Fridays with David

Read 2 Samuel 1:6-12 – Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’  And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.” Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. (NKJV)

You don’t win points with David by killing His predecessor. Though Saul is certainly unworthy of such loyalty, especially from the one he so fully mistreated, David maintains his determination to honor the troubled king. Too often leaders find pleasure in the diminishing of their predecessors. They seek affirmation so desperately that they will accept this behavior as somehow honoring themselves. But anything built on the failure or weakness of others cannot stand for long. Here, the Amalekite is clearly looking for something for himself. He misrepresents events in order to place himself where he thinks David will honor him, but his lie and his wrong idea prove fatal when he stands before a leader with integrity.

– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.