’s life under grace, singing about the good aspects of his life, rather than the bad. David chose to let the bitterness go. David focused on the good things. David focused on his own forgiveness. He heard of this when he was in Ziklag—where he back slid.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 805.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 289.
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 192.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 813.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 292.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 292.
David A. Hubbard et al., “Editorial Preface,” in 2 Samuel, vol. 11, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 19.
James is an elder at Dwell Community Church, where he teaches classes in theology, apologetics, and weekly Bible studies.
