At this point place on earth. He would not want the Jews of his own people to suffer. And nor does the curse stand. David throws out a few curses in scripture that God just kind of. Just misses.
We're not to follow that part.
So the song, of course, is expressing his great grief over all that took place there. He says, For the shield of the mighty is cast away there, the shield of Saul not anointed with oil. In other words, the shield did not shield him from death. the anointing of God was gone. And uh that's the bottom line to that.
Yeah. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 2 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
Now, here's Pastor Rick in 2 Samuel 1 with the conclusion of his study called Mixed Feelings. He says here, and I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm and have brought them here to you. Yeah, well, where else could you sell them? Without somebody saying, yeah, I got them from that Amalekite that, you know, if he's thinking, I'll get more from David by doing this legitimately. Then if I were to take this down to the pawn shop, Which really didn't exist, but he would have.
certainly hope to get more from it than Maybe appointment maybe he could be now in David's camp. Anyway, would he have produced the bracelet and the crown had David not pressured him a little bit? to tell him the story. Again, throughout history there have been battlefield scavengers. There are to this day.
So let's review the three strikes. One, by chance I happened to be up on the mountain. Yeah, in this big battle, you just happen to be. Most people would be staying a little bit far away from what's happening unless they be. collateral damage.
I mean an arrow can hit somebody. Strike two. is that he is an Amalekite. And these just happened to be the people that raided David's city and burned it down. And strike three, the big one, is of course that he almost boasts in his admission that he slew Saul.
Thinking that Saul gave him permission, that'd be the end of the story.
So the two views, the Amalekite is lying. Saul was already dead. Then David killed a liar. Or, my view, and I think others too. That the Amalekite is telling mostly the truth.
He did finish off Saul. Then David killed an assassin.
So David's right, no matter which way this goes. But here's how I have it mapped out, reconciling. the two accounts that seem to differ with each other, with that whole sword spear thing, Saul's in the battle. He retreats up the hill to get away from the chariots and horses where he's at a disadvantage.
So he gets to higher ground, but the archers pick him off. He's mortally wounded. But not yet dead. By the arrows of the Philistines. Knowing he's going to be captured, knowing he's dying.
He tells his attendant to finish him off.
Now, Saul has fought other battles. He knows what it looks like when somebody's not going to make it. And he knows he's not going to make it. He it tells his armor-bearer, his attendant, But the attendant refuses, unable to find the courage to kill his king. The Saul then impales himself on his own sword.
The attendant, supposing Saul is dead, does likewise. Eyewitnesses of all this. Are still in the perimeter of Saul and they flee the position. And they become the living witnesses to tell the true story that we got in the last chapter. The Philistine, well now they're not up there for the Amalekite, they're all gone.
The Philistines withdraw for the evening, returning in the morning to strip Saul of his armor and his head and take his body to Uh the Philistine. the temple of Dagon. But before the Philistines arrived that morning the Amalekite got busy. He plunders and then he pillages. the dead soldiers, and he comes upon Saul.
He may have witnessed some of this. Saul regains consciousness while he is there, aware of his vulnerability still to torture, and he asks the Amalekite to finish him off. The Amalekite Uses Saul's own beloved spear to do it. Remember, Saul always has a spear with him. Every time we read about him going through something, he's got that spear.
So that fits into the story. And what Abishai said to David, I could take his spear and kill him right here with one stroke. The Amalekite does it.
So God is that poetic justice of God saying, You ruined your reign. With the Amalekites, when I gave you the order concerning them. It was a big deal, Saul, and now it has come back to bite you. And the Amalekite then makes it to David's camp, pretending to be in grief over the whole thing, admits to David. that he killed Saul without With omitting that he plundered the dead bodies, with the exception using the crown and the bracelet as.
Proof he was there. You can bet if he didn't find David, uh he would Eventually sold it.
So David kills him for doing what he did. That's my overview of what happened there.
Well, the story's not over. Verse 11. Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, so did all the men who were with him. See, again, David shines here. He hasn't gotten to the point where he's going to mess up big, but what's his first reaction?
Grief. He's sorry over this. These are mixed feelings he has. Over the death of Saul. He certainly is not mixed up with the death of Jonathan.
But he's delivered now, and he knows this in an instant. But there's more going on to the man because he's very sensitive. If you read his Psalms, sometimes you say, say, David, you're a little bit over-sensitive, don't you think? Until it's your turn to identify with David. I know how you felt, brother.
David. Very likely. Head Always held out hope of reconciliation with Saul. Maybe God will reach his heart, give him a new heart again. Maybe.
I think David always had that, but now it's that. that finality that's ex Extinguishes the hope completely and it hits him emotionally. The day did not come. When Saul would repent, and Jonathan would be his friend again, and he'd see them, and once again, dine with them, and things would go back to normal. That is not going to happen now, David.
This is final. And so it says, and so did all the men who were with him.
So it continues to hold David up. They see David broken, they break with him. Instead of saying, come on, David. This was Saul. We hated him.
Remember, he chased us all out of our home, the promised land. That's not what happens. They see David grieved, they grieve with him. True friends. I saw some of them were misguided, but he made a difference in all of their lives.
speaks volumes about the man. And we find that even to the day when he dies, and he's an old man. The people still love him. David His son Adanijah. Felt that Solomon shouldn't be king, but that he should be king.
And David's old now.
So Adonijah forms a coup. He gets Joab and one of the high priests and some of the others to join with him, and they say, Adonijah is king. All the word gets to Um Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and to Benaniah, the head of the troop, and Nathan the prophet, and they come along and they say, David. You better do something really quick because Adonijah is stealing the throne. I thought you said Solomon was going to be the one, because that's what God said through Nathan the prophet.
David, of course. With a single nod, Not that s you know, I don't want to simplify, but poetically, with just a nod, Solomon's the king. everybody rallies behind Solomon. And we pick it up 1 Kings chapter 1, verse 40 to 9.
So all when they heard it, those with Adonijah.
So all the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid and arose, and each one went his way. David spoke. David said no. Adonijah is not king Solomon's king. My point is.
The people just love this man. Not because of his sins, but because of his serving God. They were able to overlook it. Enough. To know that We're better off with David.
than anybody else's that we can think of as king. And they were attracted to his Psalms as you know There are maybe favorite favorite musicians and singers that you are attracted to.
Well, David had that plus his military. It's sort of like I don't know. For those of you who know Audie Murphy is or was, Audie Murphy was one of the most decorated soldiers of. World War II, if not the most decorated. And then he goes on to become an actor and a very successful one, died in an airplane crash.
But he says, There you had a man like Artie Murphy. You had a hero on the battlefield, and you also had a hero in the entertainment industry. And so when he died, it was, you know, he was a very humble guy, too. If you ever heard Artie Murphy be interviewed, it's like, man, this guy, where are people like this today?
So uh I'm not a testing to Order Murphy being a believer or anything like that, but just as people go. David had that and so much more. Verse 12, and they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul. And for Jonathan his son, For the people. of Yahweh And for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
So they knew this involved the Philistines, their enemy, had defeated their people, even though.
some of their people were their enemies too.
Now, David at this time is going to reflect on the words of the Amalekite, who's still alive, incidentally. 1 Samuel 23. Jonathan Says this to David, and I think at this time David may have recalled this moment. And he said to him, Do not fear for the hand of my father will And Saul, my father, shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you.
Even my father Saul knows that.
Well, the only person that could have that lived to tell that story was David. And this Jonathan leaked it out before he died, and somebody wrote it down, which is not likely. Point is, David. That bond with Jonathan was just an amazing bond. And so now he's, you know, it didn't have to end this way.
for Saul. That's what he's going through. It should not have happened like this. And he has to sort that out emotionally. And he does.
Verse 13. Then David said to the young man who told him, David now bringing it up again. Where are you from? See, stuff has been happening in his head. He's been thinking about this, emotional a long day.
And he answered, I am the son of an alien and Amalekite.
Now that alien means I don't belong in Israel. I am an Amalekite, but I choose to live in Israel amongst the Jews. And Leviticus 19 gives a lot of laws concerning how they are to behave and to be treated. And so, having thought about it in his grief, his mixed feelings about the story, something's just bugging him about the story, mainly that part about it, and I killed Saul. And As though David said If I wouldn't kill Saul, why would you kill Saul?
Who do you think you are? Kind of how it plays out. Anyway, and he answered, I'm the son of an Amalekite. Again, cough, cough, wrong team. You should have left that out because the Amalekites are always the enemy of the Jews, just like your flesh, my flesh, is always the enemy of the Spirit, without exception.
It goes against the will and the timing and the interest of God. It is not inspiring. It is lustful. For whatever it wants, And the Amalekites personify that, looking at them as a people. As a the son of the alien, I've Pretty much covered that.
David is saying, as an alien, you should have honored Yahweh's anointed Uh with the rest of us, you are an assassin. And um Verse 14, so David said to him, How is it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed? If you are an alien, David has already made up his mind. about uh this uneasy feeling that he had about this messenger, these mixed feelings about him, And now he is going to take care of business. He probably said the minute he heard he was an Amalaka, he says, you know what, these guys are not trustworthy.
David's going to do the similar thing when Ishbo saith. Saul's remaining son is made king and then assassinated.
Well, David's going to catch the assassins who think they're coming to David. Hey, David, we killed Ishboshath and David, not going to be happy. We get that in chapter 4. Anyway, verse 15, then David. Called to one of the young men and said, Go near and execute him.
And he struck him so that. He died. David walks away to processing Prochillum. I mean, this is just an official decree. And I think he's right.
For in those times, for the way they did business, This was right. See, that was his reward. I want to take a commercial here and point out: hey, I don't have any allergies going on right now. I feel pretty good. Let's keep going.
Anyway, verse 16.
So David said to him, Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has tasted. Testified against you, saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed.
So that's the big part. David, of course, said this before he gives the instruction. The historian just goes back and fills this in. Based on his own words, well, you said you killed the anointed, that's enough for me. But there was a lot of other stuff working in David's head, also.
Would David have killed him if that was the only crime? Probably I think he still would have. The other ones just added. Verse 17, then David lamented. With this lamentation over Saul.
and over Jonathan his son. Again, these are genuinely mixed feelings that David is having. He is happy to be free from Saul, of course. But it should not have happened this way. This was a devastating process.
that should have been avoided. And you just can't shake that when it's a personal thing, when you know these people and you spent time with them, even on the battlefield, and you just. You know, you just can't erase it. Verse 18, with one single stroke of the brush. Verse 18, and he told.
Then to teach the children of Judah the song of the bow. Indeed, it is written in the book of Jasher. The children of Benjamin, of course, that's where Saul is from. David is saying I want to teach this to those In Judah, so that they do not say, well, you know, the Benjamites and Saul, they were enemies of our king Judah, and he's putting an end. It's a kind.
and unifying gesture by David. to say, teach it to the children of Judah. He's he's he doesn't he wants to neutralize uh any bad v Blood and vengeance. as best he can. True leader.
The song of the bow. As the title, I think it should have been How the Mighty Have Fallen, only because he says it three times, it's the refrain in this song. I don't think it's more suitable. I will talk to David about this when I get there. 'Cause he won't have a sword or a sling.
And I can get away with challenging his decision on this song title. Anyway. Uh the book of Jasher. Evidently, an ongoing book where the Jews would add information to it. Jasher may have been a person.
It means the upright, the book of the upright. Could have been a man, or it certainly is a journal. It was there in the days of Joshua. And it's being added to. We do not have this book.
There are seven other books that are mentioned in the Old Testament that we no longer have: the book of Gad, the Book of Nathan, the Book of Hosai. I mean, there's quite a few of them.
So God did not decide to preserve that book. Instead, he raises up a different A different one. Verse 19. The beauty of Israel is slain.
Now, this is the song, or the poem song/slash, slain on high places. How the mighty have fallen.
Well Israel's first king was killed in action But not an action for God. It's a wasted death. Is what is happening. The high places here, some commentators will say, well, these are the worship. places that the Jews still had, the idolatrous places some of them to Yahweh before the temple.
I don't think that's what he means here. I think he means it's up in the Gilboen, you know, in the mountain. But if you go the other way, that's fine. How the mighty have fallen, as I mentioned thrice repeated in this refrain, verses 19, 25, and 27. It is kind of a punch in the stomach line.
If you knew Saul and you knew Jonathan, they were mighty and now they're gone. It's kind of like, man, it's a dirge. Verse 20, tell it not in Gath, proclaim it, not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
So David says, I don't want to give any. Cause For the enemy of God's people and the enemy of God and truth to To celebrate and gloat over this temporary victory that they have. Experience verse twenty one O mountains of Gilboa. See, that's the mountain range. Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, nor fields of offering, for the shield of the mighty is cast away there, the shield of Saul not anointed with oil.
Well, it's a poetic curse. And if you said, David, are you trying to curse your own people that live in the? Of course, that's not the idea. It's poetic, it is expressing. His great grief.
that took place At this place on earth. He would not want the Jews of his own people to suffer, and nor does the curse stand. David throws out a few curses in the scripture that God just kind of. Dismisses. And we're not to follow that part.
So the song, of course, is expressing his great grief over all that took place there. He says, For the shield of the mighty is cast away there, the shield of Saul not anointed with oil. In other words, the shield did not shield him from death. The anointing of God was gone. And that's the bottom line to that.
Verse 22: for the blood of the slain. From the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, and the sword of Saul did not return empty.
Well, they died with their boots on, is what he is saying here. They were duking it out. And they lost. as in an honorable way. Saul knew how to fight.
I mean, we can't dispute that. He just got messed up in the head and it all went south. The Jonathan was an accomplished archer. Uh well Lisi. He seems to have been.
Verse 23. Saul and Jonathan were beloved. and pleasant in their lives and in their death. They were not divided. They were swifter than eagles.
They were stronger than lions.
Well, the eulogy in a eulogy, you want to say good things about the person. And he's doing it, he's romanticizing his memory of them. in better times. And that's what the eulogy does. This was Israel's first king, this was Israel's first crowned prince, and now they're gone.
And he remembers them in better days. And so, within the lamentation, which this is, there's this ode to the two men. And it is proper even though the feelings are mixed. Verse 24, O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul. who clothes you in scarlet with luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
Personally, David, I think you're pouring it on a little thick, but the economy did do well with Saul only because the enemies they weren't ready to attack. But When the time came, when they were ready, that was the end of it. They were very patient. And and that Satan is too. Verse twenty-five.
Again, he repeats how the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle. Jonathan was slain in your high places.
Now appropriately They fell on the battlefield. and and not at a hot dog eating contest, which is He's glorifying. Their bravery. Verse 26. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan.
You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.
Now, he's not talking to the dead. He's talking of the memory of Jonathan, of course. That is just, again, it's a song that is. Highlighting. His relationship with Jonathan, and even with Saul's relationship to the kingdom and David.
This is an expression of the highest form of love and friendship. It is a friendship that exceeds romantic love. That's what he is saying here. When he says it exceeds the relationship with women, he's saying there's no romantic feature to this. It is pure, unadulterated, we would say, companionship and like-mindedness.
This is possible between a man and a woman. It is possible between a woman and a woman and a man and a man to have such a high relationship and friendship. And so David, he found the depth. Of loyalty and brotherly love with Jonathan, superior to any other kind of love amongst humans. That's what he is expressing.
1 Samuel 18.
Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, this is after he slew Goliath, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. This was an instant like bond, this is a friendship that was made in heaven. And David had come to value this true companionship Over true romance. How many of you? Have had good friends in life.
And now you're not. It's hard to keep somebody that is just loyal to the end. It means it's easier if they move away. But if they stay close, it's a challenge because Satan hates friendships. And he targets them.
But he's not guaranteed victory. We should, you know, try to do everything we can. to preserve a friendship. And if two people are doing that together, you have a united front against Satan. Verse 27: How the mighty have fallen.
There's the third time: the weapons of war perished. Yep, they're gone. They were Israel's first royal family. And their loss is significant in spite of Saul.
Now If you take this love of Jonathan and you attempt to homosexualize it, You declare that Satan is your father. And that's that. I don't say that again. If you attempt to homosexualize Yeah. Second Samuel Chapter 1 Verse 26.
then you have Satan as your father. And I mean every word of it. And so does God. You can do something about that. You can make God your Father and abandon such perverted, twisted views.
You get to have your say, I get to have mine. Uh This has been the latest edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is teaching through the book of 2 Samuel, which details the reign of David as king of Israel. There are so many life lessons to be learned during these years of David's life. We're glad you've tuned in to hear more from God's Word.
This radio ministry comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you're interested in accessing more messages just like this one, you can listen online or download these messages at crossreferenceradio.com. You can also subscribe to our podcast by going to your favorite podcast app. We can't wait for you to step into the next teaching that Pastor Rick has for us.
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