14 David asked him, "Why weren't you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?"
14 And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?
14 David said to him, "How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?"
14 "Do you mean to say," said David, "that you weren't afraid to up and kill God's anointed king?"
14 So David said to him, "How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?"
14 "Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord 's anointed one?" David asked.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Samuel 1:14
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.