The LORD's Anointed

Passage: 2 Samuel 1:17-27

This song of lament seems fitting for a beloved family member or friend. We’re caught off guard, however, by the fact that David sings it for the man who has spent the last several years trying to kill him. David’s behavior toward Saul doesn’t make sense. It hasn’t made sense all along. From the time David has arrived on the scene, Saul’s corruption has been apparent. David has been anointed king elect of the nation of Israel. Saul has been botching the job consistently. David has a strong following, and if he made a bid for the throne, he’d be sure to succeed in taking it by force. On top of all that, Saul has persistently tried to kill David – even when David wasn’t an obvious threat; even when David devoted himself to serving Saul.

David has numerous opportunities both to lead an insurgency to oust Saul and to kill Saul personally. Yet he never takes his shot. David goes out of his way to protect Saul and to honor him, even though the man doesn’t deserve it. When Saul finally dies, David takes revenge on the soldier who claims responsibility. In the aftermath of Saul’s death, when he should be throwing a party, David weeps, and commands his army to mourn. Why?

I believe there are two reasons. The first is that David respects the office of king of Israel. David recognizes that God placed Saul on the throne. David chooses to respect God’s sovereignty in the decision, leaving it to God to decide when to remove his anointed from the throne. David will fight to the death to honor God’s anointed – even if it seems God’s anointed has gone astray. This is the extent to which David is committed to God’s will.

The second reason – the reason David refuses to end Saul’s life and the reason he mourns when Saul is killed – has to do with David’s proximity to the heart of God. Repeatedly we’re told that David is a “man after God’s own heart.” Here, I believe, we see in David such an intimacy with God that David feels God’s own grief over the loss of Saul. God may have dismissed Saul as king of Israel, but God hasn’t dismissed him as beloved son. Perhaps God hopes for Saul’s redemption; we see the same hope in David. God grieves Saul’s hardness of heart and brokenness of spirit; David grieves the same thing. In David’s song of lament we catch a glimpse of God’s own pain over the loss of someone for whom he had high hopes.

Our calling is to be so close to God that we know and honor his will - even when it hurts us. Our desire, if we are the people of God, is to be close enough to God's heart to feel something of what he feels: broken heartedness at the loss of any of his children; joy at the redemption of any sinner.