HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN (2 SAMUEL 1)
In the summer of 2003 cyclist Lance Armstrong’s attempt to equal Miguel Indurain’s record of five successive Tour de France wins nearly came to a crashing halt. With fourteen stages completed and six stages to go, Armstrong’s lead was in jeopardy when he fell off his bicycle after the handlebars were clipped by a spectator’s bag.
Hot on Armstrong’s heels was Jan Ullrich, the 1997 winner and four-time Tour runner-up, who had the opportunity to slice into Armstrong’s small lead of 15 seconds over him at the day’s start, but to the gasps and admiration of the crowd, Ullrich did a most shocking and unselfish thing when Armstrong tumbled. The German refused to speed off, but slowed down to allow the American to pick up and catch up. Ullrich observed an unwritten sportsmanship rule in cycling and, incidentally, repaid an old debt to Armstrong. The two were involved in a similar incident in their 2001 duel, when Armstrong waited for his rival Ullrich to recover.
At the three-week, 2,100 miles Tour event, if a leader needs a bathroom break, the cyclists would slow down, make room and quit racing until the leader is back.
Ullrich said, “Of course, I would wait. If I have won this race by taking advantage of someone’s bad luck, then the race was not worth winning. I have never in my life attacked someone who had crashed. That’s not the way I race.” (Los Angeles Times 7/23/03 “In Cycling, Winning with Honor Means Everything.”)
Saul’s death was a break, as well as a blow, to David and his men, but celebration was not allowed, thanksgiving was not offered, hugs, smiles and laughter were frowned upon. They did not feel vindicated or victorious at Saul’s death. Instead, they were stunned, speechless and sad.
Why is gloating or rejoicing over your enemy or rival’s misfortune or mistakes dishonorable and unpleasing to God? Why does condoning sin an act of self-condemnation?
The Enemy of Your Enemy is Not Your Buddy: He’s a Backstabber
1:1 After the death of Saul, David returned from defeating 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 with 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.” He said, “The men fled from the battle. 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 riders almost upon him. 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 over me and kill me! I am in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’ 10 “So I stood over 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.” (2 Sam 1:1-10)
A certain Duke of Milan was so hated for his unbearable cruelty that everybody prayed day and night for something bad to happen to him. Someone noticed that every day at sunrise a decrepit old woman entered a church and prayed to God that He gave the Duke health and long life. The Duke, hearing about this and knowing very well that he did not deserve that for his virtue, sent for the old woman and asked her why she prayed to God for him every day.
“I admit,” she said, “that I have done this until now for good reasons. This is because I was a young girl and the Milanese have a very cruel lord, and I wished that he should fall from power and die. After he died he was succeeded by another who was no better than he, wherefore I believed once more that it would be to our advantage if he were killed. Now you are our third lord, and you are more wicked and cruel than the first two. I fear, therefore, that after your death you will be succeeded by someone worse than you are; and so I never stop praying God to let you live for a long time.” The tyrant was too ashamed to put to death that little woman who was so bold. (Paul Lee Tan, 7,700 Illustrations # 3214, Garland: Assurance Publishers, 1979)
It’s been said, “The enemy of your enemy is your friend.” In truth, the enemy of your enemy has his own interest, and not yours or God’s interest, at heart. The saying “He who lies for you, will lie to you” is more accurate.
David considered the Amalekite’s story, behavior and motivation at the news of Saul’s death unacceptable, pathetic and reprehensible. 1 Samuel 31’s account differed somewhat from 2 Samuel 1 because the Amalekite was an opportunist, a liar and a mercenary who apparently turned the death of Saul to his advantage and profit. The true version in 1 Samuel portrays Saul dying from a battle, but the second version depicts Saul perishing without a fight. The latter version was concocted and designed to please the new king - to score points, curry favor and shine shoes. Note the Amalekite called David “my lord” (v 10).
The Amalekite account did not do justice to Saul because he hardly knew what the king was made of and up against. The original version implied that the men of Israel fled and left the king and his sons fending for themselves. According to 1 Samuel 31, the Israelite army ran and Saul’s sons were killed; however, Saul fought bravely like a warrior, a hero and a king. The Philistine army surrounded him menacingly and mercilessly, but he fought fiercely (1 Sam 31:3) and obstinately. He single-handedly took on more than one soldier, attacks from various directions and weapons hidden from view. Archers, not just archer, had to be summoned to lend a hand, take their position and shoot him down.
Saul also did not whimper in pain and anguish facing death, as the Amalekite stated in the revised version. In the original version (1 Sam 31:4 – “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me”), he did not cry out “I am in the throes of death,” or in Hebrew, “Anguish has seized me,” (2 Sam 1:9). He did not plead for the Amalekite to kill him, using the Hebrew word “please” (2 Sam 1:9), a word not translated in the NIV. He couldn’t have died the way the Amalekite said. Saul had too much dignity, class and pride in him as a Hebrew, a monarch and a fighter to ask a foreigner to kill him, especially if he knew the passerby was a Gentile, as the Amalekite reported (2 Sam 1:8).
The only reason for the Amalekite’s discovery of Saul’s personal items, if they were really Saul’s to begin with, was that he recovered the items before the Philistines reached the area. If the Amalekite’s account was true, he had the opportunity to save the body of Saul, not just keep the crown on his head and the band on his arm, from suffering further humiliation at the hands of the Philistines, who cut off Saul’s head and fastened his body to the wall (1 Sam 31:9-10). According to 1 Samuel 31:8, the Philistines did not find Saul’s body until the next day; the Amalekite could at least bury the body so that enemies could not use it as bait or sport. When the Amalekite confessed to striking the king and taking his items, he inadvertently acknowledged that saving the crown and bracelet of the king was more important than saving the life and body of the king. Unlike Saul, the Amalekite had no class, respect or integrity.
The End of Your Enemy is Not Your Bliss: It’s a Bereavement
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 the house 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 an alien, an Amalekite,” he answered. 14 David asked him, “Why were you not 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 Sam 1:11-16)
I was five when my parents divorced, so being picked on, left out or brushed off was difficult and painful for me. When I was young, I took rejection, hurts and sadness very much to the heart. I could spend hours tying up myself in knots and thinking to a dead end on how to vindicate myself over minor disagreements. Nobody taught me otherwise. My father remarried and did not live with us. I thought the worst of people who had offended or disliked me, wrote me off or put me down, looked down on me or talked bad about me. At times, proving people wrong fueled my motivation in life.
I had a million questions about my parent’s divorce that I wanted to ask my father, but his death taught me a far more important lesson: the answer was not in him, but in me. How I live in the present and the future surpasses and alleviates what I know about the past.
The loss of my father in 1999 was more painful than the secrets he kept, the mistakes he made, and the sorrows he caused. When my father died, the hurts of childhood, divorce or abandonment did not matter anymore. Neither did the version who was right and who was wrong in the divorce, what did he do to make my mother leave and why didn’t he try harder to keep the marriage together. Those were adult problems, secrets and heartaches. Digging up the past and knowing the real story seemed so trivial, secondary and petty. All the past was gone with the wind, buried with the dead and best to be history and forgotten.
It’s been said, “Do not speak ill of the dead.”
Not only did the Amalekite’s story appear dubious, his behavior too aroused suspicion. Everyone except the Amalekite cried that day. David and his men ripped their clothes off (2 Sam 2:11), cried their eyes out (2 Sam 1:12) and declared a village fast (2 Sam 1:12). They wept personally for Saul but mourned together for him. David and his men tore their hair and beat their breasts in grief, the type of mourning intended only for a beloved or revered national or symbolical figure. Up to now, only Sarah (Gen 23:2), Jacob (Gen 50:10) and Samuel (1 Sam 25:1, 28:3) were “mourned” in their death. Abraham mourned for Sarah, Jacob’s family mourned for him and the Israelites mourned for Samuel.
David and his men lamented the loss of their king but the Amalekite, who was the son of an Amalekite resident alien in Judah (2 Sam 1:13), had no regard for his adopted king’s family, his adopted country’s army or his adopted people’s welfare (2 Sam 1:12). True, the foreigner tore his clothes and sprinkled ashes on his head, but he was there to pay honor to David (2 Sam 1:2), not Saul, and he did not shed a tear when David and his men flooded the village with their tears. The Amalekite did not even show crocodile tears or, as the Chinese say, “cat tears for a mouse.”
Further, the foreigner had no intention of leaving until he was rewarded or tipped (2 Sam 4:10). Night had arrived (2 Sam 1:12), but leaving before dark was never his intention. Turning in a crown and a bracelet (2 Sam 1:10), he expected something more from the new king. He loitered around, killed time and waited indefinitely, doing nothing to help but getting in the way and sporting a different mood. David exposed the Amalekite for the looter, predator and vulture he was. By his own account, the Amalekite thought he was doing David a favor by killing Saul, but the last thing on David’s mind was to celebrate his mentor’s death, leaving his wife fatherless and David without his best friend Jonathan.
The Errors of Your Enemy Are Not Your Bother: It’s God’s Business
17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar): 19 “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. 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 “O mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain, nor fields that yield offerings [of grain]. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, 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 gracious, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 “O 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!” (2 Sam 1:17-27)
Howard Raiffa, the best-selling author of the book, “The Art and Science of Negotiation,” was with a friend when he bought his morning paper from an old, run-down newsstand. However, the counter, the paint and the roof of the stand did not appeal to his friend. Neither did the owner, who was in a bad mood.
Raiffa left his money on the counter, interrupted his conversation with his friend and greeted the owner “Good morning, Sam!” The owner Sam, however, snarled, barked a “Hah!” and walked back to the back of the stand.
Raiffa’s friend, who was shaken by the owner’s attitude and surprised at Howard’s calm, asked, “What do you suppose is the matter?” Howard smiled and said, “This actually is one of his up days.” How could you tell?” the friend again asked. Raiffa noted, “He had a special spring in his step today.” His friend wondered, “How long have you been coming to this newsstand, Howard?” “About ten years,” Howard remembered. The friend asked his final question: “Why are you so nice to someone who is so unpleasant?” Howard turned to him and taught him an unforgettable lesson: “Why should I let someone else determine my behavior?”
David and his men did not dance at Saul’s death, call him a coward or spit at his name. They mourned for the loss of a human life, of Israel’s first king and of the first family. David was not interested to write a tell-all book about Saul’s personal life, his double life and family life or publish an eyewitness account of how the sick king treated his son Jonathan, his daughter Michal and his son-in-law – himself. He left the evaluation to the historians, the theologians and the Lord. He did not diminish or disparage Saul’s legacy when he had the chance. He had nothing but good to say about the man who hated him, humiliated him and hunted him. He lost his first wife, his best friend and his army job because of Saul. His parents and brothers had to flee with him (1 Sam 22:1) and people with him had to leave the country (1 Sam 27:1) and lived as exiles.
Instead, David penned for Saul a beautiful eulogy, which is the first record of a lamentation (v 17) in the Bible, and encouraged future generations to think of the good Saul had done and the things he had accomplished (v 18). He eulogized Saul as the Lord’s anointed (vv 14, 16), Israel’s glory (v 19), “warriors” or “the mighty” - four times (vv 21, 22, 25, 27), loved and gracious, swifter than eagles and stronger than lions (v 23). David even coined for Saul the word “gracious” (v 23) or “pleasant,” which occurs for the first time in the Bible. Of course, readers know that Saul was anything but gracious or pleasant to David, but David chose to view Saul’s legacy as a whole, and not with a grudge. Undoubtedly, the best fighting unit in Israel’s history was the tandem of Saul, Jonathan and David.
David was Saul’s enemy (1 Sam 18, 29, 19:17), but Saul was never his enemy. He loved Saul, but Saul hated him. David called himself Saul’s servant five times (1 Sam 17:32, 34, 36, 19:4, 26:19, 29:8). He did not rejoice when the king died. Saul’s enemy was himself and his vendetta was against David, and not the people or David’s men. Saul did not mistreat his citizens, lose many battles or invited a rebellion. No matter what Saul did to him, David could not rejoice with Saul out of the picture, especially over the circumstances of his death. In fact, he could and would not rest until he found out the how the king died. David was never jealous, angry or spiteful.
Conclusion: Life is sacred and precious in God’s sight – even in old age or in poor health. It is a gift from God and a loan from God. Your body – weak or strong, young and old, fussed over or frowned upon by you - is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you. You are not your own boss; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20) Also, the Bible says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Rom 12:15). Do not wish upon your worst enemy what you decline, exclude, or shun for yourself. Do you pray for your worst enemies? Have you become hardened and sour by the circumstances you face? Are you affected by the loss of a friend, a stranger, a relative, a neighbor and even an enemy?
Victor Yap
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