David at Saul's death

I read an interesting short book recently about a method the author had developed to help them in their meditation on scripture that caught my attention, seeing as I am a list-maker.  This author tried to make lists of the top ten thoughts they gathered from a given passage.  As I struggled to gain some insight from the story of the death of King Saul when reading in II Samuel recently, that list-making idea came to me, and here is my first-ever top ten list from the Bible!  I gave me new insight into King David, the man after God's own heart, as the Bible declares him to be.  I can see why when pondering his response to his mortal enemy.  I want to be that kind of person.

TOP TEN WAYS DAVID RESPONDED TO THE DEATH OF HIS ENEMY SAUL

 (II Samuel 1-4)

1. He wept all day over Saul’s death (1:12)

2. He punished the man responsible for Saul’s death (1:16)

3. He continued to consider Saul as God’s appointed leader over Israel (1:14)

4. He wrote a poem extolling Saul and Jonathan (1:19ff)

5. He recognized the necessity of trying to follow God’s leading (2:1)

6. He moved on to the next step (taking control as the new king) (2:4)

7. He thanked the people who had taken Saul’s body and buried it properly (2:5)

8. He was willing to make peace with former Saul loyalists (3:20)

9. He mourned the deaths of members of Saul’s family (3:33)

10. He punished those who exacted a revenge killing on one of his enemies (4:11)