Kill the Messenger!

While David mourned for Saul, the Amalekite stood idly by, unable to understand the significance of the scene he was witnessing.

Recovering from his first shock of grief, David turned to the young man before him, desiring further details concerning the crime of which he had already confessed himself guilty.” “David had twice had the opportunity to take the life of Saul but had refused to lift up his hand against the Lord’s anointed. He regarded the act of murdering a king a base crime against the nation as well as against God.” The Amalekite had lied concerning the part he had played in the death of Saul in order to be rewarded for what he claimed was a mercy killing.

Most commentators believe Saul was already dead (1 Samuel 31:3–6), and the young man simply lifted the crown and bracelet from Saul’s body and concocted a story to gain favor for freeing David from his callous enemy.

“Evidently supposing that David must cherish enmity toward his relentless persecutor, the stranger hoped to secure honor to himself as the slayer of the king. With an air of boasting the man went on to relate that during the battle he found the monarch of Israel wounded, and sore pressed by his foes, and that at his own request the messenger had slain him. The crown from his head and the golden bracelets from his arm he had brought to David. He confidently expected that these tidings would be hailed with joy, and that a rich reward would be his for the part that he had acted.” Instead, David ordered his death, saying, “Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’s anointed” (2 Samuel 1:16). Justice was thus swiftly applied to the messenger who had pronounced his own guilt, whether or not a lie. Claiming to have committed regicide, he stood condemned and paid with his life. It is amazing how often things do not turn out as expected when one falsifies the facts.