Context No. 1199 of 4322 · 2 Samuel
Context · Reflection
2 Samuel 1:11-16: in context
11Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them; and all the men who were with him did likewise. 12They mourned, wept, and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. 13David said to the young man who told him, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite.” 14David said to him, “Why were you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” 15David called one of the young men and said, “Go near, and cut him down!” He struck him so that he died. 16David said to him, “Your blood be on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain the LORD’s anointed.’”
An Amalekite comes to David claiming to have killed the wounded Saul at his own request, thinking to win David's favor by bringing news of his enemy's death, even carrying Saul's crown. Instead, David and his men tear their clothes, mourn, weep, and fast until evening for Saul and Jonathan and the fallen of Israel. Then David turns to the young man: how were you not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed? And he has him executed, saying, your own mouth has testified against you.
The striking thing is David's refusal to profit from the death of the one who had hunted him. The Amalekite expected a reward; he had, in his telling, done David a favor by finishing off the king who wanted David dead. But David does not rejoice. Saul had been his relentless enemy, throwing spears at him, chasing him through the wilderness, and yet David grieves him deeply and treats the man who boasts of killing him as a murderer. Why? Because Saul was the LORD's anointed, and to David that was sacred even when the anointed one was his enemy. David had twice refused to kill Saul himself when he had the chance, for the same reason. His reverence for what God had set apart was stronger than his personal grievance; he would not lay a hand on, or reward the killing of, the man God had anointed, however badly that man had treated him. It is a rare integrity, to refuse to celebrate or benefit from the downfall of an enemy because you honor something in them that belongs to God. David grieved the very man who sought his life, because his reverence for God ran deeper than his own vindication.
Can I honor what belongs to God even in someone who has wronged me, refusing to rejoice in or profit from an enemy's downfall, as David grieved rather than gloated over Saul?
Sources
- 2 Samuel 1:14: how were you not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed
- 2 Samuel 1:11-12: David and his men mourned and wept and fasted for Saul and for Jonathan
- Romans 12:19-21: do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good