More favourable after death

David still spoke fondly of Saul after he died, even though he let him down during his life.

2 Samuel 1.17-27

Reference: v. 23 “Saul and Jonathan – in life they were loved and gracious, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”

Explore: The Chasers are comedians who specialise in political satire. They are often thought to step over the line for laughter’s sake. Recently they got in a bit of strife for singing a song about people who had died and listing the misdemeanours of their life. Their point was that that once someone dies we only say nice things about them even though they may have lead a fairly deplorable life. Here, it seems that we find David writes a lament for Saul and Jonathan who had both died in a battle against the Philistines. He writes about both of them fondly. However, while Jonathan was a loyal best friend, Saul was very open about wanting to kill David on a number of occasions.

Application: So often in our own lives it seems so easy to notice the irritating and detestable attributes of people that we are quite slow to appreciate the strengths that each person possesses. In the recordings of David’s life, he continued to think positively about Saul. Why? Because he was God’s anointed king. If we believe that God is the creator of all things then he has created every single person. We all have God’s fingerprints on our lives. Yet often when we look at other people we don’t see them as God’s special creation, but we see the negative and the things that rub us up the wrong way. Today, we should try to see all other people with David’s perspective: we are all chosen by God. Let’s not wait until people pass away to see their positive side.

Prayer: Lord, I know that I can be very critical of people who are different to me. I’m sorry for being so damning of your children when I am no better than the next person. I’ll try to look for your touch in each person today. Amen.

2 Samuel