When word reached David of Saul’s death, he tore his clothes and wept over the death of the Lord’s anointed as well as the death of his good friend Jonathan, Saul’s son. He called all those with him to mourn as well. We are somewhat surprised at David’s grief over Saul’s death. It’s not what one would expect, but David was a great example of how one should love his enemies as Jesus directed. As much as we were surprised at David’s response to the news from the Amalekite, imagine how surprised the Amalekite must have been. He had most likely lied to court favor from David, who would now be the new king of Israel. But in 1 Samuel 1:13-16, “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.’ David said to him, ‘How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?’ Then David called one of the young men and said, ‘Go, execute him.’ And he struck him down so that he died. 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.’”
Saul may have been viewed as David’s enemy, but David knew that the real enemy was the Amalekite. David asked the man to confirm his nationality. He calls himself an Amalekite. As Bergen points out, “David had just conducted a holy war campaign against the Amalekites in fulfillment of Torah commands. Now when he learned that a member of the Amalekite nation had also played a direct role in the death of Israel’s king—’ the Lord’s anointed—David did not hesitate to execute judgment on him.” In Deuteronomy 25:17-19 we read, “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.” Bergen’s comment continues, “No doubt the Amalekite expected David to reward him. However, instead of crowning him with honor, David decreed that ‘your blood be on your head.’”[1]
This is an important phrase we often see in the Bible. It speaks of guilt before God. Just as Abel’s blood cries out to God for justice from the ground, so too the blood and death of Saul are bound up in the Amalekite. He is guilty of killing God’s anointed. We see the phrase again in the New Testament. In Matthew 27:24-25 we read where Pilate offered to release Jesus or Barabbas. The crowds clamored for Barabbas’ release and Jesus’ execution. The text says, “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’” It’s fascinating that on the way to Calvary when the women were weeping over him, he told them not to weep for him but to weep for themselves and for their children. The blood of Jesus will either save us from God’s wrath as faith in what Christ has done on the cross saves us from the blood guilt of our sins. Unbelievers will have his blood on their heads but in a different way. One writer says that these words “will haunt every unbeliever for all eternity, for those who reject the blood of Christ as their atonement will find it to be their accuser.”[2] Just like the Amalekite that David executed, the fate of unbelievers is on their own “head.”
[1] Bergen, Robert D. 1996. 1, 2 Samuel. Vol. 7. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Deffingbaugh, Robert. n.d. Leviticus Commentary.