In the last chapter of 1St Samuel we learned how king Saul died, taking his own life by leaning upon the blade of his sword. A stranger, an Amalekite, who was at the battlefield, picked up Saul's crown and bracelet and thought to get a reward from David by going to him with them and claiming to have ended Saul's life. He naturally supposed that David would be very pleased indeed to learn that his enemy,—the man who stood between himself and the throne of Israel,—was dead.
With the outward marks of great grief, the Amalekite came to David and told his story, but its telling produced a very different effect than he had expected. David had always honored the king, even when Saul sought to kill him, and now in the bright prospect of an early end to his wanderings, in elevation to the throne of Israel for which God had long ago appointed him, the heart of 'David was filled with grief. Mourning and weeping and fasting until evening, David lamented the death of Saul and Jonathan, and of "the people of the Lord"—that the nation of
Israel, in a sense, and God's glory was touched in their defeat,—and of "the house of Israel" (the people viewed in a worldly way). Self-condemned in David's opinion, the Amalekite was put to death.
The children of Judah were to be taught to use the bow, the instrument of warfare by which Saul had been brought to his end. The book of Jasher (verse 18) is here mentioned a second time; the first reference to it is in Joshua chapter 10:13. Nothing is now known of this book or its author or authors. "Jasher" means "upright," or "the upright." It was evidently a well-known book but not inspired; a history or book of poems.
David's lament over Saul and Jonathan is very touching. Not a word does it include of condemnation of the dead king who had done little to win his regard. "The beauty of Israel" was slain; the mighty were fallen. Asklon and Gath. principal cities of the Philistines,—the one on the seacoast and the other on their eastern border,—should not hear the news, lest the daughters of the enemy should rejoice.
It must have been a sad reflection for David that Saul and Jonathan were not divided (verse 23). The king's son loved David truly, but he was not willing to give up present things for the future, and the last we saw of him before the battlefield where he died with his father, was in 1 Samuel chapter 23:18.
Esau made his choice in Genesis 25:32-3332And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. (Genesis 25:32‑33); Moses decided in Exodus 2:1111And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. (Exodus 2:11) (see Hebrews 11:24-2624By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. (Hebrews 11:24‑26)); Jonathan was unlike either, but he made a decision, and it cost him his life; he might have shared David's glory later on, but he would not give up the present world (see 2 Timothy 4:1010For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. (2 Timothy 4:10)).
Have you decided? And is your decision for Christ, or for the world? It is a momentous question.