2 Samuel 1:4

_AND DAVID SAID UNTO HIM, FROM WHENCE COMEST THOU? AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, OUT OF THE CAMP OF ISRAEL AM I ESCAPED._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-10 The blow which opened David's way to the throne was given about the time he had been sorely distressed. Those who commit their concerns to the Lord, will quietly abide his will. It shows that he desired not Saul's death, and he was not impatient to come to the throne....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 1:1 NOW IT CAME TO PASS. During the last few days events had been crowding fast upon one another. Living as fugitives at Ziklag, in the land of the Philistines, David and his men, unfit for the peaceful occupations of agriculture, had been driven to seek their maintenance by raids upon the wild tribes in the desert. Of these the chief were the Amalekites, whose home was the bare region lying between the south of Judah and Egypt. We have ample proof that this race was utterly hostile to all order and quietness; it lived by the plunder of others, and, sheltering itself in the recesses of the wilderness, broke out thence on every opportunity to carry, ravage and ruin into all the neighbouring districts. The Amalekite was thus every man's enemy, and the object of universal dislike; and the cruelty which he habitually pract

AND DAVID SAID UNTO HIM, HOW WENT THE MATTER? I PRAY THEE, TELL ME,.... That is, how went the battle? on which side the victory? AND HE ANSWERED, THAT THE PEOPLE ARE FLED FROM THE BATTLE; meaning the people of Israel, they had given way, and turned their backs upon their enemies, and were fled: AND MANY OF THE PEOPLE ALSO ARE FALLEN AND DEAD; fell by the sword in the pursuit of them, and were not only wounded, but were slain, and these great numbers of them: AND SAUL AND JONATHAN HIS SON ARE DEAD ALSO; which are mentioned last, because they fell some of the last; and this part of the account is reserved by the messenger to the last, because it was the article of the greatest importance; the death of these two persons, the one the enemy, and the other the friend of David, and the death of both made way for his accession to the throne....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. DAVID KING OF JUDAH AND THE EVENTS OF HIS REIGN 1. David's Lamentation for Saul and Jonathan CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The Death of Saul and Jonathan announced to David (2 Samuel 1:1)_ 2. David's great Grief (2 Samuel 1:11) 3. The Amalekite slain (2 Samuel 1:13) 4. David's Lamentation (2 Samuel 1:17) David heard of the death of Saul and Jonathan from the lips of the Amalekite, who also brought him the crown and the bracelet of the dead king. The story of this young man has been branded by some as a falsehood, invented to gain favor from David. It is not

DAVID RECEIVES THE NEWS OF SAUL'S DEATH. The account of the death of Saul told by the fugitive here is different from that in 1 Samuel 31. A common explanation is that the fugitive falsely represented himself as the slayer of Saul, in the hope of receiving a reward from David. But it is now widely held that here also we have a blending of two documents: 2 Samuel 1:1; 2 Samuel 1:11 f. are from the same document (J) as the bulk of 1 Samuel 25-31; 2 Samuel 1:6; 1 Samuel 1:13 are from another source which may be fairly early. 1 Samuel 1:5 is inserted by an

HE ANSWERED. He thought he brought news which would be welcomed....

_How went the matter?_ Lit. _What was the affair?_the same phrase as that used by Eli in 1 Samuel 4:16. The form of the Amalekite's answer also closely corresponds to that of the man of Benjamin there. The rout, the slaughter among the people, the death of the leaders, are mentioned in an ascending climax. _many of the people_ No contradiction to 1 Samuel 31:6, where "_all_his men" refers to Saul's immediate body-guard....

I. DAVID MADE KING OF ISRAEL, 2 Samuel 1:1 to 2 Samuel 5:25. 1. David Receives News of Saul's Death, 2 Samuel 1:1-27. _The Amalekite's account of Said's Death._ 2 Samuel 1:1-12 Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; 2 It came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and _so_ it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. 3 And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? A

THE LAMENT OF DAVID OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN 1. There is no break between the two books of Samuel; they really form one continuous narrative. This v. is a continuation of 1 Samuel 30, which describes David's successful attack upon Ziklag. He had not heard of the events narrated in 1 Samuel 31....