2 Samuel 1:2, 4-10
Behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul…
And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.
And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): There are always numerous strollers who follow camps, and this lad probably was one of them. Their business is pillage and the stripping of the dead: our young Amalekite, it seems, knew his business, and got the start of the Philistines in the pillage of Saul.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): I am not clear whether this young man’s story was true or no.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): It is most probable this was a lie, devised to gain David’s favour.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “And I answered him, I am an Amalekite,” which he might be; but it is not likely he should tell Saul he was, which would not recommend him to Saul; though indeed he was now in such circumstances, that the Amalekites had nothing to fear from him…“And he said unto me again, stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me,”―which it can hardly be thought that Saul would say; since he might as well have died by the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, which he endeavoured to avoid, as by the hands of an Amalekite.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In view of this, it is quite evident that the Amalekite who now communicated to David the tidings of Saul’s death, lied in a number of details.
MATTHEW POOLE: Saul was not killed by a spear, as he pretends, but by his sword; and it is expressly said that Saul’s armour-bearer, being yet living, saw that Saul was dead―which doubtless he would very thoroughly examine and know, before he would kill himself upon that account, as he did, 1 Samuel 31:4,5: “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It may consist with the narrative in 1 Samuel 31:4,5, and be an addition to it, as Peter’s account of the death of Judas, Acts 1:18, is to the narrative, Matthew 27:5. What is there called a sword may here be called a spear, or when he fell upon his sword he leaned on his spear.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Whether the relation he gave was altogether true is not certain―one thing is certain, that as this man brought the crown and bracelet of Saul to David, he must have been with Saul at his death.
A. W. PINK: Finding Saul’s body with the insignia of royalty upon it, he seized them, and then formed his story in such a way as he hoped to ingratiate himself with David.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Expecting a reward, he found his death.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): “And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” 2 Samuel 1:14. Somewhat of a similar process obtains amongst us: a coroner’s inquest is taken whenever a suspicion of murder, or of suicide, appears to have any just foundation.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’S anointed,” 2 Samuel 1:15,16. Though Saul desired thee to despatch him, as thou hast said, and volenti non fit iniuria―‘because he was willing, there was no injury:’ yet because he was felo de se, as lawyers now speak, a suicide—‘a felony itself,’ it was not lawful for thee to help him out of the world, although the enemy had given him his death wound, and he therefore desired it of thee.
MATTHEW HENRY: Instead of preferring him, David put him to death, and judged him out of his own mouth, as a murderer―He did himself confess the crime, so that the evidence was, by the consent of all laws, sufficient to convict him.
THOMAS COKE: The Amalekite deserved death.
MATTHEW HENRY: In vain did he plead that he had Saul’s order for it, that it was a real kindness to him, that he must inevitably have died; all those pleas are overruled.
THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): The positive duty implied in the command “Thou shalt not kill,” Exodus 20:13, is that we should do all the good we can to ourselves and others―in reference to others, we are to preserve the life of others―we may be said to murder another by not hindering the death of another when in our power.
A. W. PINK: The murdering of another is a most heinous crime―those who are accessories are also guilty of murder, such as those who commission it to be done, or consent thereto, or conceal it.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Our law very properly withholds from a man the right to commit suicide—if he is caught in the act of attempting to take his own life, he is punishable as a criminal. The act of suicide is a grave offense against the Laws of God and man.
A. W. PINK: Suicide is self-murder.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): There have been infidels in all ages who have advocated it’s a justifiable means of release from trial and difficulty; yet thinking men, as far back as Aristotle, have generally condemned it as cowardly and unjustifiable under any conditions. No man has a right to take his own life from such motives any more than the life of another.
