Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20020721.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part XXXVII: Responding With Edifying Remorse At Calamities To God's Other Leaders
(2 Samuel 1:1-27)
  1. Introduction
    1. Leadership in God's kingdom is a matter of God's equipping, not of man's, cf. Ephesians 4:11-12.
    2. As such, no one in oversight with God's people must view himself as a competitor with any other leader, nor see himself as an island unto himself, but as part of the whole Body of Christ, cf. 1 Cor. 12:12-31.
    3. Accordingly, even when others of God's leaders compete against us to our harm, and then experience calamity in God's judgment, our response, like David's response, should not be to gloat, but to grieve:
  2. Responding With Edifying Remorse At Calamities To God's Other Leaders, 2 Samuel 1:1-27.
    1. When David first received word about the fall of Saul and his sons, he heard it from an Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul at Saul's request, 2 Samuel 1:1-10.
    2. Instead of rejoicing at the death of his persecuting opponent in Saul, David expressed remorse as though a colleague of his among the people of God had experienced this calamity, 2 Samuel 1:11-12:
      1. Initially, David led his men in tearing their clothes, a signal of grief in his culture, 2 Sam. 1:11.
      2. This grief was expressed not only for Saul, but for Jonathan, David's close friend, as well as for God's people of which David, Saul and Jonathan were all a part, 2 Samuel 1:12.
    3. Instead of honoring the Amalekite who had told David he had killed Saul himself, David had the man executed for his own testimony of claiming to have killed the anointed of the Lord, 2 Samuel 1:13-16.
    4. Instead of singing praises at Saul's fall, David taught the next generation a lament of his death, 1:17-18.
    5. In that lament, instead of exalting himself over Saul, David sought to diffuse the source of the tension that had led to Saul's ever opposing him in life, 2 Samuel 1:19-27:
      1. David had been keenly aware of how Saul's hearing the women of Israel praise David above himself had been the sore point that led to Saul's turning against him to persecute him, cf. 1 Samuel 18:6-9:
        1. After David slew Goliath, the women of Israel came out of their cities to sing antiphonally about the victory David's feat had come to produce for the nation, 1 Samuel 18:6.
        2. In their song, Saul was attributed with the death of thousands, but David with the death of tens of thousands of the enemy, a clear indication of their preference for David above Saul, 1 Samuel 18:7.
        3. When Saul heard this song, he went into a jealous rage, and turned against David, 1 Samuel 18:8-9.
        4. Hence, the animosity of SAUL for David arose from the way the women of Israel had honored David ABOVE Saul in the realm of military exploits with the Philistines.
      2. Accordingly, David sought to diffuse that source of hard feelings from Saul and his kin by seeking to have the WOMEN honor Saul and Jonathan in their deaths at the hands of the Philistines, 1:19-27:
        1. David's lament called for the report of the fall of Saul and Jonathan not to be heralded in Philistine towns lest their Philistine WOMEN rejoice (as had Israel's women for David), 2 Samuel 1:19-20.
        2. His lament called for Mount Gilboa to be cursed for being the place where Saul fell in death, 1:21.
        3. His lament exalted the military exploits of Saul and Jonathan in Israel's behalf, 1 Sam. 1:22-23.
        4. David's lament called for the women of ISRAEL, those who had sung the praises of David above the praises of Saul, to weep over Saul's demise as he had clothed them with the spoils of war, 1:24f.
        5. David's lament finally reported his grief over Jonathan's loss, the death of his best friend, a loss that exceeded in value the love of WOMEN who had praised David above Saul, 1 Samuel 1:26-27.
Lesson: David viewed himself as PART of the people of God, NOT in COMPETITION WITH any one party who might be in leadership such as Saul was. Hence, EVEN though Saul competed against David for fame in Israel, in Saul's FALL, David only sought to SHIFT the honor given to HIM that had CREATED the animosity in Saul back to SAUL and his beloved son, Jonathan.

Application: (1) In leadership, we should never view ourselves as COMPETITORS with other leaders of God's people: we are all just part of the TEAM, and GOD is our REAL HEAD. (2) Similarly, as SUBORDINATES, we should not give greater honor to one leader over another as the women of Israel did with David over Saul. That only fosters competition that does damage to all of God's people!