2 Samuel 1:16

for thy mouth, &c. For the expression cp. Job 15:6; Luke 19:22. He had accused himself of a capital crime, for which he deserved to die. Righteous indignation, and not merely political prudence, dictated his immediate execution.

This account of Saul's death is obviously inconsistent with that given in 1 Samuel 31. It is useless to attempt to harmonize them, but it is quite unnecessary to assume that we have two different traditions of the manner of Saul's death. The Amalekite's story was clearly a fabrication. In wandering over the field of battle he had found the corpse of Saul and stripped it of its ornaments. With these he hastened to David, and invented his fictitious story in the hope of securing an additional reward for having with his own hand rid David of his bitterest enemy and removed the obstacle which stood between him and the throne. But he had formed a wrong estimate of the man he had to deal with. Whether David believed him or not, he summarily inflicted the penalty which the Amalekite deserved according to his own avowal, and proved to all Israel his abhorrence of such an impious act.

David's chivalrous loyalty and generous unselfishness in mourning for the death of his unrelenting persecutor, whose removal opened the way for him to the throne, are striking evidences of the nobility of his character.