2 Samuel 1

News of Saul’s death reaches David at Ziklag. An Amalekite claims he killed the dying king and expects a reward, but David mourns and has him executed for striking the LORD’s anointed. David then pours out a lament for Saul and Jonathan, honoring them without bitterness.

2 Samuel 1:1

Saul is dead, and David has just come home from striking the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag. He knows nothing of the battle in the north. The chapter opens with David waiting, not scheming, on the edge of the kingdom he has been promised.

BSA: slaughter (“smiting, defeat”): David had just defeated Israel’s old enemy, which makes the Amalekite messenger’s arrival all the more striking.

See also: 1 Samuel 30:17-18.

2 Samuel 1:2

The messenger comes in the classic signs of grief: torn clothes and dust on his head. These were outward signs of mourning or disaster. He bows low to David, treating him as someone who may soon be king.

BSA: homage (“show respect, do obeisance”): His deep bow shows he already sees David as the one with power to reward him.

2 Samuel 1:3-4

David asks where he has come from and how the battle went. The man gives the bare facts: Israel’s army fled, many died, and Saul and Jonathan are dead. It is the news Israel dreaded, delivered in a few short lines.

BSA: escaped (“slipped away to safety, been delivered”): He presents himself as a survivor who brings a firsthand report.

2 Samuel 1:5-6

David does not simply accept the report. He asks how the young man knows. The man says he happened to be on Mount Gilboa and found Saul leaning on his spear, with enemy chariots and horsemen closing in. It is a story of a king alone and cornered.

BSA: happened (“by chance, as I came upon”): He claims it was pure accident, which sounds convenient for a man hoping for reward.

See also: 1 Samuel 31:1-4.

2 Samuel 1:7-8

In the man’s account Saul called to him and asked who he was. He answered, ‘Here I am!’ and then named himself an Amalekite. That detail matters. Saul had once been told to destroy the Amalekites and had not fully done so.

BSA: Amalekite (“a descendant of Amalek, from the tribe of Amalek”): He belongs to the nation Saul failed to destroy, so the old disobedience comes back to haunt Saul at the end.

See also: 1 Samuel 15:2-3.

2 Samuel 1:9-10

The man says Saul, in agony, begged him to finish him off. He claims he did so and took Saul’s crown and armband as proof. First Samuel 31 says Saul fell on his own sword, so this is probably a made-up story to win David’s favor.

BSA: agony (“intense emotional pain, anguish”): It describes the dizzying distress of a wounded man, which the messenger uses to make his act sound merciful.

See also: 1 Samuel 31:4-5.

2 Samuel 1:11-12

David does not celebrate. He and his men tear their clothes, weep, and fast until evening. They grieve for Saul, for Jonathan, and for God’s people who fell. David mourns a king who hunted him, which shows a heart ruled by God, not by revenge.

BSA: fasted (“abstained from food, humbled themselves”): Their fast was a humble sorrow before God, not mere sadness.

2 Samuel 1:13-14

David presses the man again, and he repeats that he is an Amalekite, the son of a foreigner living in Israel. David’s question goes to the heart: why was he not afraid to raise his hand against the LORD’s anointed? Saul was flawed, but God had set him apart.

BSA: anointed (“Messiah, the one set apart”): The word means one chosen and set apart by God, which is why harming him was so grave. afraid (“lacking reverence or fear”): The issue is a missing fear of God, not only fear of a man.

Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach, H4899) — “anointed one.” The Hebrew word later gives us ‘Messiah.’ Here it names the king, set apart for God by anointing with oil.

See also: 1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 26:9.

2 Samuel 1:15-16

David orders the man struck down. His own words condemn him: he confessed to killing the LORD’s anointed. David had twice refused to harm Saul himself, and he will not reward a man who claims to have done it.

BSA: blood (“the very life that flows through your veins”): Blood stands for life, so the man’s death is the price of the life he says he took. mouth (“the instrument of testimony, the voice of your conscience”): His own words became the evidence against him.

2 Samuel 1:17-18

David composes a lament and orders Judah to learn it. It is called the Song of the Bow and was recorded in the Book of Jashar, an ancient collection now lost. Teaching it keeps Saul and Jonathan honored in the nation’s memory.

BSA: lament (“dirge, song of grief”): It is a funeral song, giving sorrow a voice that others can share.

Hebrew: קִינָה (qinah, H7015) — “funeral song, dirge.” This is the Hebrew word for a formal song of mourning. It is the same kind of poem that later gives the book of Lamentations its character.

2 Samuel 1:19

The song opens with its refrain: how the mighty have fallen. Israel’s glory, its king and warriors, lies dead on the hills. David begins with the nation’s loss, not with any private feeling about Saul.

BSA: glory (“beauty, splendor”): The fallen are called Israel’s beauty, the pride and ornament of the nation.

2 Samuel 1:20

David does not want the Philistine cities of Gath and Ashkelon to hear of it. Their women would sing and dance in triumph. To David, Israel’s defeat is also a disgrace to the name of Israel’s God, whose people bear His covenant sign.

BSA: uncircumcised (“those without a covenant sign, heathen”): It marks the Philistines as outside God’s covenant, making their gloating especially painful.

2 Samuel 1:21

David poetically calls down barrenness on Gilboa, where the battle was lost. No dew, no rain, no grain offerings. The shield of Saul was tossed down in the dust, no longer rubbed with oil. It is the language of deep grief, not a literal curse on creation.

BSA: defiled (“abhorred, rejected”): The shield was cast away and fouled, a picture of a king’s honor lying in dishonor.

2 Samuel 1:22

Now David praises how they fought. Jonathan’s bow and Saul’s sword did not turn back from the slain. Whatever Saul’s failures, David remembers real courage and does not rewrite the story.

BSA: empty (“without purpose, unused, vainly”): Saul’s sword never came home useless; it always did its work against the enemy.

2 Samuel 1:23

Saul and Jonathan were loved and pleasant in life and were not parted in death. They are praised for speed and strength, like eagles and lions. David holds up what was truly good in both men.

BSA: divided (“separated or divided”): Father and son, though they differed in heart toward David, shared a single end.

2 Samuel 1:24

David turns to Israel’s women and calls them to weep for Saul. Under his rule they had enjoyed fine clothing and gold ornaments. David recalls the real prosperity Saul’s victories brought, and gives him credit for it.

BSA: scarlet (“deep red, crimson”): Rich dyed cloth was a mark of wealth and a sign of the good times Saul’s wars had brought.

2 Samuel 1:25-26

The refrain returns, and David speaks personally to Jonathan. He calls him brother and speaks of a love that was extraordinary. It is the language of deep, loyal friendship, from a covenant made in 1 Samuel. David grieves a friend who was faithful at great cost to himself.

BSA: delightful (“pleasant, wonderful”): Jonathan was a joy to David, not just a useful ally. love (“affection, devotion”): It points to steady, committed loyalty, the kind that held through danger.

See also: 1 Samuel 18:1-3; 1 Samuel 20:41-42.

2 Samuel 1:27

The song ends as it began: how the mighty have fallen. The weapons of war lie ruined. David leaves the matter in grief and does not rush to claim the throne. He gives the reader a model of honest mourning and respect for those God had appointed.

BSA: perished (“been destroyed, lost”): The weapons are gone along with the men who carried them, a picture of total loss.