Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
An Amalekite tells David how he killed Saul to end his suffering. David kills the Amalekite and composes a lament for Saul and Jonathan.
II. Photo
David is distraught: “I grieve for you, My brother Jonathan, You were most dear to me. Your love was wonderful to me More than the love of women!” (v. 26)
III. Important Verses
5-10: “How do you know,” David asked the young man who brought him the news, “that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” The young man who brought him the news answered, “I happened to be at Mount Gilboa, and I saw Saul leaning on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen closing in on him. He looked around and saw me, and he called to me. When I responded, ‘At your service,’ he asked me, ‘Who are you?’ And I told him that I was an Amalekite. Then he said to me, ‘Stand over me, and finish me off, for I am in agony and am barely alive.’ So I stood over him and finished him off, for I knew that he would never rise from where he was lying. Then I took the crown from his head and the armlet from his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”
11-12: David took hold of his clothes and rent them, and so did all the men with him. They lamented and wept, and they fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the LORD and the House of Israel who had fallen by the sword.
16: And David said to him, “Your blood be on your own head! Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I put the LORD’s anointed to death.’”
17-18: And David intoned this dirge over Saul and his son Jonathan — He ordered the Judites to be taught [The Song of the] Bow. It is recorded in the Book of Jashar.
26-27: I grieve for you, My brother Jonathan, You were most dear to me. Your love was wonderful to me More than the love of women. How have the mighty fallen, The weapons of war perished!
IV. Outline
1-10. An Amalekite informs David of Saul’s death
11-12. David mourns
13-16. David kills the Amalekite for killing Saul
17-18. Introduction to David’s Lament
19-27. David’s lament: “How the mighty have fallen!”
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Campbell, Antony F. “1 Samuel” The Forms of Old Testament Literature vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2003).
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Klein, Ralph W. “1 Samuel” Word Biblical Commentary vol. 10 (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1983).
Photo taken from http://www.sonvo.net/english/images/stories/love/loneliness.jpg
