THE LORD’S ANOINTED
Opening Prayer
Almighty Lord, you give me the day and you will show me the way. Whatever challenges I must face, I know your grace and strength will see me through.
Read 2 SAMUEL 1:1-16
David Hears of Saul’s Death
1 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
Thank God for his faithfulness, even when we have been unfaithful. Know God will never leave your side or drive you from himself.
Who killed Saul? There are three accounts in Scripture.1 Today’s text has stirred debate surrounding the underlying reasoning for the actions of this Amalekite. He may have been a battle scavenger who had come across Saul and expected praise and reward from David, whom Saul was pursuing. Is it by chance that he brings David the very items he would require when anointed king? He then presents himself as a resident alien, thereby expecting privileges under the Mosaic law – privileges he did not deserve. He tragically failed to understand the man of God that David was, or that David himself had had the opportunity to kill Saul.
David knew that if God had called and anointed Saul, who was he to take that sovereignty away? By his own words, this man sealed his fate. For if he had killed Saul, he had killed the Lord’s anointed.2 If he had not, he was still an Amalekite and had to die.3 David ordered his death. In doing so, he shows that he had no hand in Saul’s death, as many may have suspected; instead he mourned Saul, mourning we can take as genuine for, whatever Saul’s failings, he was the Lord’s anointed.
What blessing falls upon us as a royal priesthood!4 With God for us, nothing can stand against us – but relationships carry rewards and responsibilities. Our anointing came at a colossal cost at Calvary, as the true anointed one was crucified and stained with our guilt. David teaches us that following God, in denial of primitive needs, was a precursor for being lifted in God’s eyes, aware of who we bring down. He shows us fundamental components for kingship, for ultimately his heart was tuned to God’s and his people’s victory, not just his own.
Apply
‘… you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you … into his wonderful light.’5
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit of God, help me today to think clearly without confusion, to speak strongly without rancor, and to decide courageously for you.
1 1 Chr 10; 1 Sam 31; 2 Sam 1 2 1 Chr 16:22; 1 Sam 26:9 3 Exod 17:16 4 1 Pet 2:9 5 1 Pet 2:9, italics added
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