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Atomic Bible
2 Samuel

Chapter 1

Saul’s Death Reported to David and David’s Song for Saul and Jonathan

David receives news of Saul and Jonathan’s death from an Amalekite who claims he killed the wounded king and brings Saul’s royal signs. David and his men mourn for Saul, Jonathan, and Israel, then David orders the man’s death for striking the LORD’s anointed. The chapter ends with David’s lament, which holds Saul and Jonathan together in grief and honors Jonathan in particular love.

This chapter opens 2 Samuel by joining the end of Saul’s house to the rise of David without triumph. It frames David’s kingship first through mourning, restraint, and public lament rather than seizure of power.

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2 Samuel 1

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vv. 1-16

Saul’s Death Reported to David

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A1fter the death of Saul, David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. 2On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head arrived from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him homage. 3“Where have you come from?” David asked. 4“What was the outcome?” David asked. “Please tell me.”

5Then David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” 6“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry closing in on him. 7When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I answered, ‘Here I am!’ 8‘Who are you?’ he asked. 9Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’ 10So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

11Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same. 12They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

13And David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?” 14So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” 15Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died. 16For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

vv. 17-27

David’s Song for Saul and Jonathan

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T17hen David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan, 18and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:

19“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. 20Tell it not in Gath; 21O mountains of Gilboa,

22From the blood of the slain, 23Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, 24O daughters of Israel,

25How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! 26I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. 27How the mighty have fallen,

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  1. 01vv. 1-16Saul’s Death Reported to DavidDavid returns to Ziklag and hears of Saul and Jonathan’s death from an Amalekite who says he finished Saul and brought back his crown and armlet. David answers the report with grief for Israel, then judges the man by his own words for killing the LORD’s anointed.
  2. 02vv. 17-27David’s Song for Saul and JonathanDavid takes up a lament for Saul and Jonathan and has it taught in Judah as a song of remembrance. The poem mourns Israel’s fallen glory, asks that the shame not be heard among enemies, praises Saul and Jonathan in battle, and ends in David’s personal grief for Jonathan.
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