2 Samuel 1:1-16 ~ And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’"

David's Followers Including the Women, Ziklag, painted by James Tissot

2 Samuel 1:24,25
24 “You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

25 “How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!

2 Samuel 1:1-16

1 After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. 2 And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. 3 David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” 4 And David said to him, “How did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.” 5 Then David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” 6 And the young man who told him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear, and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him. 7 And 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?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ 9 And he said to me, ‘Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.’ 10 So I stood beside him and killed 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 armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

11 Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. 12 And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. 13 And David said to the young man who told him, “Where do you come from?” And he answered, “I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.” 14 David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?” 15 Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him.” And he struck him down so that he died. 16 And David said to him, “Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord's anointed.’”

Amalekite -
A member of an ancient nomadic people of Canaan; said in the Bible to be descendants of Esau's grandson Amalek. God defeated seven tribes of Canaan to give the Children of Israel the promised land after the Exodus.

In Ziklag, which looks about the way it sounds, something of a ditch, where David did dwell. David had to ask news of a Canaanite about King Saul. The Lord had removed David far from Saul, fighting a different battle all together.

You would think David would have arranged constant news of Saul, instead David hears from Saul's enemy, of Saul's, and Jonathan's, upcoming battle with the Philistines.

You have to love the sweeping victories of the Bible, like the Technicolor endings of the Exodus provided by Cecil B. DeMill. This is like the Exodus, there is no clear win when the win is expected. David is now in possession of Saul's crown and armlet, but the next step of this battle is:

2 Samuel 2
4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, 9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. 10 Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he 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.


2 Samuel 3
There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.


2 Samuel 5
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

This isn't a made for Hollywood ending, and the battle of the politicians and army leaders sounded more like mafia than Scripture, but the good thing about Scripture - this is a study of life - the way life unfolds.


Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Let's put out our hands each day to Jesus Christ the Lord and become the anointed of the Lord.

Isaiah 1:17
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.

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