2 Samuel 1:1–27

1:2 Unexpectedly, “a man came from Saul’s camp.” This need not imply he has been fighting in Saul’s army or is even a camp follower, but he has traveled around 100 miles (160 km) south from Gilboa. With “his clothes torn and dirt on his head,” he displays conventional signs of mourning (cf. 1 Sam. 4:12), which make it evident that he is not bearing good news. By prostrating himself before David he presumably intends to acknowledge David as Saul’s successor.

1:3 “Where do you come from?” asks about the starting point of his present journey. The somewhat ambiguous response, that he has “escaped from the camp of Israel,” fails to clarify his precise status: Is he a mercenary in Saul’s army, a slave who was a camp attendant, a scavenger from the surrounding area, or something else?

1:4 David asks for a full report about the battle. “How did it go?” is the same expression Eli had used after another rout (1 Sam. 4:16). In a carefully structured response the fugitive relates that “the people” (Saul’s army) have scattered before the enemy, and that many have been injured and died. He saves until last the news that “Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”

1:5 The epithet “young man” (cf. 1 Sam. 2:13; 21:2) may refer to his age or to his status as a soldier or servant. More significantly, the phrase “the young man who told him” (repeated in 2 Sam. 1:6, 13; see also 4:10) grants him no other status other than that of an informant. “How do you know?” is David’s method of testing that his account is reliable and not unsubstantiated rumor.

1:6 The young man tells his personal tale. “By chance I happened to be” (where “by chance” renders an intensified form of the verb “to happen”) shows that he is at pains to emphasize that there is nothing deliberate about his being present. This vagueness suggests he was not part of the army, though it might be consistent with the confusion of a routed army.

He presents two snapshots of the scene. On the one hand, Saul was “leaning on his spear,” seemingly upright but wounded and drained of strength. This was the spear that had played a role throughout Saul’s career (cf. comment on 1 Sam. 18:10), and it adds an air of verisimilitude to the account. On the other hand, “the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him,” relentlessly pursuing (lit., “clinging to”; cf. comment on 1 Sam. 31:2) and about to surround Saul. Archers carried by the chariots were probably firing at him.

This account does not accord with that of 1 Samuel 31. It is probable that before the Philistines stripped the slain (1 Sam. 31:8), the young man had come from somewhere to loot the fallen. He had seen—and robbed—the corpses and then fabricated his story in order to gain favor with David (2 Sam. 4:10).

1:7 The young man reports that, when Saul turned around, he saw and summoned him. “Here I am” was the usual expression to indicate being willing and available to assist. But why should an Amalekite respond in this way? Where was everyone else?

1:8 The man claims that when Saul had inquired of his identity, he told him he was an Amalekite—something he might well have omitted if he had known of recent happenings in Ziklag.

1:9 The Amalekite reports that Saul had told him to stand close to him (or “over him,” indicating Saul had already fallen) and to kill him because he was mortally wounded. The word translated “anguish” occurs only here in the OT and may signify the “throes of death”; it was certainly more than mere dizziness or trembling. “Yet my life still lingers” portrays Saul as barely alive, incapable of doing anything himself.

1:10 The Amalekite carefully presents his action as a mercy killing in exact compliance with Saul’s requests and based on his own assessment of the situation: “He could not live after he had fallen,” gravely wounded. The “crown” was probably an emblem worn on his battle helmet, and the “armlet” a chain worn on his upper arm. These the Amalekite respectfully presents to David as evidence of Saul’s death. David thus comes into possession of the royal insignia without grasping them for himself, indeed while deploring the means by which they come into his possession.

1:11–12 While the evidence produced falls short of substantiating the Amalekite’s story, it leaves no doubt about Saul’s death and the defeat of the Israelite army. David and his men mourn bitterly and fast, abstaining from food as a sign of dejection and sadness (cf. 1 Sam. 7:6). The loss of the king and his son, as well as defeat in battle, mean that a major catastrophe has befallen the nation.

1:13 Possibly David resumes his questioning the next day. “Where do you come from?” is not the same question as in verse 3 but instead concerns his origins. The Amalekite describes himself as the “son of a sojourner,” implying that his father had settled as a resident alien in Israel. Both he and his father were subject to the laws of the land where he resided (Lev. 19:33–34). So David’s interrogation establishes a sound legal basis for charging him with knowingly violating the norms of the land.

1:14 David next asks, “How is it you were not afraid?” This asserts that the messenger should have been aware of the status of Israel’s king and should have declined to take his life (1 Sam. 24:6). Undoubtedly this declaration of the sanctity of the king bolsters David’s own position, but it nonetheless may not be dismissed as solely expressing self-interest.

1:15 Since David is acting on the basis of the Amalekite’s own testimony, he recognizes that no response is possible from him. He therefore with royal authority orders one of his soldiers to “execute him.”

1:16 While David’s address to the Amalekite may have been uttered before he died, it is more probable that it is technically an apostrophe (cf. comment on 1:21) publicly uttered over his corpse to exonerate David (and the executioner) from any wrongdoing in his death. “Your blood be on your head” states that he was responsible for his own death (cf. Lev. 20:9, 11; Josh. 2:19) because of his testimony, paraphrased as, “I have killed the Lord’s anointed.”

1:17–18 These verses form a superscription to David’s lament “over Saul and Jonathan,” in which he pays elegant tribute to them on the occasion of their death. There ought to be no doubt regarding the depth and genuineness of David’s grief, and also his lack of vindictiveness regarding Saul.¹ Even while king only in Hebron David urges the tribe of Judah to respect these figures from Benjamin so that they will not lose sight of the unity of all Israel. The poem was recorded in the “Book of Jashar” or “of the upright,” a lost anthology of early Israelite poetry (Josh. 10:13) commemorating outstanding people or events.

1:19 This introductory verse captures the theme of the poem: all Israel has suffered a calamitous loss in the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. David repeatedly uses apostrophe (cf. comment on 1:21) in the poem, here to address the nation regarding the loss of “your glory,” those who were the focus of its life and prestige. “High places” describes the physical elevation of Gilboa (v. 21), while “How the mighty have fallen!” is a sorrowful sigh punctuating the poem (also in vv. 25 and 27). “Mighty” (found additionally in vv. 21, 22) applies particularly to accomplished soldiers who were brave and physically strong (cf. 23:8).

1:20 David is aware of how rapturously the news of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan will be received among the Philistines, and in this poetic apostrophe he forbids unnamed messengers from conveying the news to them; “Tell it not in Gath” becomes proverbial in Hebrew literature (cf. Mic. 1:10). Ashkelon, another city of the Philistine pentapolis (1 Sam. 6:17), and Gath, possibly as the towns nearest to and furthest from Israel, represent all of Philistia.²

The “daughters of the Philistines” are envisaged as gloating over Israel in a victory celebration (cf. 1 Sam. 18:6–7). Describing them as “uncircumcised” (cf. 1 Sam. 14:6) views them as the community estranged from the Lord and thus hostile to his people. David has broken off all ties with them.

1:21 To express the intensity of his feelings, David once more resorts to apostrophe—a figure of speech in which a person or object, either absent or present but unable to respond, is addressed. Here David addresses the “mountains of Gilboa,” where Saul died (1 Sam. 31:8), and invokes a symbolic curse on them as complicit in Saul’s death. They should be deprived of moisture and fruitfulness, reflecting the loss sustained by Israel. “There” on Gilboa the “shield of the mighty” (a plural term) lies “defiled,” possibly blood-stained, certainly grimy through exposure to the elements. Moreover, it was “not anointed with oil,” referring to the common practice of rubbing olive oil into the surface of a shield to protect the leather and make it slippery. Saul’s discarded and unanointed shield has become a compelling representation of the once anointed but now rejected king.

1:22 David rises above the sufferings he has experienced at the hand of Saul; by recalling Saul and Jonathan’s victories, he pays generous tribute to them as valiant warriors. Jonathan, renowned for his skill as an archer (1 Sam. 18:4; 20:20), “turned not back” (did not retreat through cowardice), and Saul, an expert swordsman, did not replace his sword in its scabbard without having killed many.

1:23 In his eulogy, David remembers the high regard in which Saul and Jonathan had been held early in Saul’s reign. Setting aside Saul’s outbursts against Jonathan, he views them as having sustained lifelong partnership. Indeed, despite Jonathan’s recognition of David’s destiny, he remained at his father’s side in the final battle. David again commends their qualities as warriors, with their speed of movement exceeding that of eagles zooming in on their quarry (cf. Jer. 4:13; Hab. 1:8) and their strength surpassing that of lions seizing their prey (cf. Prov. 30:30).

1:24–25b David then focuses on Saul alone, although it is indicative of his strained relationship with Saul that he does not address him directly but instead apostrophizes “the daughters of Israel.” In contrast to the rejoicing of the Philistine women (v. 20), they will remember the costly garments and jewelry they had enjoyed during the prosperous years of Saul’s reign (1 Sam. 14:47–52).

The focus on Saul is concluded by repeating the refrain from 2 Samuel 1:19, which refers to Saul and Jonathan together as “the mighty” (a plural term). The exclamation is extended by the phrase “in the midst of the battle,” that is, they died where the fighting was at its most intense.

1:25c–26 David then pays special tribute to Jonathan. “On your high places” reflects verse 19, with “your” referring to Israel and “Jonathan” replacing “your glory.” The deep bond David shared with Jonathan (1 Samuel 18–20; 23:14–18) leads him in his grief to address Jonathan directly as “my brother,” reflecting the covenant between them (1 Sam. 18:3). “Your love to me” seems somewhat one-sided, but David principally remembers Jonathan’s “extraordinary” devotion to him that exceeded the intense, selfless affection of a mother for her child or a wife for her husband. Jonathan’s support for David had extended to renouncing the throne in his favor (1 Sam. 23:17).

1:27 The refrain (vv. 19, 25) draws attention back to both men. Here it is supplemented by “and the weapons of war perished.” Through them Israel has conducted war against her enemies, but her destroyed weapons now provide a haunting picture of the lost lives of Israel’s two military heroes.