2 Samuel 1:8 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

2 Samuel 1:8

6 Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on ^aMount Gilboa, there was ^bSaul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.

7 Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’

8 And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

9 He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for¹ anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’

10 So I stood over him and ^akilled him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.”

11 Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and ^atore them, and so did all the men who were with him.

12 And they ^amourned and wept and ^bfasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the ^cpeople of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

13 Then David said to the young man who told him, “Where are you from?” And he answered, “I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite.”

14 So David said to him, “How ^awas it you were not ^bafraid to ^cput forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”

15 Then ^aDavid called one of the young men and said, “Go near, and execute him!” And he struck him so that he died.

16 So David said to him, ^a“Your blood is on your own head, for ^byour own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed.’ ”

The Song of the Bow

17 Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son,

18 ^aand he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written ^bin the Book of Jasher:

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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2 Samuel 1:2-12

a man came out of the camp from Saul—As the narrative of Saul's death, given in the last chapter, is inspired, it must be considered the true account, and the Amalekite's story a fiction of his own, invented to ingratiate himself with David, the presumptive successor to the throne. David's question, "How went the matter?" evinces the deep interest he took in the war, an interest that sprang from feelings of high and generous patriotism, not from views of ambition. The Amalekite, however, judging him to be actuated by a selfish principle, fabricated a story improbable and inconsistent, which he thought would procure him a reward. Having probably witnessed the suicidal act of Saul, he thought of turning it to his own account, and suffered the penalty of his grievously mistaken calculation (compare II Samuel 1:9 with I Samuel 31:4-5).

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