Was David’s use of the death penalty just? – 1st Samuel 31—2nd Samuel 2:7, Part 2

Over the past year a friend of mine has been incarcerated. He has many more years to go in his sentence. During my weekly visits, we’ve talked a lot about the question, “What is justice?” How do participants in the criminal justice system know if the punishment fits the crime?

In today’s post, as we continue the story of the life of David, David takes justice into his own hands. He is the judge, jury, and executioner. Yes, David enacts the death penalty. There is no investigation and no trial. Here’s what happens.

Remember that David had two easy opportunities to kill Saul, who was pursuing David to kill him, and David did not take either of them?  Instead, he saw them as opportunities to show mercy to Saul, because even though Saul was trying to kill David, Saul was the Lord’s anointed. In David’s view, you do not kill the Lord’s anointed.

But David has just heard a man report the news of Saul’s final moments, and the man said that he killed Saul.  No doubt, the man only did so because Saul was at death’s door and Saul asked the man to do it.  But you can see the wheels turning for David, and it is not sitting well with him. 

Also the man is an Amalekite.  Where have we heard that recently?  Look at verse 1 in the chapter we’re currently studying, 2nd Samuel 1.  Verse 1 reminds us that David had just returned from striking down the Amalekites.  That line is a call back to 1st Samuel chapter 30.  It was the Amalekites who had sacked David’s town of Ziklag and carted off all the Israelite women and children while the men were away at war.  So David and his men, after inquiring of God, chased down the Amalekites and defeated them. 

How do you think David is feeling about the Amalekites right about now?  Yeah, it’s a bitter taste to say the least.  Now here is an Amalekite man saying that he mercy-killed Israel’s King Saul.  For David, this is a very dark situation, and it seems like the Amalekite man doesn’t view it that way. 

David calls for the man, as we read 2nd Samuel 1, verse 13.

“David said to the young man who brought him the report, ‘Where are you from?’”

Oh man.  David is setting a trap.  This young man has no clue.  He takes the bait.

“‘I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,’ he answered.”

You can just watch the darkness all over David’s face.  David could easily be thinking, “That’s what I thought I heard him say earlier.  He’s an Amalekite.  An Amalekite who just killed Saul.”

David draws him further into the trap.  Look at verse 14, “David asked him, ‘Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?’”

And there it is.  The buzz word. “The Lord’s anointed.”  Remember how David used that word in both of the situations when he himself could have struck down Saul?  In both of those episodes, David’s men were even trying to convince David that God had set him up to kill Saul.  But David refused to strike down Saul because Saul is the Lord’s anointed.  But this Amalekite did kill Saul, the Lord’s anointed.

From this point on, it’s lights out.  Look at verse 15.

“Then David called one of his men and said, ‘Go, strike him down!’ So he struck him down, and he died. For David had said to him, ‘Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, “I killed the Lord’s anointed.”’”

I have to admit, this is a tough one for me.  Saul asked the Amalekite to kill him.  Saul was dying.  The Amalekite young man is merciful to Saul.  Maybe he didn’t want to kill Saul.  But he obeyed Saul.  We could easily respond, “David, lay off.  This guy did the merciful thing by finishing what was already an inevitability. He was merciful just like you were merciful to Saul.” 

David doesn’t see it that way.  David has no way to authenticate the man’s story about Saul pleading for a mercy killing.  All David has to go on is what the man said, and the man admitted to killing Saul.  Maybe the man thought David would view him as a hero.  After all, Saul had been trying to kill David for a long time.  But nope. David sees one thing and one thing only.  Saul was the Lord’s anointed, and David strongly believes it is wrong to kill the Lord’s anointed, even if Saul only had minutes to live and was begging for a mercy killing.  David believes he must enact capital punishment on this man, because this man killed the Lord’s anointed.  It sure didn’t help the man that he was an Amalekite. 

It is a fraught story.  I don’t like it.  I wish David would have taken the time to investigate this guy’s story.  There’s a Wild West justice that often pops up in the life of David, and it doesn’t sit well with me.  We’ve seen this before in the life of David.  Remember a few weeks ago when Abigail, wife of Nabal, had to intervene because David was on the warpath to kill her husband.

Sometimes I find David difficult to figure out.  One moment he has what appears to be a big emotional reaction, going so far as to commanding the capital punishment of the Amalekite.  The next moment, he writes a glowing eulogy for King Saul and Jonathan. We’ll learn about that eulogy, and why I have a problem with it, in the next post.

For now, I’m thankful to live in a nation where that kind of unexamined justice is illegal. We need due process. We need investigations and trials and juries and judges. Sure, they don’t get it right all the time. Loads of people on death row are exonerated by DNA evidence. But there is a system of checks and balances, so that justice is most often preserved. I am convinced that the time does not always fit the crime. Because of my friend’s recent experience with the justice system, there seems to be a significant, and unacceptable, measure of randomness to the criminal justice system. We Christians would do well to advocate for an approach to justice that aligns more closely with God’s heart. Restorative justice rather than punitive justice.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash