2 Samuel 1:1-16

Touch not Mine Anointed

2 Samuel 1:1

The scene changes from Gilboa to Ziklag, whither the tidings were carried by an Amalekite. It is remarkable to notice how David received them. Though he had spent years in the rough life of a freebooter, surrounded by coarse and hardened men, he had not lost the delicacy and refinement of his earlier days. To men like Nabal, he seemed an outlaw; but those who were admitted to the inner circle of David's friendship knew that there was a whole heaven of difference between him and the men who followed him. Let us see to it that by fellowship with God, we keep our nature uncontaminated by the world, its fine edge, not blunted, its bloom not brushed off.

It was genuine grief that made David rend his clothes, and a genuine emotion of horror that led to the execution of this self-confessed regicide. Then from the depths of a guileless heart there poured forth the “Song of the Bow,” one of the noblest elegies in any tongue. Let us speak tenderly of the dead. Let God in His infinite pity judge them, while we scatter rose-leaves on their graves.