II Samuel 1
Today we return to our march through Old Testament history, picking up where we left off before we diverted into Job. Recall the history up to this point:
- The stories of the Patriarchs (Genesis)
- The Exodus, the giving of the Law through Moses, the Tabernacle, and the Wandering in the Wilderness (Exodus-Deuteronomy)
- The period of the Judges (Judges-Ruth), culminating in the last judge, Samuel (I Samuel 1-7)
- The initiation of the Monarchy under King Saul, but then the rejection of Saul, the anointing of David, and Saul’s chasing of David (I Samuel 8-27)
- Saul’s demise (I Samuel 28-31)
That is where we left off on June 25. So Saul is dead, along with his son, Jonathan, and David receives the news from an Amalekite, who expects David to consider all this to be good news. After all, Saul, the man responsible for making David’s life miserable for years is now permanently out of the way and no longer a threat to David’s life. The Amalekite is so confident of David’s positive response that he falsely claims to have killed Saul himself, probably hoping for a hefty reward. Well, he gets a reward, all right!
Some may object to David’s execution of the Amalekite, but it serves to illustrate the genuineness of David’s lament over Saul. David grieves over Saul. He does not rejoice over the death of this man who made himself David’s enemy, though David never treated Saul as such. As I said in my 2023 post on this passage, there is much to consider in David’s posture here, and much for us to think about in our own lives. How do we respond when our rivals or enemies fail? Or how do we present ourselves before others when their enemies fail? Are we like the Amalekite, seeking to win favor from the victor? Or do we follow David’s example?