A Eulogy for an Enemy

Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek

June 4, 2017

All of us, at one time or at many times, have lost people we love. And many of us have even had the responsibility of speaking at the memorial service, which is a very difficult thing to do. Just last Monday, which was Memorial Day, as a country we remembered the many brave women and men who served our country, protecting our freedom with their lives, many of them in battle. For those women and men, we are very thankful.But what do you say at a memorial when the person who died doesn’t have many things that you can say about him or her that are praiseworthy? And what happens when the person had a relationship with God that was at best weak and at worst non-existent? And what happens when not only was the person deficient in their character but what do you do when the person who died had made themselves your enemy? Then what do you say at that memorial service?For us, these questions are mostly hypothetical, although something like this may have happened in your life or may happen in the future. But what we know for sure is that for a young man named David, the situation was not hypothetical. What would David do when the person who had made himself his enemy dies? What would he say at that memorial service?This morning, we begin our study of the book of 2 Samuel. I’m not going to read chapter 1 now. I’ll read the passage after I pray and as I preach through it. But I do want to read just four verses, though only one of them is from 2 Samuel. I’d like to read the first verse of the books of Joshua, Judges, 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings. They go like this:Joshua 1:1, After the death of Moses . . .
Judges 1:1, After the death of Joshua . . .

2 Samuel 1:1, After the death of Saul . . .

1 Kings 1:1, After the death of Ahab . . .
The book of 2 Samuel begins, as apparently several books do, with a crises. A key leader is dead. And although it’s not exactly the same, consider what it would communicate to us if we read in a document, “After the death of Abraham Lincoln . . .” or “After the death of Kennedy . . .”? We would all realize that the situation, the change of leaders through death, is both tragic and fragile. I’ll say more about the context of 2 Samuel in a few moments, but it’s with this crisis—the crisis of the death of the first king in Israel—that we begin our study of the book we’ll be looking at all summer.

Introduction

Once there was a church. This church had two teaching pastors. They were called co-pastors. At this church, let’s just say that one of them on a Monday evening invited his small group over for a dinner and a bonfire. And let’s just say that this pastor decided to cut down a dead branch from a tree in his yard for the fire. And when he did, he stood near the top of a folding ladder. Repeatedly, people told him that it looked unwise, that the ladder seemed wobbly, that, well, he should stop. But he sent them away and he pressed on, that is, he pressed on until the ladder gave way, and he came crashing to the ground.Now, in this parable of sorts, if you just so happen to be the other teaching pastor at this church, how you learn about the story the next day and what the specifics are of the story make a great deal of difference about how you react. It’s one thing if the pastor who fell off the ladder tells you, the other pastor, the story from his own lips, and Jason—I mean this pastor—shows you his bruises and tells you the tale with a good bit of his own laughter mixed in. That’s one thing. It’s another thing altogether if someone else comes to you to relay the message and they say that the pastor suffered significant injuries and is in the hospital. That’s different. And it’s still another thing if the person who tells you this thinks you should now be excited so that you get to be the lead pastor.If God called one pastor to be the pastor of another church, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that. But this change of leaders, if it is the Lord’s will, should be carried out in the Lord’s way, not some manipulative grab for power.This passage in 2 Samuel is about doing the Lord’s will in the Lord’s way. Yet when we lose sight of our good and gracious God, we so easily can start to work the angles of life, seeking to manipulate situations for our own benefit. That’s what also happens in this passage.I’m going to read this passage in two sections, offering a few comments after each section. Then, at the end, I’ll point out a few applications for us. The passage falls out nicely in two halves, first The Story, and then The Song.

1. The Story, vv. 1–16

To get into the story, let me give you some background. The story of 2 Samuel is really one continuous story with 1 Samuel, and thus we need to remember how Volume 1 ends. If you want to watch the second half of a football game, it’s nice to know what you missed in the first half.The story of David and Goliath occurs near the middle of 1 Samuel (chapter 17). Saul is king of Israel at that time and has been so for a few years, though it hasn’t all gone smoothly. Saul was constantly insecure, and it was David’s killing of Goliath that cemented the focal point of Saul’s jealousy at young David. It would be an understatement to say that their working relationship was severely damaged. It got to the place where Saul was throwing spears at David—and then later, for that matter, at Jonathan his own son.As Saul continued to try to kill David throughout the rest of the book, David had to flee outside the kingdom of Israel just to be safe. It would be like us saying David fled America to be safe in Tijuana, Mexico or Moscow, Russia. The specific town he fled to was called Ziklag, a Philistine city.During this time in exile, many things happened, but I’m jumping now to the very end of 1 Samuel. Through a series of events David ends up near the northern part of Israel in Philistine territory in a city called Aphek (29:1). David is actually there with the Philistines (which is another story), but they send him away because (understandably) they don’t to fight with David on their side because they think his loyalties will go back to Israel—or maybe they never left. So David goes south to the home base of his exile in Ziklag.Meanwhile, the Philistine army leaves Aphek and goes to where the Israelites are at (Jezreel) to engage them in battle. In the battle, the Israelites retreat up Mt. Gilboa. And Saul sneaks out for a quick visit to consult with a witch about what he should do (chapter 28). Saul is desperate, to say the least. And the next day in the battle, Saul and Jonathan die along with a number of other Israelites.Now, David doesn’t know this because he has gone south to Ziklag. And he didn’t get the text message or the email that Israel lost the battle because, of course, how could he? Besides this, when David got to Ziklag, he had a mess to take care of. The Amalekites (a southern enemy) had captured David’s people from his city, and David had to recuse them.That’s what’s going on when we pick up 2 Samuel. Now let me read the story in vv. 1–16.1 After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. 2 And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. 3 David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” 4 And David said to him, “How did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.” 5 Then David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” 6 And the young man who told him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear, and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him. 7 And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 8 And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ 9 And he said to me, ‘Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.’ 10 So I stood beside 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 armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”11 Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. 12 And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. 13 And David said to the young man who told him, “Where do you come from?” And he answered, “I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.” 14 David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?” 15 Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him.” And he struck him down so that he died. 16 And David said to him, “Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord's anointed.’”So, there it is. David gets the news, then he mourns, and then he executed the man who told him because of his brazen disregard for the Lord’s anointed.Lots of things to point out. First, the Amalekite comes to David and bows down. It’s my guess that you can’t just walk up to a military general like David without going through his gatekeepers, his loyal bodyguards. And to do that, you’d need to show those gatekeepers something that’s going to get you the ear of David.What do you think this Amalekite showed these guys? “I need to see David,” the Amalekite says. “Why should we let you see David.” The guy opens a pouch and shows them the royal crown and armband. They bring him to David.And then he tells his story. “I was there, but I escaped. Saul was injured but not dead. And Saul wanted me to kill him, so I did. I grabbed these—this crown and royal armband—to remember him, and barely made it, but now I’m here.”If you read the account of how Saul dies in 1 Samuel, you’ll quickly realize that the Amalekites story of Saul’s death is different than the version the narrator of 1 Samuel gave. Some of the details are the same, but enough details are different that we are led to believe that this man is lying. If he really cared about Saul, why didn’t he drag his body away? This is what other brave Israelites later do (cf. end of 1 Sam. 31).But the point of whether he is lying is not the main issue. Look again at vv. 13–14.

13 And David said to the young man who told him, “Where do you come from?” And he answered, “I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.” 14 David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?” 

This young Amalekite says he is the “son of a sojourner,” and elsewhere that he was from the “camp of Saul” (v. 4). The point being, if you’re a second generation Israelite, you ought to know enough to know this: you do not lay your hand against the man the Lord has made the king of his people. “Young man,” David is saying, “you didn’t kill some guy named Saul, you assaulted the Lord of all the Earth who made Saul king.”Twice David had the chance to kill Saul but chose not to because he feared doing the very thing this young man says he did so brazenly. In fact, throughout the beginning of 2 Samuel we will see David over and over again refuse to do things what would catapult him to the kingship. When Saul dies, Saul leaves behind a general and also a son who is made king. And when both are killed—not by David—and David goes out of his way to distance himself from such arrogance and manipulation of those who thought they were doing David a favor. Not only will David not take the kingship by killing the Lord’s anointed, but neither by killing those close to the king.Clearly, this Amalekite did not get the response he thought he should get. He thought this was something David would celebrate. “David, now the kingship is yours! The king fell off a ladder—I mean, I pushed him off! Here’s the crown! I killed the man who wore it, and now I lay it at your feet. Don’t you want to honor me for all the great things I’ve done for you?”

2. The Song, vv. vv. 17–27

Well, that’s the story. Rather than gloating about it, David laments. And not only does he lament, he says that his lament will be taught to the people Judah—his own tribe! If there were anyone to gloat over the death of Saul, it would have been Judah. But David won’t have it. Let me read the eulogy David wrote.

17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, 18 and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said:

19 “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!

How the mighty have fallen!

20 Tell it not in Gath,

publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon,

lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,

lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
21 “You mountains of Gilboa,

let there be no dew or rain upon you,

nor fields of offerings!

For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,

the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
22 “From the blood of the slain,

the bow of Jonathan turned not back,

and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
23 “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!

In life and in death they were not divided;

they were swifter than eagles;

they were stronger than lions.
24 “You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,

who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet,

who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
25 “How the mighty have fallen

in the midst of the battle!
“Jonathan lies slain on your high places.

26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;

very pleasant have you been to me;

your love to me was extraordinary,

surpassing the love of women.
27 “How the mighty have fallen,

and the weapons of war perished!”
We call the books in the Bible that are like 2 Samuel “historical books.” And they are, but you need to remember they are theologically charged historical books. They are more than mere dates and facts. The biblical historical books are answering the question of where is God in these historical events—what is he doing and what is he not doing.As I was studying this passage, I wrote in the margins of the paper I was working on this question: “Where is God at in this story?” In the passage, we have the statements about the Lord’s anointed, but this is really the only mention of God in the story, and this holds true for this lament as well. God is not mentioned except in the phrase “the Lord’s anointed.”I think the reason is that, in many ways, this is a memorial service for Saul and the relationship Saul had with God was weak at best, or perhaps even non-existent. There’s really not much to say about Saul’s relationship with God.But what does David do? What would you do? David seeks to find the best qualities of Saul, and he praises those. He praises Saul’s military power and the way he provided for the nation (e.g., vv. 24 and 27). Even the statement in v. 23 about Saul and Jonathan not being divided in life and death is a gracious way to look at things. The relationship in life between Saul and Jonathan was a strained one, but it’s true, they were fighting together even at the end, which David compliments.

Applications

So that’s the story and the song. Perhaps I haven’t answered all of your questions about the passage. Hopefully I did for a few of them. I want to end with some applications, two of them to be exact.The first application is this: The Lord’s will is to be done in the Lord’s way. The will of the Lord should go with the ways of the Lord. To say it differently, you don’t try to bring about God’s will with worldly ways.Way back in 1 Samuel, David is told he is going to be king (16:1–13). Let me say that again. Before the spears are thrown at him and before his self-imposed exile to save his life, David is promised by God that he will one day be king. David being the king of Israel is the Lord’s will. But what we see, especially in the early portion of David’s life (and this is to his credit), is a fierce commitment to not bring about the Lord’s will in sinful ways. David refuses become king (the Lord’s will) in worldly ways (killing Saul).I’ve hinted at this already, but for David, doing the Lord’s will in the Lord’s ways meant this: patience. In our culture, patience is not a virtue we often celebrate and seek to cultivate.This applies to many areas in our lives. It applies to our sexuality. God has said that sex in the context of the life-long covenant relationship between a man and a woman is a good thing. But how often does this good thing (i.e., the Lord’s will) become something not also done in the Lord’s ways? How many engaged Christian couples overlook this. How many married couples bring pornography into the marriage? I don’t know, but likely the answer is too many.Speaking of marriage, sometimes when I talk to single people who desire to be married, I bring up these aspects of David’s story. If God has put the desire for marriage on your heart, well, that’s a good thing. It might be the Lord’s will for you to be married, but that doesn’t mean that every way to go about finding a spouse is also a good.In business, getting a promotion and making a profit can be good things, but as Christians there are limits to how we will go about getting that promotion and making that profit . . . and then there are limits on how we will act if and when we do get it. We won’t gloat about it. The Lord’s will in the Lord’s way.I’ve told the story before a few years ago, but when I was in college a great friend of mine was killed in an avalanche in Colorado. I’m not going to go into the details, but I member watching the news report and watching the interview with the supposed “avalanche expert.” He’s giddy that he’s finally getting on TV, finally in the spotlight, and in the background you can see my friend’s fiancée weeping.I’d love to tell you this problem of doing even good things in sinful way and with sinful motives is only a problem “out there,” but it’s here in our church too—at least I know it’s in me. For example, some of you know I like to write things, a handful of times over the last year I’d had this or that article published. It’s a good thing to write words that point people to God, but too many times I’ve found my own heart getting caught up in this strange platform advancing game that so many people play. I’ve often been like this Amalekite trying to curry favor with people I deem more important than I am. Maybe you’ve done this too.That’s my first application: do the Lord’s will in the Lord’s ways—no easy thing for David or for us.Here’s the second application: Strengthen yourself in the good news of God. This is the application that makes the first one possible. But it is going to require me to point out a few details in the passage. Look at vv. 19–20.19 “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!

How the mighty have fallen!

20 Tell it not in Gath,

publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,

lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
Notice the phrase, “Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon.” David’s desire is that a false gospel—the “good news” of the death of the king of Israel—not be paraded through the streets of the nations as though it were actually good news (cf. 1 Sam. 31:9).When David first went back to Ziklag, he returned to a tragedy, and his men wanted to kill him. Look at 1 Samuel 30:6 to see how he responded.

6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Notice that phrase, “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” David went back to the promises of his good God. He reminded himself of the real good news that God was for him.And that decision to find strength in the promises of God is the decision that seems to power him through that particular hard time, and many others—well into the events of 2 Samuel. Unfortunately, throughout the summer we’ll see many places where David forgets this, and when he does many people are hurt.

Conclusion

I don’t know what trial you’re going through. I don’t know all the ways that God is calling you to be patient. I don’t know what particular temptations are before you. But I do know our God is good. There is a real gospel that’s going to all the nations, it’s the story of the life and death and resurrection of the King of kings. And if you will look to God for strength, he will become your strength. That’s what enabled David to do the Lord’s will in the Lord’s way, and it’s the only thing that will help us do the same.