A MESSENGER OF BAD NEWS
Opening Prayer
Lord, keep my words and motives pure and truthful.
Read 2 SAMUEL 1:1–16
After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. 2 On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
3 “Where have you come from?” David asked him.
He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
4 “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.”
“The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
5 Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. 7 When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’
8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’
“‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.
9 “Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’
10 “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
11 Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?”
“I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered.
14 David asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
15 Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died. 16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Praise God for making you a messenger of his good news!
King Saul has destroyed the entire tribe of Amalek, at God’s instruction, sparing only the king and some of their flock (1 Sam. 15). We do not know how this young Amalekite in our reading has escaped. It would be understandable for him to hate Saul for this genocide and decide to kill the king to avenge his people. His motive, however, benefits nobody but himself and, having taken refuge among God’s people as a sojourner in Israel, it is hardly excusable for him to slay God’s anointed.
With Saul and his bodyguard dead from their own hands (1 Sam. 31:4–6), the young Amalekite sees his chance and takes it. He collects the royal insignia and hurries off to deliver what he thought would be good news to the putative successor and thus ingratiate himself into royal favor. He even lies in order to credit himself for ridding David of what seems to be the only obstacle between him and the throne.
However, on more than one occasion David has refused the throne via assassination (1 Sam. 24,26), and he certainly is not going to countenance regicide at this point. The Amalekite’s charade of mourning in the form of torn clothes and dirt on the head backfires spectacularly, costing him his life.
There are many who, like Saul of Tarsus, are mistaken in the beliefs they hold and propagate enthusiastically. Many do so with the conviction and zeal of that young rabbi, although some, no doubt, share the mercenary interests of the young Amalekite of our text. Whatever their motivation, unless they repent, their end is destruction.
Apply
Do you know anyone involved in spreading the bad news of false religion? Pray for them today.
Closing prayer
Lord, give me the wisdom to be able to discern who is genuine and who is counterfeit.
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