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2 Samuel 1: What the Passage Says

82 claims across 27 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 2 Samuel 1 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

An Amalekite comes to David at Ziklag with torn clothes and dust on his head and reports that Israel has been beaten, and that Saul and Jonathan are dead. He claims he killed Saul at Saul's own request, and he brings David the crown and armband; David has him executed for admitting he killed the king God had chosen. David and his men mourn and fast, and David composes a lament for Saul and Jonathan, and orders that the people of Judah be taught The Bow.

Claim by Claim

  1. 1:1
    • This happened after the death of Saul.
    • David had returned from striking down the Amalekites.
    • David stayed in Ziklag two days.
  2. 1:2
    • On the third day a man came from the camp, from Saul.
    • The man's clothes were torn.
    • There was earth on the man's head.
    • When he came to David, he fell to the ground.
    • He prostrated himself before David.
  3. 1:3
    • David asked him where he had come from.
    • The man said he had escaped from the camp of Israel.
  4. 1:4
    • David asked him what had happened.
    • David asked him to tell him.
    • The man said the people had fled from the battle.
    • The man said many of the people had fallen and died.
    • The man said Saul and Jonathan his son were also dead.
  5. 1:5
    • David spoke to the young man who was reporting to him.
    • David asked him how he knew that Saul and Jonathan his son were dead.
  6. 1:6
    • The young man who was reporting said he happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa.
    • He said Saul was leaning on his spear.
    • He said the chariots and the horsemen were closing in on Saul.
  7. 1:7
    • The young man said Saul turned around behind him and saw him.
    • The young man said Saul called to him.
    • The young man said he answered, "Here I am."
  8. 1:8
    • The young man said Saul asked him who he was.
    • The young man said he told Saul he was an Amalekite.
  9. 1:9
    • The young man said Saul told him to stand over him and kill him.
    • The young man said Saul gave as his reason that a seizure of agony had taken hold of him.
    • The young man said Saul said his life was still whole in him.
  10. 1:10
    • The young man said he stood over Saul and killed him.
    • The young man said he did this because he knew Saul could not live after his fall.
    • The young man said he took the crown that was on Saul's head.
    • The young man said he took the armlet that was on Saul's arm.
    • The young man said he had brought these to his lord.
  11. 1:11
    • David took hold of his clothes and tore them.
    • All the men who were with David did the same.
  12. 1:12
    • They mourned and wept.
    • They fasted until evening.
    • They did this for Saul and for Jonathan his son.
    • They did this for the people of the LORD and for the house of Israel.
    • The reason was that they had fallen by the sword.
  13. 1:13
    • David asked the young man who had reported to him where he was from.
    • The young man answered that he was the son of a resident alien.
    • The young man answered that he was an Amalekite.
  14. 1:14
    • David asked him how he was not afraid to stretch out his hand to destroy the LORD's anointed.
  15. 1:15
    • David called one of the young men.
    • David told him to go near and strike the man down.
    • The young man struck him.
    • The man died.
  16. 1:16
    • David said to him that his blood was on his own head.
    • David said the reason was that his own mouth had testified against him.
    • David quoted him as saying, "I have killed the LORD's anointed."
  17. 1:17
    • David chanted this lament over Saul and over Jonathan his son.
  18. 1:18
    • David ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the bow, whether meaning skill with the bow or a song called The Bow.
    • It is written in the book of Jashar.
  19. 1:19
    • The glory of Israel lies slain on your high places.
    • The mighty have fallen.
  20. 1:20
    • Do not tell it in Gath.
    • Do not proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon.
    • The reason is lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.
    • The reason is lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
  21. 1:21
    • Let there be no dew on the mountains of Gilboa.
    • Let there be no rain on the mountains of Gilboa.
    • Let there be no fields of offerings.
    • The reason is that there the shield of the mighty was defiled.
    • The shield of Saul is the shield spoken of.
    • It is unclear whether the shield was no longer anointed with oil or whether Saul was as though not anointed with oil.
  22. 1:22
    • From the blood of the slain and from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back.
    • The sword of Saul did not return empty.
  23. 1:23
    • Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives.
    • In their death they were not divided.
    • They were swifter than eagles.
    • They were stronger than lions.
  24. 1:24
    • Daughters of Israel are told to weep over Saul.
    • Saul clothed them in scarlet with luxuries.
    • Saul put ornaments of gold on their clothing.
  25. 1:25
    • The mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle.
    • Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
  26. 1:26
    • I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan.
    • You were very pleasant to me.
    • Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.
  27. 1:27
    • The mighty have fallen.
    • The weapons of war have perished.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1
Ziklag was a town in the far south that the Philistine king Achish had given David to live in while David was a fugitive from King Saul. The Amalekites were a nomadic people of the southern desert and long-standing enemies of Israel; they had just raided and burned Ziklag, and David had chased them down (1 Samuel 30). At this point David had been privately anointed as Saul's eventual successor but held no throne.
1:2
Tearing one's clothes and putting dust or dirt on the head were the standard public signs of mourning in Israel. A messenger arriving in that state announced a disaster before he said a word.
1:6
Mount Gilboa is a ridge in northern Israel overlooking the Jezreel Valley, where the Israelite army had been fighting the Philistines.
1:9
The word translated "anguish" is rare and its sense uncertain, perhaps a spasm, a cramp, or dizziness. "My life is still whole in me" means that despite the wound he is not dying quickly.
1:10
The crown and the armband were royal insignia; bringing them to David presents them both as proof of the report and as the tokens of kingship changing hands. The account differs from 1 Samuel 31, where Saul takes his own life with his own sword and no Amalekite is present. The text records the man's claim without confirming it.
1:12
The Israelite day ended at sunset, so fasting "until evening" means going without food for the whole remainder of the day, a full day of formal mourning.
1:13
"Son of a foreigner" means a resident alien: someone living permanently in Israel without Israelite ancestry. Such a person lived under Israel's laws and was answerable to them, which is why David's question about his origin matters.
1:14
Kings in Israel were installed by having olive oil poured over the head, and "the LORD's anointed" was the ordinary title for the reigning king. His person was treated as protected from attack; twice earlier David had had the chance to kill Saul and had refused on those grounds (1 Samuel 24 and 26).
1:16
"Your blood be on your own head" was a legal formula: responsibility for a death rests on the condemned man, not on those carrying out the sentence. A confession from a person's own mouth counted as sufficient evidence against him.
1:17
A lament was a recognized form of Hebrew poetry with its own rhythm, composed and sung for the dead.
1:18
The King James "the use of the bow" is compressed in the Hebrew. Most take "The Bow" as the title of the song itself, named from Jonathan's weapon in verse 22; others read it as an order that Judah be trained in archery. The Book of Jasher was a collection of Israelite poetry, now lost, quoted also in Joshua 10:13.
1:19
The King James "the beauty of Israel" translates a word meaning glory, splendor, or ornament. The poem does not say who or what is meant: it may be Saul and Jonathan themselves, or Israel's greatness lost with them. "High places" here means the heights of Mount Gilboa, though the same Hebrew phrase elsewhere means hilltop shrines.
1:20
Gath and Ashkelon were two of the five chief Philistine cities on the coastal plain. Women customarily met a returning army with singing and dancing to celebrate a victory (as in 1 Samuel 18:6-7), so "the daughters of the Philistines" stands for the victory songs that would follow the news. Israelite men were circumcised and the Philistines were not, so "the uncircumcised" was a common Israelite term for them.
1:21
Leather shields were rubbed with oil to keep them supple and serviceable; Saul's lies abandoned and untended. The same verb is used of anointing a king, so the line can be read either "no longer rubbed with oil" or "as though he had not been anointed with oil." "Fields of offerings" is obscure in the Hebrew: probably fields producing the grain used for offerings, though the phrase is read in other ways.
1:22
"Fat" stands for the strongest, choicest men, as the fat of an animal was its choicest part. Saying a bow did not turn back and a sword did not return empty is a standard way of saying the weapon never failed to strike.
1:23
The bird named is the nesher, either the eagle or the griffon vulture; it was proverbial for speed and for soaring flight.
1:24
Scarlet cloth took an expensive imported dye and was a luxury item. Fine clothing and gold ornaments were typical spoils of a successful campaign, so the line credits the women's finery to Saul's wars.
1:26
"Brother" is not literal: Jonathan was Saul's son, and he and David had bound themselves to each other by formal agreement (1 Samuel 18 and 20). The Hebrew word for love covers loyalty and formal alliance as well as personal affection, and the comparison in this line is left open by the text.
1:27
"The weapons of war" may mean literal arms lost on the field, or may stand for Saul and Jonathan themselves as the weapons Israel has now lost.

Read 2 Samuel 1