Why did the men mourn their enemies’ demise? (2 Samuel 1:12)
2 Samuel 1:11 Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
2 Samuel 1:1 - 16
ESV - 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.
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Asked August 02 2022
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Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
The Bible describes David in 1 Samuel 13:14 as a man after God's own heart, and, to me, the incidents in his life that most clearly demonstrate that were the multiple times when he was given an opportunity to kill individuals who regarded him as their enemy, but mercifully did not do so; or when he mourned those individuals when they died at the hands of others. Such occasions also showed the depth of his faith in leaving it to God to deal appropriately with those adversaries. (Of course, David also mourned for Saul's son Jonathan as his close friend.) This is indicated not only by the incident noted in the question, but by the multiple times when David personally spared Saul's life. In this way, David was foreshadowing the future teaching of Jesus, when He told His listeners in the Sermon on the Mount to love their enemies, and to pray for those who persecuted them.
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