Second
Samuel 1:1
The Bible says in Second Samuel 1:1-12, Now it came to pass after the
death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites,
and David had abode two days in Ziklag;[2] It came even to pass on the
third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes
rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he
fell to the earth, and did obeisance.[3] And David said unto him, From
whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped.[4] And David
said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That
the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and
dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.[5] And David said
unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his
son be dead?[6] And the young man that told him said, As I happened by
chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the
chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.[7] And when he looked
behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I.[8] And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I
answered him, I am an Amalekite.[9] And he said unto me again, Stand, I
pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life
is yet whole in me.[10] So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was
sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that
was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them
hither unto my lord.[11] Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent
them; and likewise all the men that were with him:[12] And they mourned,
and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for
the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen
by the sword. When David heard that Saul and Jonathan had been killed
in battle, David mourned. Jonathan was his best friend. Saul was his king.
David was a decent person and had no pleasure in the death of Saul even though
Saul had been trying to kill David. Unfortunately, death is a part of life. The
longer you live, the more funerals that you will go to. There is a time to
mourn. Thankfully, Jesus conquered death, and those who know Jesus will see
each other again. Even though there is a time to mourn, we cannot mourn
forever. There is a time to stop mourning and grieving and to get on with life.
Appreciate those who have gone on, remember the good things, learn what you can
about their lives in order to make your own life
better. David did not mourn very long maybe because of the circumstances that
he was in. It says in verse twelve, And they
mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son,
and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were
fallen by the sword. He did not mourn for days: he mourned for hours
just until the evening. Life is short. You may not have much time left either.
Get on with life. Serve the Lord Jesus with whatever time you have left.
The Bible says in Second Samuel 1:13-16, And David said unto the young man
that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am
the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.[14] And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to
stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?[15] And David
called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote
him that he died.[16] And David said unto him, Thy
blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I
have slain the LORD's anointed. The Amalekite was killed because he made the final blow to
King Saul. Saul was Gods choice to rule Israel, and everyone should respect
that. David did. There is a proper way of respecting leadership, even in the
heat of battle.
The Bible says in Second Samuel 1:17-27, And David lamented with this
lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:[18] (Also he bade them
teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the
book of Jasher.)[19] The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places:
how are the mighty fallen![20] Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in
the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.[21] Ye mountains of Gilboa, let
there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings:
for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as
though he had not been anointed with oil.[22] From the blood of the
slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the
sword of Saul returned not empty.[23] Saul and Jonathan were lovely and
pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were
swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.[24] Ye daughters of
Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who
put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.[25] How are the mighty
fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou was
slain in thine high places.[26] I am distressed for thee, my brother
Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women.[27] How are the mighty fallen, and the
weapons of war perished! Of
course, these verses show us that David truly grieved at the death of King Saul
and his son Jonathan. David was a compassionate person. He loved these two men,
and especially Jonathan. We can look at these verses as an obituary and an eulogy. That is pretty amazing
when we remember that Saul spent years trying to kill David. David said only
good things about Saul. The first thing that David says about Saul is found in
verse eighteen where David speaks of the fact that as king, Saul built up the
army of Israel and trained many of the Israelite men to be good soldiers. David
called them the beauty of Israel and the mighty. In verse twenty-three
David said that Saul and Jonathan were lovely and
pleasant in their lives. David spoke of their accomplishments as
military men. He said in verse twenty-two, the bow
of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
And he said in verse twenty-three, they were
swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. In verse twenty-six
David expressed his great friendship for Jonathan when David said, I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very
pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love
of women. It says in Proverbs 18:24b,
there
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Finally, in verse twenty-seven David expresses his anguish one last time: How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war
perished! War
is hell. So many are lost before their time. Finally, in the Kingdom of Christ
there will be war no more.
The Bible says in Second Samuel 2:1-3, And it came to pass after this,
that David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities
of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither
shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.[2] So David went up thither,
and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and
Abigail Nabal's wife the Carmelite.[3] And his men that were with him
did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities
of Hebron. Once
again we see that David prays to the Lord before
making a decision and making a move. Every Christian should always do the same
thing because we want the Lords will, not our own will to be done. It says in
James 4:13-15, Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go
into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:[14]
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapour, that appeareth
for a little time, and then vanisheth away.[15]
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
The Bible says in Second Samuel 2:4-11, And the men of Judah came, and
there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David,
saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that
buried Saul.[5] And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that
ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried
him.[6] And now the LORD shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also
will requite you this kindness, because ye have done
this thing.[7] Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye
valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have
anointed me king over them.[8] But Abner the son of Ner, captain of
Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and
brought him over to Mahanaim;[9] And made him king over Gilead, and over
the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim,
and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.[10] Ish-bosheth
Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned
two years. But the house of Judah followed David.[11] And the time that
David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. It did not take long for David to be anointed king of Judah.
That was because David himself was of the tribe of Judah. But of course, there
was opposition. Abner took one of Sauls sons and made him king in Gilead.
Verse eleven tells us that this situation with different kings stayed in effect
for seven and a half years. But no one can stop Gods plan. Sometimes we must
wait on the Lord, but His plan is always in motion and in His time, He will
make things work out. Wait patiently on the Lord.
The Bible says in Second Samuel 2:12-23, And Abner the son of Ner, and the
servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out
from Mahanaim to Gibeon.[13] And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the
servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon: and they
sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side
of the pool.[14] And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise,
and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.[15] Then there arose
and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of
David.[16] And they caught every one his
fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell
down together: wherefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim,
which is in Gibeon.[17] And there was a very sore battle that day; and
Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.[18]
And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and
Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe.[19] And Asahel pursued after
Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from
following Abner.[20] Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou
Asahel? And he answered, I am.[21] And Abner
said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee
hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour.
But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him.[22] And Abner
said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I
smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy
brother?[23] Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the
hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out
behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to
pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood
still. This
was a time of tremendous violence and hatred in the land of Israel. People who
had been loyal to Saul such as Abner continued with the attitude that they
learned from Saul. They were resisting David becoming king and even using
violence to keep it from happening. They were killing with the sword. That is a
very big mistake to resist Gods will, and then to even resist Gods will with
violence. Jesus said, They that live by the sword
shall die by the sword, and that is exactly what would happen in this
situation.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2020 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved