02 The Report of Saul’s Death

After their successful rescuing of their families from the Amalekites, David and his men returned to Ziklag, and were presumably engaged in rebuild their town which had been burned by the Amalekites. However, their priorities would soon change:

1 The Amalekite Messenger

2 Samuel 1:1-4

A young man approached David, with torn clothes and dust on his head, which was emblematic of someone in mourning:

2 Samuel 1:2a

The man brought a three-fold message concerning the battle between Saul’s army and the invading Philistines:

• The Israelites had been overwhelmed, and fled from the presence of the Philistines.
• Many of the Israelites had also fallen in the battle.
• Both Saul and David’s close friend Jonathan had died.

The news was naturally both shocking and dismaying for David and his men.

2 The Amalekite’s Report

After his initial surprise, David would have naturally desired to hear the details of what had happened:

2 Samuel 1:5-10

Interestingly, in the custom of those days, several messengers who be dispatched from battlefields, providing information regarding the disposition of the battle. Therefore, a lone messenger providing information was quite unusual and even suspect.

When David pressed the man for details, he answered that he “happened” to be on Mount Gilboa, and just happened to see Saul who had been impaled by his on spear.

David probably assumed that while the man was providing information, that he was probably still not telling the entire story.

The young man said that he was an Amalekite, and that Saul was in such agony from what was a mortal wound, that the king asked him to kill him, to simply end that agony.

The young Amalekite said that he accommodated Saul’s wishes, thus wanting to portray himself as being merciful.

But the report from the man contradicted the account of Saul’s death from First Samuel, which showed that the king indeed killed himself, after his armorbearer refused to agree to Saul’s request that he kill him:

1 Samuel 31:4-5

Since, there are no contradictions in Scripture, it points to the Amalekite’s account as being fictious.

The man had most likely been hiding, but a witness to Saul’s request of his armorbearer, and his subsequent suicide. He then inserted himself into the situation, and to prove his involvement, he stripped Saul of his royal crown and bracelet.

However, while the man was hoping to prove his account to David, whom he believed would be grateful that the man had ended the life of David’s enemy, the man showed that he didn’t know David’s character.

3 David’s Reaction

2 Samuel 1:11-16

Rather than rejoicing over the death of the man who had tormented and attempted to kill him for well over a decade, David was truly saddened by Saul’s death, but so were those who were with David. This showed the great impact that David had upon his men, especially from a spiritual standpoint.

After mourning for both Saul and Jonathan, David once again turned his attention to the messenger, showing he still wasn’t satisfied with the man’s account.

David was troubled that the man had admitted to killing Saul, and this was probably due to the fact that he’d had multiple opportunities to kill Saul himself but refused to lift his hand against the man God had anointed as king.

After once more asking where the man was from (and again being told he was an Amalekite), David wanted to know why the man was unafraid to “destroy” (end the life) of the Lord’s anointed.

Once again, this highlights how highly David held to God’s will, that Saul was the man He had determined to be His people’s first king.

David then had one of his men execute the Amalekite because he had admitted (whether true or not) to killing king Saul:

2 Samuel 1:16