The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/2_samuel/1.htm

Assisted suicide. Human euthanasia. In the last couple of decades, it has come to light the moral issue over the “right to die”, and whether or not it should be legal for a physician to assist someone with killing themselves. Obviously we aren’t talking about suicide because of mental health issues, but rather suicide by someone who has a terminal illness, someone who may be suffering pain from cancer or other disease. But even in the time of David, assisted suicide seemed to be an issue.

Once the Philistines had defeated the Israeli army, Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him. Saul’s fear was that the Philistines would kill him, abuse his body, then be inflated having been credited for killing the King of Israel. But the armor bearer refused…he did not have the nerve to do the job. And admittedly, it would be difficult killing anyone, let alone the king, God’s anointed.

So now we cut to David, who at last report had defeated the Amalekites and rescue the women of David’s camp who had been kidnapped. And David was not aware of the progress in this particular battle between Philistia and Israel. And along came an Amalekite from the war.

We can only guess what his intentions were. Perhaps he was afraid for his life approaching David’s camp and wanted to seek David’s favor. Perhaps he just wanted to be “the hero”, and boast about having saved Saul from the evils of the Philistines. So he lied.

He was truthful when he told David that Saul and his son Jonathon were dead, but he lied, taking credit for Saul’s death. He concocted the story about “assisted suicide”, about how Saul was near death and had asked the Amalekite to finish him off. Again, I can only assume he thought David would look highly upon him for putting Saul out of his misery, or for doing the task the armor bearing refused, to kill Saul so the Philistines could not take credit for it.

But obviously if you read the passage, David was not “pro-assisted suicide”, and ordered the Amalekite to be killed for his murder of Saul. Now the Amalekite didn’t kill Saul, his entire story was made up, a fabrication, but he picked the wrong story to make up. Imagine today, someone confessing to a murder they didn’t commit. The courts will find them guilty, based on their own admission.

So the Amalekite did himself in. Or perhaps walking into David’s camp an Amalekite was a death wish anyway.

Regardless, we read the David and his army tore their clothing, a sign of grief in those days, in mourning for the death of Saul and Jonathon. And while I’m sure David loved Jonathon more than he did Saul, David still loved Saul. Later in history, Jesus would say the “greatest command” is to “love your neighbor”, and David surely exemplified this. Here the man who had be pursuing David for years, who twice threw a spear at him trying to murder him, who hated that David was his successor, jealous actually, and wanted to eliminated David from this world. But David was forgiving, a man of God, and loved Saul despite his flaws, his mental illness.

Could you mourn the death of an enemy, or would you celebrate in your heart? It takes someone truly special, someone close to God, to be sorrowful over the death of someone who hated you and wanted you dead.

But that was why God picked David to be the next king. Was he perfect? Nope. Was he better than most? Definitely.

Don’t lie. It may result in your own death if you confess to something you didn’t do. And while it may be difficult, don’t assist someone in dying. God gives life, it is his duty to determine when that gift of life is no longer needed. There have been people, in a coma for year, who have suddenly recovered. God wasn’t done with them. They still had purpose in their life. God still had plans for them. And we don’t know what plans God has for someone who appears to be terminal. Only God can make that choice.