How the Mighty Have Fallen!

2 Samuel 1:1-27

Key Verse: 19

“A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen!”

Read 1:1-10. Where is David after the death of Saul? (1) Who comes to tell David what happened to Saul? (2,3,8)  What happened in the battle according to his account? (4)  What does the man say about Saul and Jonathan’s fate? (5,6)  What does he say about the final moments of Saul’s life? (7-10)

Read 1:11-16. How do David and his men respond to the news that was brought to them? (11-12) How does David deal with the young man who brought the report of Saul’s death? (13-15)  Why does David say that he deserves death? (16)

Read 1:17-27. What does David do concerning Saul and his son Jonathan’s death? (17, 18) What is the theme of David’s lament? (19b, 25a, 27a) What do we learn from David mourning after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan? (19-27)

Introduction for 2 Samuel:

2 Samuel is continuation of 1 Samuel (probably 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book) and as 1 Samuel is about prophet Samuel who anointed Saul and David as kings and their struggle, 2 Samuel deals with David as a representative of the ideal shepherd king, though he had many human weaknesses. David initially established kingdom at Hebron by the tribe of Judah (Chap 1-4), subsequently was accepted by the whole Israel after the murder of Ish-Bosheth, one of Saul’s surviving sons (5:1-15), and established the united kingdom.  David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), and his kingship pleased God. He laid the solid foundation of his kingdom; he captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites and made it his royal city (5:6-14). Shortly afterward, he brought the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, publicly celebrated the Lord’s kingship and rule over himself and the nation (Ch. 6).  Under David’s rule the Lord caused the nation to prosper, to defeat its enemies and, in fulfillment of his promise (Ge 15:18), to extend its border from Egypt to the Euphrates (Ch. 8). 

Ch. 7 culminates with the Lord’s promise that this Davidic dynasty would endure forever. This chapter also describes the establishment of the Davidic covenant, a covenant that promised ultimate victory over Satan through the offspring of Eve (Ge 3:15).  This promise - which had come to be focused on Shem and his descendants (Ge 9:26-27), then on Abraham and his descendants (Ge 12:2-3, 13:16, 15:5), and then on Judah and his descendants (Ge 49:8-11) - now focused specifically on the royal family of David.  Later the prophets make clear that a descendant of David who sits on David’s throne will perfectly fulfill the role of messiah. He will complete the redemption of God’s people (Isa 9:6-7, 11:1-6, Jer 23:5-6, 30:8-9), thus enabling them to achieve the promised victory with him (Ro 16:20).

Ch 10-20 also depicts the darker side of his reign and describes David’s weaknesses and failure and their results.   The book ends with David’s own words of praise to God, who had delivered him from all his enemies, with words of expectation for the fulfillment of God’s promise that a king will come from the house of David and rule ‘over men in righteousness’.

How the mighty have fallen!

2 Samuel 1:1-27

Key Verse: 19

“A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel.  How the mighty have fallen!”

This first chapter deals with David who mourns Saul and his sons.  Even though Saul pursued for David and wanted to kill him to the end, David mourned sincerely over Saul and his son Jonathan’s tragic death and made a deeply moving lament song.

1.       Read 1:1-10. Where is David after the death of Saul? (1) Who comes to tell David what happened to Saul? (2, 3,8)  What happened in the battle according to his account? (4)  What does the man say about Saul and Jonathan’s fate? (5,6)  What does he say about the final moments of Saul’s life? (7-10)

Read 1:1-10. 

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.”

Where is David after the death of Saul? (1)

After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.

Who comes to tell David what happened to Saul? (2, 3, 8)

An Amalekite man from Saul’s camp came to David and told what happened to Saul and testified Saul’s last moment.  

What happened in the battle according to his account? (4) 

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.”

What does the man say about Saul and Jonathan’s fate? (5, 6)

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.

  What does he say about the final moments of Saul’s life? (7-10)

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.”

He was mortally wounded and he asked the Amalekite man to kill him, so this man killed him knowing that he could not survive for long.

2.       Read 1:11-16. How do David and his men respond to the news that was brought to them? (11-12) How does David deal with the young man who brought the report of Saul’s death? (13-15)  Why does David say that he deserves death? (16)

2-1) Read 1:11-16. 

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.’”

2-2) How do David and his men respond to the news that was brought to them? (11-12) 

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.

Though Saul and his army were their personal enemy, David and his men deeply mourned and wept and fasted for Saul, his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord because they were utterly defeated by the Philistine.

2-3) How does David deal with the young man who brought the report of Saul’s death? (13-15)  

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. 

He ordered his men to kill him. 

2-4) Why does David say that he deserves death? (16)

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.’”

Although he did Saul as a mercy killing, he could not avoid his punishment because he testified against himself saying I killed the Lord’s anointed.  It seems that only God, not any man, can take the Lord’s anointed, and participating in even mercy killing is not without punishment.

Mercy killing is against God’s will and a sin against God.

3.       Read 1:17-27. What does David do concerning Saul and his son Jonathan’s death? (17, 18) What is the theme of David’s lament? (19b, 25a, 27a) What do we learn from David mourning after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan? (19-27)

3-1) Read 1:17-27. 

¹⁷ David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸ and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar): ¹⁹ “A gazelle^[HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20samuel%201&version=NIV" \l "fen-NIV-8042a" \o "See footnote a"^a] lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen! ²⁰ “Tell it not in Gath,
 proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.²¹ “Mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain,
may no showers fall on your terraced fields.^[HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20samuel%201&version=NIV" \l "fen-NIV-8044b" \o "See footnote b"^b] For there the shield of the mighty was despised, the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil. ²² “From the blood of the slain, from the flesh of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied. ²³ Saul and Jonathan—in life they were loved and admired, and in death they were not parted.
They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. ²⁴ “Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.²⁵ “How the mighty have fallen in battle!  Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
²⁶ I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;  you were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,  more wonderful than that of women.²⁷ “How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!”

3-2) What does David do concerning Saul and his son Jonathan’s death? (17, 18) 

¹⁷ David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸ and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):

He wrote the lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan’s death and ordered the people of Judah to learn his lament of bow.

3-3) What is the theme of David’s lament? (19b, 25a, 27a) 

How the mighty have fallen! (19b, 25a, 27a).  

He mourns the heroes and the mighty men (Saul and Jonathan) from Israel who have fallen in the battle against the Philistine.

3-4) What do we learn from David mourning after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan? (19-27)

We can see David’s big heart as a leader and a shepherd king mourning for Saul and Jonathan’s death. During his life, Saul was the persistent enemy of David who gave him lots of trouble, but David sincerely mourned for his death and praised his valor and exploits.  He also mourned for his dear friend, Jonathan’s death, and his valor.

In conclusion, David received the news of Saul and his sons’ death and utter defeat of the Israelites.  Humanly speaking, it was a great news removing his enemy by the hand of Philistine. But he deeply mourned for Saul and his sons’ death and made the lament.  He showed his deep respect for Saul, the king of Israel, whom the Lord anointed and praised his heroism and valor.

Daughters of Israel weep for Saul

2 Samuel 1:1-27

Key Verse 2Sa 1:24

“Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul,

who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.”

In the previous senior staff meeting one person asked mother Barry in open discussion, ‘Mother Barry, we love our sheep. But we do not love our coworkers as much as we love our sheep. What is the solution?” Guess what she said? Her answer was ‘we need God’s help.’ Today’s passage is one of God’s help about how we can love our neighbors. When we honor our neighbors we can love them. 

When David heard the news of Saul’s death he could have said, “Praise God! Finally the Lord brought his justice at his time. That guy deserves to die. Finally I am free from his trouble. Let’s rejoice and celebrate. Let’s kill fattened calf and eat and drink. Finally I am king of Israel now.” But he did not do so. When Saul was dead his true color of his heart toward Saul was revealed and it was not rejoicing but genuine grievance and sorrow for the death of Saul. The way David responded to the death of Saul shows how much David honored Saul. So today we want to learn how David honored Saul. To say the conclusion first, David honored Saul in two ways. 1) David honored Saul as the Lord’s anointed. 2) David honored Saul as he remembered good things of Saul. My message has two parts. Part I. Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed? (v.1-16) Part II. How the mighty have fallen! (.17-27) The first part deals with ‘David honored Saul as the Lord’s anointed.” The second part deals with ‘David honored Saul by remembering good things of Saul.”

Part I. Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed? (v.1-16)

Let’s read verses 1-4. 

“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.”

Although David was staying in Ziklag after defeating Amalikites he was anxious to know the result of the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites. Finally one young man brought the news about the death of Saul and Jonathon. When David heard the news he questioned him in detail.

Look at verses 5-10. “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.”

What he says is different from the last chapter of 1 Samuel. So someone think he lies. But others think what he says is true. Saul could not kill him completely when he fell on his own sword and that is what happened in today’s passage. The response of David and his people were totally different from the young Amalekite’s expectation when they heard the news.

Look at verses 11-12. 

“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.”

Then finally David executed the man with the charge of ‘murder’ of the Lord’s anointed.

Look at verses 13-16.  “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.’”

The young Amalekite expected a handsome reward from David but David executed him for lifting his hands on the Lord’s anointed. He murdered Saul when Saul was the Lord’s anointed. David honored Saul so much because he was the Lord’s anointed. David himself was also anointed by the Lord. But he thinks and acts as if only Saul was anointed by the Lord. This reminds us of Philippians 2:5-7.

Philippians 2:5-7 “5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Jesus never used his equality with God to his own advantage but humbled himself before God as nothing. David showed the same kind of attitude when he highly honored Saul as the Lord’s anointed although he was also anointed. 

David’s attitude toward the Lord’s anointed, Saul, was consistent throughout the book of 1 Samuel. It shows he must have had absolute faith in the Lord’s sovereign authority. He must have believed that the Lord has sovereign right and authority to call people and choose people and no one can touch anything about his sovereign choice. I believe Joseph in Genesis also had the same faith in the Lord’s sovereignty.

When his brothers sold him as slaves to Egypt he later testified to them that the Lord sent him to Egypt instead of them.” Genesis 45:7-8a “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” 

He also said in Genesis 50:20 “²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Joseph’s brothers intended to harm him. At first they wanted to kill him. It was because Joseph was loved by their father specially. But they changed their minds and sold him as slaves. But God intended their wicked intention to do good which is to save many lives.

Indeed God has sovereign authority to choose people and call people and send them around us. Look around you. Did you choose all of your parents, brothers, sisters, church members who are here today? If not, then who? The Lord chose. In his sovereign will he called all of us and gathered us here and that is how we all became same church members and neighbors in the Lord. Our neighbors are nothing but the very demonstration of the sovereign authority of the Lord.

Part II. How the mighty have fallen! (.17-27)

Let’s read verses 17-18. “17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar)”

David’s grief for Saul was not one time event. He made a poem and asked people to recite and sing and remember him down through generations.

Look at verses 19-23. “19 “A gazelle[a] lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen! 20 “Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,

lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice. 21 “Mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain, may no showers fall on your terraced fields.[b]

For there the shield of the mighty was despised, the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil. 22 “From the blood of the slain, from the flesh of the mighty,

the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied. 23  Saul and Jonathan— in life they were loved and admired, and in death they were not parted.

They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”

David even asked the mountains of Gilboa not to have rain or dew out of its sorrow. He said that Saul and Jonathan were loved and admired. They were loved by people including David. David loved Saul. How did David love Saul? By being patient with him.

Look at verse 24. “Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul,

who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.”

David asked daughters of Israel to weep for Saul. He asked them to remember how he provided them with scarlet and finery and adorned their garments with ornaments of gold. David asked them to remember good things of Saul. How David honored Saul reminds me of how the Lord honored missionary Isaac Kim in 2005. 

In 2005 I visited Korea and stayed for 3 months. I left Korea in 1982 and I visited about a month in 1984 to marry and it was my first visit in 21 years after my marriage. When I went there I did not know the reason but I had a headache for two weeks. Later I realized that it could come for time difference. So I decided that I should take some kind of rest for two weeks after I come back to America because I would suffer from the same headache. I left around the end of September and came back around the end of December. Around the end of December missionary Isaac Kim called me and asked me to deliver a message in the new year’s  leaders’ conference. I told him that I will have headache. So I would ask someone else would do it this time and he freely agreed. Yet, a few days later he sent me an email saying that I should deny myself and take up my cross and deliver the message. Then I was upset because I believed he freely agreed with me although he did not agree with me in his heart. I thought it would be very confusing to other people if he does it. So I accused him saying that he should not do it. If he does not agree in his heart, he can say, “Okay I will think about it or I will pray about it.” Then there was emails going back and forth between us. Now I know why he asked me to deliver the message. He did it for my benefit. Usually when I am away even for 3 weeks in Chicago I need to adjust my spirit to work in Los Angeles again. So he asked me to do it for my benefit to adjust my spirit because I stayed in Korea for 3 months. But I challenged him my relationship with him was broken. So in agony I prayed to God, ‘God, what can I learn about Jesus when I am in agony of this broken relationship?’ For the three months in Korea the Lord taught me that what I need to focus in my spiritual life is to learn Jesus. But what can I learn about Jesus when I was in such agony?

When I prayed in agony the Lord spoke to me. I thought this is how the Lord would say to me, “Well, John Kwon. I understand you. But everybody has weaknesses. So you need to bear his weakness.” But his answer was totally different. What he told me is “Although I am the Lord I never take anything from him granted. Although I am the Lord over missionary Isaac Kim I am so thankful for whatever he does for me and whatever he brings for me, even a small thing.” Wow! Think about it! Jesus is the Lord of missionary Isaac Kim and he is the owner of missionary Isaac Kim. So everything missionary Isaac Kim has belongs to him. But he never takes anything from missionary Isaac Kim granted but always thankful for him for whatever he brings. The Lord Jesus never mentioned about missionary Isaac Kim’s weakness. The Lord Jesus never mentioned about I need to bear his weakness. He just revealed how much he is thankful for the missionary Isaac Kim’s devotion for him.’ It was amazing. He revealed to me how much he honors missionary Isaac Kim. When I shared this to several Korean senior missionaries missionary David Min understood it saying that he had a similar experience. 

Later I realized that the Lord answered my prayer. When I cried out in my agony ‘what can I learn about Jesus when I am in such a broken relationship with missionary Isaac Kim?” The Lord revealed what kind of heart he has for missionary Isaac Kim. The Lord showed the heart of Jesus for missionary Isaac Kim. Indeed he taught me Jesus’ heart for missionary Isaac Kim and how he thinks of him. The Lord Jesus really honors missionary Isaac Kim.

When I read what David said about Saul, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.” I was reminded of Jesus Christ who honored missionary Isaac Kim so much. What David did indeed is a shadow of what Jesus Christ would do and Jesus was called ‘the Son of David.”

David also remembered the love his dear friend Jonathon. So he said in verse 26, “ I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me.

Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.”

Jonathan loved David. The other day missionary Susana Min and missionary Lilia Michaud and I talked about love. What is love? Of course there is romantic love like love between men and women. But there was true love between David and Jonathon. Missionary Susanna min reminded us of the first description of love recorded in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians. “Love is patient.” Young people may see love as emotional and burning. But according to the word of God, the first description of love is ‘being patient.’ If you are patient with someone you are loving that person. See how bible teachers love their students by being patient with them. See how parents love their children by being patient. Jonathan loved David spiritually. 

In conclusion, how can we love our neighbors as much as we should? We can do so when we honor them. How did David honor Saul? 1) David honored Saul as the Lord’s anointed. 2) David honored Saul as he remembered good things of Saul.

One word: daughters of Israel, weep for Saul.