2 Samuel 1:4

And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-10 The blow which opened David's way to the throne was given about the time he had been sorely distressed. Those who commit their concerns to the Lord, will quietly abide his will. It shows that he desired not Saul's death, and he was not impatient to come to the throne.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now it came to pass ... - There is no break whatever between the two books of Samuel, the division being purely artificial.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2-12. a man came out of the camp from Saul—As the narrative of Saul's death, given in the last chapter, is inspired, it must be considered the true account, and the Amalekite's story a fiction of his own, invented to ingratiate himself with David, the presumptive successor to the throne. David's question, "How went the matter?" evinces the deep interest he took in the war, an interest that sprang from feelings of high and generous patriotism, not from views of ambition. The Amalekite, however, judging him to be actuated by a selfish principle, fabricated a story improbable and inconsistent, which he thought would procure him a reward. Having probably witnessed the suicidal act of Saul, he thought of turning it to his own account, and suffered the penalty of his grievously mistaken calculation (compare 2Sa 1:9 with 1Sa 31:4, 5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He mentions only these two, as those who seemed most to obstruct David’s coming to the crown.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And David said unto him, how went the matter? I pray thee, tell me,.... That is, how went the battle? on which side the victory?

and he answered, that the people are fled from the battle; meaning the people of Israel, they had given way, and turned their backs upon their enemies, and were fled:

and many of the people also are fallen and dead; fell by the sword in the pursuit of them, and were not only wounded, but were slain, and these great numbers of them:

and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also; which are mentioned last, because they fell some of the last; and this part of the account is reserved by the messenger to the last, because it was the article of the greatest importance; the death of these two persons, the one the enemy, and the other the friend of David, and the death of both made way for his accession to the throne.

Geneva Study Bible

And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. How went the matter?] Lit. What was the affair? the same phrase as that used by Eli in 1 Samuel 4:16. The form of the Amalekite’s answer also closely corresponds to that of the man of Benjamin there. The rout, the slaughter among the people, the death of the leaders, are mentioned in an ascending climax.

many of the people] No contradiction to 1 Samuel 31:6, where “all his men” refers to Saul’s immediate body-guard.

2 Samuel 1:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

David's inquiry, "How did the thing happen?" refers to the statement made by the messenger, that he had escaped from the army of Israel. In the answer, אשׁר serves, like כּי in other passages, merely to introduce the words that follow, like our namely (vid., Ewald, 338, b.). "The people fled from the fight; and not only have many of the people fallen, but Saul and Jonathan his son are also dead." וגם ... וגם: not only ... but also.