2 Samuel 1 vs 1-27

1 and 2 Samuel form one book in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint, (the Greek version of the Bible), was first to divide this single book into two parts. The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was created by 70ish Jewish elders in Alexandria, Egypt around the 3rd Century BC.

Depending on your source, you can find that it was created to be included in the great library of King Ptolemy II. Others offer that it was created as Israel was under the authority of Greece for several centuries and Greek became more and more common as a language amongst the people. So, this effort was made to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek so that those who did not understand Hebrew could have the Scriptures in a language they could understand.

One more interesting tidbit about the Septuagint, this was the most in use and in circulation translation of the Old Testament during the time of Jesus and interestingly it contained books that were circulated and read by the Greeks but not necessarily by the Jews. Some of the apocryphal books were included in the Septuagint that were not in the Masoretic Hebrew Bible. These books include the Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, additions to the Book of Esther, 1, 2, 3, and 4th Maccabees, Psalm 151, Wisdom or Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, additions to the book of Daniel and Psalms of Solomon. So, understand, the Septuagint is the Septuagint, it is not a or the Bible as it adds to the original texts from that period that were popular amongst the Greeks.

All that to give you a little context and to tell you that 2 Samuel is really 1 Samuel continued, and we will see that as we get into as it literally picks right up where the final chapter of 1 Samuel left off…

2 Samuel is set in the land of Israel during the reign of David and follows the course of his forty years as King of Israel, which covers a time period of 1011-971 BC. First Samuel introduces the monarchy of Israel, and 2 Samuel chronicles the establishment of the Davidic dynasty and the expansion of Israel under God’s chosen leader.

2 Samuel will introduce us to the Davidic Covenant, which is central messianic doctrine. God will say to David, even through all of David’s imperfections, sin, mistakes and faults, but…, due to his heart of love for God shown in that he repents over and over again in genuine heart-filled sorrow, God establishes his throne from which will come the Son of God to rule and reign forever, so that, in a way, God establishes the throne of David as permanent. You’ll read and see God promise this to David in chapter 7 saying, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” Thus, the Davidic Covenant…, as Jesus (through both Mary and His step-father Joseph) was a descendant of King David. (Just one of the hundreds of prophecies Jesus perfectly fulfilled)

Jewish tradition ascribed the writing of “Samuel” to Samuel himself or to Samuel, Nathan, and Gad (based on 1 Chr. 29:29). But Samuel cannot be the writer because his death is recorded in 1 Sam 25:1, before the events associated with David’s reign even took place. Further, Nathan and Gad were prophets of the Lord during David’s lifetime and would not have been alive when the book of Samuel was written. Though the written records of these 3 prophets could have been used for information in the writing of 1 and 2 Samuel, the human author of these books is unknown.

The books of Samuel contain no clear indication of the date of composition. That the author wrote after the division of the kingdom between Israel and Judah in 931 B.C. is clear, due to the many references to Israel and Judah as distinct entities (1 Sam. 11:8; 17:52; 18:16; 2 Sam. 5:5; 11:11; 12:8; 19:42–43; 24:1, 9). Also, the statement concerning Ziklag’s belonging “to the kings of Judah to this day” in 1 Sam 27:6 gives clear evidence of a post-Solomonic date of writing. There is no such clarity concerning how late the date of writing could be. However, 1 and 2 Samuel are included in the Former Prophets in the Hebrew canon, along with Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 Kings. If the Former Prophets were composed as a unit, then Samuel would have been written during the Babylonian captivity (ca. 560–540 B.C.), since 2 Kings concludes during the exile (2 Kings 25:27–30). However, since Samuel has a different literary style than Kings, it was most likely penned before the Exile during the period of the divided kingdom (ca. 931–722B.C.) and later made an integral part of the Former Prophets.

2 Samuel Chapter 1 Verses 1 – 4

·    This was the battle that David was not permitted to be in, if you recall. And now he learns of the tragic outcome of defeat including the death of Saul and of Jonathan. This must have been a moment for David. Have you ever had so many emotions at once that you almost don’t feel anything? Like you go numb? You should be furious, saddened, shocked, surprised…, all those things but you go into sort of a shock where you just process… This must have been a moment like that for David…

·    “I should have been there…” How is that not one of the first things he thinks? If David had led Saul’s army…, well, just think for a moment, two days ago David had just defeated the Amalekites and recovered all… David was Saul’s victory, but envy literally ate Saul alive… Making it so David couldn’t have been there, and that’s true, but David still without a doubt felt even responsible for Saul’s death…

2 Samuel Chapter 1 Verses 5 – 10

·    So, this man, (not sure if he is not too smart or what), admits to David that he is an Amalekite, an enemy of Israel. Perhaps it was because David was in Ziklag which was, at the time, land that belonged to the Philistines, but this man is essentially telling David that he is one of the men of his enemies and that he has killed the king of David’s people, and he even has Saul’s crown and bracelet to prove it…

·    Dumb. Listen, I can do some of the dumbest things when I’m not paying attention to the Lord, how about you? When I just default back to my original settings, my fallen nature, I can do and say some dumb stuff. This guy is not a man of God and I’m not sure he could do something more moronic than this!

·    Some say that this Amalekite is not telling the truth. That he is somehow trying to gain favor in the eyes of David through his merciful story and by bringing him the crown of Israel. Some say that he is telling the truth and that he is simply completing the account that we were given earlier.

·    We were told earlier that Saul fell on his own sword and when his armor bearer saw he was dead, he fell on his own sword as well. It also appears that when Saul’s body was found by the Philistines, his crown was gone…, no mention of it in Chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. So, some say that Saul fell on his sword, went unconscious, and then this Amalekite happened by and finished the job sometime later.

·    Either belief is acceptable. The poetic justice of it all is that after Saul’s death, his crown ends up in the hands of an Amalekite. The very people that Saul was commanded to completely deal with at the beginning of his reign when he made a decision that he would not be a king for God but rather be a king of God… There is a distinct difference if you have chosen to be a person FOR the Lord or to be a person OF the Lord…

·    His decision to carry the title and live for himself ends up destroying him, his authority, his reign, his legacy…

2 Samuel Chapter 1 Verses 11 – 18

·    What is the book of Jasher? It is a book that is also mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and was evidently a book that contained a collection of early Hebrew songs and poetry perhaps specifically about battles, warfare and war heroes.

·    We don’t have this book today. There are no ancient copies. We have books that claim to be the book of Jasher, specifically two, but one dates from the 11th/12th centuries and the other is from the 18th century. Obviously, those are not what is referred to in the Bible…

2 Samuel Chapter 1 Verses 19 – 26

·    In Saul’s death, David takes no pleasure. This is a man truly after God’s own heart. All Saul ever wanted to do was destroy David, but because of who Saul was to God, not to David, David mourns. Truly a god-like characteristic (that cannot be faked)!

·    What would have this song been if Saul would have chosen to follow the Lord? To open his heart to truth and to grace and to love and to life… “The beauty of Israel is a lasting legacy.” “Oh, how the mighty have their victory.” The song would have been entirely different…

·    And David laments over Jonathan… This statement of David is not that David and Jonathan were lovers but that they were partners. To conclude they were some sort of couple is to torture the text terribly. The word David uses for love in the Hebrew is a specific word for familial love and when the Septuagint translates this into Greek, the word for love used to mirror the Hebrew word is agape…

2 Samuel Chapter 1 Verse 27

·    We see this phrase repeated a second time. How the mighty have fallen. We use that phrase today as a dig. As a sarcastic ironic statement… But it comes from a lament of sorrow from David over Saul… And we all know the truth at the end of Saul’s life was that he fell a long time ago…, when God told him exactly what to do, he decided to do it his own way, and then justify/deny it thinking he was ok with God still… That was his fall, almost 25 years ago…