Read 2 Samuel 1 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
1:1-12 {p} David receives the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan, and mourns
1:13-16 {p} David commanded the execution of the Amalekite who killed Saul
1:17-27 {p} David’s lamentation: The Song of the Bow
2 Samuel 1:1-27 Chiastic Structure:
The Amalekite’s account of Saul’s death differs from the account we had in 1 Sam 31. It is because of instances like this that skeptics maintain that the Bible is full of contradictions. But is it, or is it just truthfully relating what happened? Saul died as 1 Sam 31 tells, but when the Amalekite came upon his slain body, and took the crown and bracelet to bring them to David, he honestly believed that if he took credit for Saul’s death, he would receive a handsome reward from David. After all, this is how all the nations of the earth operated, when the (soon-to-be) king’s enemies were slain. However David, as a Prophetic Type for Messiah, did not operate as all the kingdoms of this world.
The skeptics also like to claim that the love Jonathan and David had for each other was a homo[s-x]ual love, based on vs. 26. Nonsense. The love brothers have for each other, especially brothers in arms, is a well-documented thing, and not everything has to [s-x]ualized. How did Jonathan’s love surpass the love of women, if this was the case? In loyalty, and constancy, and sacrificing self for the benefit of the beloved, in David’s experience.
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