11 David and his men tore their clothes in sorrow when they heard the news. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted all day for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the Lord 's army and the nation of Israel, because they had died by the sword that day. 13 Then David said to the young man who had brought the news, "Where are you from?" And he replied, "I am a foreigner, an Amalekite, who lives in your land." 14 "Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord 's anointed one?" David asked. 15 Then David said to one of his men, "Kill him!" So the man thrust his sword into the Amalekite and killed him. 16 "You have condemned yourself," David said, "for you yourself confessed that you killed the Lord 's anointed one."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Samuel 1:11-16
Commentary on 2 Samuel 1:11-16
(Read 2 Samuel 1:11-16)
David was sincere in his mourning for Saul; and all with him humbled themselves under the hand of God, laid so heavily upon Israel by this defeat. The man who brought the tidings, David put to death, as a murderer of his prince. David herein did not do unjustly; the Amalekite confessed the crime. If he did as he said, he deserved to die for treason; and his lying to David, if indeed it were a lie, proved, as sooner or later that sin will prove, lying against himself. Hereby David showed himself zealous for public justice, without regard to his own private interest.