2 Sam 1:11 Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them.

          

I was recently at a non-Christian funeral and there were lots of tears. That was right, for there had been the loss of a loved one. How different from a Christian funeral where loss can be mingled with rejoicing that the loved one has simply ‘emigrated' to a more wonderful place and will be seen again when we too go there.

 

David and his men tearing their clothes were performing a sign of mourning – they were very much more demonstrative that we tend to be! These were warriors lamenting the loss of other warriors, but what is strange is that they were lamenting the deaths of enemies. They lamented the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. Jonathan had been David's friend yet he remained faithful to his father and died with him on the battlefield. But Saul? Saul had pursued and sought to kill David a number of times; he genuinely was an enemy. But he was still the Lord's anointed and David took that very seriously.

 

David was lamenting more than the death of a king, he was lamenting the death of potential. Saul had been the people's choice and God-anointed and could have done so much good if he had only had a heart after God like David did – but he didn't and so he failed, was stressed and did little for Israel. He was a great warrior and he was David's king and so even though he was David's enemy, David mourned his loss and the loss of what could have been. Do we?