David was far from the battle when he got the news, but his heart wasn’t far from Jonathan.
Obviously, 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one volume. The narrative flows seamlessly from the one to the other. The last chapter of 1 Samuel recounts the tragic deaths of Saul and his sons, unknown to David, on the slopes of Gilboa. David and his family were resting far to the south, at Ziklag, after the arduous rescue from the Amalekites. Then, “on the third day…a man came from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head” (v 2). Oh, no! When asked where he was from, the man replied, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel” (v 3). The news spilled out. “The people have fled from the battle, many of the people are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also” (v 4). “How do you know?” David asked (v 5). I was an eyewitness, said the young man. Saul already had a fatal wound when I arrived, and the enemy was fast advancing. The king asked me to finish him off, and I complied. As proof, here’s his crown and arm bracelet. Now for the first time, some doubts creep in. Why? Because when Saul asked this young man who he was, he replied, “I am an Amalekite” (v 8). You mean the people who “on the way as you were coming out of Egypt…attacked your rear ranks…when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God” (Deut 25:17-18)? You mean the people whom Saul was to “blot out the remembrance of” (v 19), and failed to follow through? You mean the people that had just ravaged Ziklag? Yes! Yet it was for none of these reasons that David commanded that the young man be executed. The reason? Because “you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed” (2 Sam 1:14). It was evidence of the same fatal flaw: “he did not fear God.” Watch out! It’s a fatal flaw still.