Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 1:17
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
17 27. David’s lamentation for Saul and Jonathan
17. lamented with this lamentation ] The technical expression for a death-dirge or mournful elegy, such as that pronounced by David over Abner (ch. 2Sa 3:33-34), and by Jeremiah over Josiah (2Ch 35:25).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The words lamented and lamentation must be understood in the technical sense of a funeral dirge or mournful elegy. (See similar dirges in 2Sa 3:33-34; and 2Ch 35:25.) This and the brief stanza on the death of Abner are the only specimens preserved to us of Davids secular poetry.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Sa 1:17
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son.
David’s lament
1. The Bible has been called the record of human sorrows, and so it is. There are, however, parts of the sacred Scriptures where the shadows lay thickest, and the notes are ever in the minor key: I refer to the lamentations. What strains in music are more pathetic and moving than those of the Marcia Funebre! and when did ever Handel, or Beethoven, or Chopin exercise their genius with greater effect than in those compositions which unveil in sound the secret agony of bereavement! So in Holy Scripture, when the plectrum of the Spirit sweeps across the chords of the human soul in the dark hour of grief, there is something unspeakably touching in the inspired cadences.
2. Such outpourings of grief as are found in the dirge in this lesson, composed by David, may be highly poetical, and betray the tense condition of the emotions; yet they are not devoid of moral teaching, and vividly depict the affectionate character of him who was a type of the Man of sorrows.
I. David’s lament over Saul.
1. I see in this the spirit of forgiveness. There was enough in Saul’s dealings with David to have dulled the poignancy of grief, and even to have called up resentment. David’s conduct seems an anticipation of the Christian precept, not only to forgive, but to love your enemies. Forgiveness of injuries, the flower of charity, was ripened by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, for there was little enough of it in the world before Christ came. I am not forgetting that Solomon said, It is the glory of a man to pass by a transgression (Pro 19:11). On the other hand, there is a tone of vindictiveness in parts of the Old Testament–in the Psalter, for instance–which reveals a low standard of morality in some respects. The eye for eye and tooth for tooth principle required nothing short of the Life and Death of Christ to dislodge it. Even David, on another occasion, betrayed something very much like the spirit of revenge (1Ki 2:9). However, before us we have a beautiful instance of forgiveness, when the maxim, De mortuis nil nisi bonum, was certainly not in the ascendant.
2. Moreover, David not only gave vent to his grief in the utterances of this elegy; but he taught it to the people. This arose from his generous desire that Israel should remember the greatness of Saul.
3. The object of teaching this dirge to the people was that they might remember it and repeat it. In the same way, the Lamentations of Jeremiah are repeated by the Jews at the Wailing Place with weeping, and thus the recollection of their sins and miseries is perpetuated. David willed that the memory of his predecessor should live in the hearts of the people.
4. David weeping over Saul is a type of Christ weeping over Jerusalem which rejected Him.
II. David’s lament over Jonathan.
1. This was the climax of his grief, the bitterest element in the cup of sorrow.
2. David’s sorrow arose from the friendship which existed between him and Jonathan (1Sa 18:1). Similarly, Jacob’s love for Benjamin is described (Gen 44:30). But this was outside all family ties. Strangers found in each other what they could not find in the domestic circle. This romantic form of love played a conspicuous part in the ancient world. Poets, artists, and philosophers made it their subject. Christianity has been taunted with its disregard of friendship. Yet the wider circles of love did not obliterate, in the heart of Christ, that. love of mutual benevolence which could delight in certain souls through an affinity of natural qualities and feelings. Thus Lazarus was a friend of Christ, and St. John the disciple whom Jesus loved.
3. But it may be admitted–although there are Christian friendships recorded in the history of the Church, and to be found amongst Christians, which are beautiful and separate from all that is essential or merely sentimental–that friendship has not the same conspicuous place which it had when Aristotle took two books of his Ethics to treat the theme; and there are reasons for this which need not now be discussed. It is sufficient to observe that its rightful value as a form of love is preserved. What it seems to lose in importance, it gains in inward, worth by the consecration it receives from the Christian spirit (Luthardt).
4. The description of Jonathan’s love for David has ever been interpreted as a type of the love of the Christian for Christ, David’s Son and Lord; and the covenant which he made with him, and the way he stripped himself of his robes and weapons (1Sa 18:3-4), to be an image of the covenant with Christ, and the willingness to be stripped of all for His sake. The strong language which depicts the fervour of natural affection is a vehicle to describe the intensity and transforming character of Christian love.
Lessons:
1. To try to learn the lesson–hard for flesh and blood, but possible through the grace of the Holy Spirit, not only to forgive, but to love those who have injured us. Though Saul had sought David’s life, David wept over Saul’s death.
2. To learn from the friendship between Jonathan and David, and the value which has been set upon friendship, how important is the choice of friends. How the influence may be powerful either for good or evil which comes from companionship: With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with a perfect man thou shalt be perfect; so the opposite, With the froward thou shalt learn forwardness (Psa 18:25-26).
3. All human friendship must be subordinate to the love of that Friend who laid down His life for us, and who is faithful when all others desert us. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
Death of Saul and Jonathan
I. A Good Chance Will Not Ensure A Successful Career. Be thankful for an open path to success. But be cautious. Education, fortune, and friends will not make a man. That, his own energy and faithfulness must do. The world’s competition makes short work of external advantages, and a good chance makes more conspicuous poor achievement. Indeed, the kindest choice may be the adversity which puts men on their mettle, calling out that earnestness and thoroughness which the world loves to honour. A thousand times it has been proved that he who will succeed, can; a thousand times, that the fairest opportunity may be thrown away by reckless or impotent or unwise favourites of fortune.
II. Divine help will not secure success. What more could Heaven have done for this king with a ruined life? And are there none in these days for whom God seems to have done everything? Their very birth was into blessings. How sacred influences have sung over their cradles, and rocked them to sleep in a fond mother’s arms. How friends have taken them by the hand, wise to counsel, patient to bear, helpful to instruct. And God has come very near. It is almost impossible for a youth to grow up in a Christian land without feeling strongly and persuasively the claim of God upon him. Companions, older friends, become Christians. He joins them and catches the inspiration. He knows God has come to him, and thinks he has come to God. Is it genuine? Will it last? Each of us knows some Saul who has fought against Heaven’s kindness to accomplish his own ruin. Divine love cannot save an unwilling heart.
III. Entire consecration to God is the only assurance of a successful career. Saul’s ruin sprang from his disobedience. Absolute surrender to God, unquestioning and unswerving obedience, would have fixed his will and enthroned the good in his nature. Though God gives opportunity, man must use it. Special Divine favours heap up condemnation, if not met with a consecrated will. The Divine purpose may use a bad man against his will and without his profit. There is no sadder sight than the gradual breaking down of a lofty soul under the influence of unresisted temptation. Religious impressions are not religious principles. Good and evil dwell together in every soul; character is determined, not by our sensitiveness to their influence, but by our choice. How do I know but that now some of you may be hesitating before great temptations–to use for yourselves that which is not yours; to break over the pure and sacred laws which control the relations of man and woman? That way lies death. The laws of God cannot be overcome. Though you lived a king, shame would defile you, gloom and fear gather about your last hours. But to the wise, God increaseth knowledge; to the obedient He addeth strength. On this earth they have peace and honour; among the angels, before the face of God, eternal blessedness. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. David lamented] See this lamentation, and the notes on it at the end of this chapter. 2Sa 1:21.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
17, 18. David lamented with thislamentationIt has always been customary for Eastern people, onthe death of great kings and warriors, to celebrate their qualitiesand deeds in funeral songs. This inimitable pathetic elegy issupposed by many writers to have become a national war song, and tohave been taught to the young Israelites under the name of “TheBow,” in conformity with the practice of Hebrew and manyclassical writers in giving titles to their songs from the principaltheme (Psa 22:1; Psa 56:1;Psa 60:1; Psa 80:1;Psa 100:1). Although the words”the use of” are a supplement by our translators, they maybe rightly introduced, for the natural sense of this parentheticalverse is, that David took immediate measures for instructing thepeople in the knowledge and practice of archery, their greatinferiority to the enemy in this military arm having been the maincause of the late national disaster.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son. Composed the following elegy on account of their death, and sung it in a tune agreeable to it, he and the men that were with him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
David’s elegy upon Saul and Jonathan. – An eloquent testimony to the depth and sincerity of David’s grief for the death of Saul is handed down to us in the elegy which he composed upon Saul and his noble son Jonathan, and which he had taught to the children of Israel. It is one of the finest odes of the Old Testament; full of lofty sentiment, and springing from deep and sanctified emotion, in which, without the slightest allusion to his own relation to the fallen king, David celebrates without envy the bravery and virtues of Saul and his son Jonathan, and bitterly laments their loss. “He said to teach,” i.e., he commanded the children of Judah to practise or learn it. , bow; i.e., a song to which the title Kesheth or bow was given, not only because the bow is referred to (2Sa 1:22), but because it is a martial ode, and the bow was one of the principal weapons used by the warriors of that age, and one in the use of which the Benjaminites, the tribe-mates of Saul, were particularly skilful: cf. 1Ch 8:40; 1Ch 12:2; 2Ch 14:7; 2Ch 17:17. Other explanations are by no means so natural; such, for example, as that it related to the melody to which the ode was sung; whilst some are founded upon false renderings, or arbitrary alterations of the text, e.g., that of Ewald (Gesch. i. p. 41), Thenius, etc. This elegy was inserted in “the book of the righteous” (see at Jos 10:13), from which the author of the books of Samuel has taken it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| David’s Lamentation for Jonathan. | B. C. 1055. |
17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: 18 (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) 19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. 26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 27 How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
When David had rent his clothes, mourned, and wept, and fasted, for the death of Saul, and done justice upon him who made himself guilty of it, one would think he had made full payment of the debt of honour he owed to his memory; yet this is not all: we have here a poem he wrote on that occasion; for he was a great master of his pen as well as of his sword. By this elegy he designed both to express his own sorrow for this great calamity and to impress the like on the minds of others, who ought to lay it to heart. The putting of lamentations into poems made them, 1. The more moving and affecting. The passion of the poet, or singer, is, by this way, wonderfully communicated to the readers and hearers. 2. The more lasting. Thus they were made, not only to spread far, but to continue long, from generation to generation. Those might gain information by poems that would not read history. Here we have,
I. The orders David gave with this elegy (v. 18): He bade them teach the children of Judah (his own tribe, whatever others did) the use of the bow, either. 1. The bow used in war. Not but that the children of Judah knew how to use the bow (it was so commonly used in war, long before this, that the sword and bow were put for all weapons of war, Gen. xlviii. 22), but perhaps they had of late made more use of slings, as David in killing Goliath, because cheaper, and David would have them now to see the inconvenience of these (for it was the archers of the Philistines that bore so hard upon Saul, 1 Sam. xxi. 3), and to return more generally to the use of the bow, to exercise themselves in this weapon, that they might be in a capacity to avenge the death of their prince upon the Philistines, and to outdo them at their own weapon. It was a pity but those that had such good heads and hearts as the children of Judah should be well armed. David hereby showed his authority over and concern for the armies of Israel, and set himself to rectify the errors of the former reign. But we find that the companies which had now come to David to Ziklag were armed with bows (1 Chron. xii. 2); therefore, 2. Some understand it either of some musical instrument called a bow (to which he would have the mournful ditties sung) or of the elegy itself: He bade them teach the children of Judah Kesheth, the bow, that is, this song, which was so entitled for the sake of Jonathan’s bow, the achievements of which are here celebrated. Moses commanded Israel to learn his song (Deut. xxxi. 19), so David his. Probably he bade the Levites teach them. It is written in the book of Jasher, there it was kept upon record, and thence transcribed into this history. That book was probably a collection of state-poems; what is said to be written in that book (Josh. x. 13) is also poetical, a fragment of an historical poem. Even songs would be forgotten and lost if they were not committed to writing, that best conservatory of knowledge.
II. The elegy itself. It is not a divine hymn, nor given by inspiration of God to be used in divine service, nor is there any mention of God in it; but it is a human composition, and therefore was inserted, not in the book of Psalms (which, being of divine original, is preserved), but in the book of Jasher, which, being only a collection of common poems, is long since lost. This elegy proves David to have been,
1. A man of an excellent spirit, in four things:–
(1.) He was very generous to Saul, his sworn enemy. Saul was his father-in-law, his sovereign, and the anointed of the Lord; and therefore, though he had done him a great deal of wrong, David does not wreak his revenge upon his memory when he is in his grave; but like a good man, and a man of honour, [1.] He conceals his faults; and, though there was no preventing their appearance in his history, yet they should not appear in this elegy. Charity teaches us to make the best we can of every body and to say nothing of those of whom we can say no good, especially when they are gone. De mortuis nil nisi bonum—Say nothing but good concerning the dead. We ought to deny ourselves the satisfaction of making personal reflections upon those who have been injurious to us, much more drawing their character thence, as if every man must of necessity be a bad man that has done ill by us. Let the corrupt part of the memory be buried with the corrupt part of the man–earth to earth, ashes to ashes; let the blemish be hidden and a veil drawn over the deformity. [2.] He celebrates that which was praiseworthy in him. He does not commend him for that which he was not, says nothing of his piety or fidelity. Those funeral commendations which are gathered out of the spoils of truth are not at all to the praise of those on whom they are bestowed, but very much the dispraise of those who unjustly misplace them. But he has this to say in honour of Saul himself, First, That he was anointed with oil (v. 21), the sacred oil, which signified his elevation to, and qualification for, the government. Whatever he was otherwise, the crown of the anointing oil of his God was upon him, as is said of the high priest (Lev. xxi. 12), and on that account he was to be honoured, because God, the fountain of honour, had honoured him. Secondly, That he was a man of war, a mighty man (v. 19-21), that he had often been victorious over the enemies of Israel and vexed them whithersoever he turned, 1 Sam. xiv. 47. His sword returned not empty, but satiated with blood and spoil, v. 22. His disgrace and fall at last must not make his former successes and services to be forgotten. Though his sun set under a cloud, time was when it shone brightly. Thirdly, That take him with Jonathan he was a man of a very agreeable temper, that recommended himself to the affections of his subjects (v. 23): Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant. Jonathan was always so, and Saul was so as long as he concurred with him. Take them together, and in the pursuit of the enemy, never were men more bold, more brave; they were swifter than eagles and stronger than lions. Observe, Those that were most fierce and fiery in the camp were no less sweet and lovely in the court, as amiable to the subject as they were formidable to the foe; a rare combination of softness and sharpness they had, which makes any man’s temper very happy. It may be understood of the harmony and affection that for the most part subsisted between Saul and Jonathan: they were lovely and pleasant one to another, Jonathan a dutiful son, Saul an affectionate father; and therefore dear to each other in their lives, and in their death they were not divided, but kept close together in the stand they made against the Philistines, and fell together in the same cause. Fourthly, That he had enriched his country with the spoils of conquered nations, and introduced a more splendid attire. When they had a king like the nations, they must have clothes like the nations; and herein he was, in a particular manner, obliging to his female subjects, v. 24. The daughters of Israel he clothed in scarlet, which was their delight.
(2.) He was very grateful to Jonathan, his sworn friend. Besides the tears he shed over him, and the encomiums he gives of him in common with Saul, he mentions him with some marks of distinction (v. 25): O Jonathan! thou wast slain in thy high places! which (compared with v. 19) intimates that he meant him by the beauty of Israel, which, he there says, was slain upon the high places. He laments Jonathan as his particular friend (v. 26): My brother, Jonathan; not so much because of what he would have been to him if he had lived, very serviceable no doubt in his advancement to the throne and instrumental to prevent those long struggles which, for want of his assistance, he had with the house of Saul (had this been the only ground of his grief it would have been selfish), but he lamented him for what he had been: “Very pleasant hast thou been unto me; but that pleasantness is now over, and I am distressed for thee.” He had reason to say that Jonathan’s love to him was wonderful; surely never was the like, for a man to love one who he knew was to take the crown over his head, and to be so faithful to his rival: this far surpassed the highest degree of conjugal affection and constancy. See here, [1.] That nothing is more delightful in this world than a true friend, that is wise and good, that kindly receives and returns our affection, and is faithful to us in all our true interests. [2.] That nothing is more distressful than the loss of such a friend; it is parting with a piece of one’s self. It is the vanity of this world that what is most pleasant to us we are most liable to be distressed in. The more we love the more we grieve.
(3.) He was deeply concerned for the honour of God; for this is what he has an eye to when he fears lest the daughters of the uncircumcised, that are out of covenant with God, should triumph over Israel, and the God of Israel, v. 20. Good men are touched in a very sensible part by the reproaches of those that reproach God.
(4.) He was deeply concerned for the public welfare. It was the beauty of Israel that was slain (v. 19) and the honour of the public that was disgraced: The mighty have fallen (this is three times lamented, (2Sa 1:19; 2Sa 1:25; 2Sa 1:27), and so the strength of the people is weakened. Public losses are most laid to heart by men of public spirit. David hoped God would make him instrumental to repair those losses and yet laments them.
2. A man of a fine imagination, as well as a wise and holy man. The expressions are all excellent, and calculated to work upon the passions. (1.) The embargo he would fain lay upon Fame is elegant (v. 20): Tell it not in Gath. It grieved him to the heart to think that it would be proclaimed in the cities of the Philistines, and that they would insult over Israel upon it, and the more in remembrance of the triumphs of Israel over them formerly, when they sang, Saul has slain his thousands; for this would now be retorted. (2.) The curse he entails on the mountains of Gilboa, the theatre on which this tragedy was acted: Let there be no dew upon you, nor fields of offerings, v. 21. This is a poetical strain, like that of Job, Let the day perish wherein I was born. Not as if David wished that any part of the land of Israel might be barren, but, to express his sorrow for the thing, he speaks with a seeming indignation at the place. Observe, [1.] How the fruitfulness of the earth depends upon heaven. The worst thing he could wish to the mountains of Gilboa was barrenness and unprofitableness to man: those are miserable that are useless. It was the curse Christ pronounced on the fig-tree, Never fruit grow on thee more, and that took effect–the fig-tree withered away: this, on the mountains of Gilboa, did not. But, when he wished them barren, he wished there might be no rain upon them; and, if the heavens be brass, the earth will soon be iron. [2.] How the fruitfulness of the earth must therefore be devoted to heaven, which is intimated in his calling the fruitful fields fields of offerings. Those fruits of their land that were offered to God were the crown and glory of it: and therefore the failure of the offerings is the saddest consequent of the failure of the corn. See Joel i. 9. To want that wherewith we should honour God is worse than to want that wherewith we should sustain ourselves. This is the reproach David fastens upon the mountains of Gilboa, which, having been stained with royal blood, thereby forfeited celestial dews. In this elegy Saul had a more honourable interment than that which the men of Jabesh-Gilead gave him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
David’s Elegiac Tribute, vs. 17-27
David sorrowed deeply over the death of Saul and Jonathan. Even though Saul had sought to kill him, David had respected him and appreciated the time when Saul had brought him into his court and given him a wider opportunity to advance. Jonathan had been like an older brother to David, and they had been closer than brothers. This is the first poetic expression of David in the Bible, and it was popular enough to find its place in the book of Jasher, an often-mentioned book no longer extant. Verse 18 probably contains the name of the lament, “The Bow,” which David commanded be taught to the children of Judah. A probable mistranslation has obscured the name.
The lament itself begins in verse 19. The beauty, or youth of Israel, have perished on the hills of Gilboa, and the mighty king and princes have fallen there in battle. It is sad news, and David does not want it to be told in the cities of victorious Philistia, Gath and Askelon, lest they rejoice at Israel’s downfall. A curse is uttered on mount Gilboa that there be no dew nor rain on it and that it produce no grain for the meat offerings because of the awful thing which has occurred there. Modern Jews in Israel have a saying that there was no rain on mount Gilboa from David (the king) to David (Ben Gurion), referring to the reforestation program of Prime Minister David Ben Gurion whereby the mount was reforested. To them this is a restoration of God’s blessing on the land.
The prowess and bravery of Saul and Jonathan are next lauded. These men of great courage did not turn away from the battle, and their swords were always used to advantage against the enemy. Jonathan’s loyalty to his father is praised in verse 23, he remaining by his father’s side even when he knew he was wrong and to his eventual death. The young ladies of Israel should praise them, for the good Saul accomplished for Israel has enabled them to acquire the finery they loved.
The refrain is noted in verses 25 and 27, “How are the mighty fallen!” In the closing lines David gives special praise to Jonathan, who had so often befriended him and even saved his life, and with whom he had made a covenant of peace regarding his children. Theirs was a strong bond of comradeship, and not effeminate love, like that of women. The older man Jonathan and the younger man David had great respect for each other.
Some lessons to emphasize: 1) Eventually bad news can be expected of those who defy and rebel against God; 2) death is a time to remember the good things of the deceased and be thankful for them; 3) a lie will never gain anything of lasting value for the liar, and to persist in it will bring judgment on the perpetrator; 4) sorrow may be turned to song when one remembers the blessings of the Lord, even amid trials and troublous times.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.
2Sa. 1:17. LamentedLamentation. These words must be understood in a technical sense. This lamentation has a peculiar interest as being the only specimen preserved to us of Davids secular poetry. (Bib. Commentary.)
2Sa. 1:18. The bow. This is the name given to the dirge probably on account of its warlike character. The use of. These words are improperly inserted in the English version. The Book of Jasher. Or, the book of the righteous or the upright ones. It was in existence before the Books of Joshua and Samuel (Jos. 10:13), and contained (judging from the extracts) a collection of songs on specially remarkable events of the Israelitish history, together with a celebration of the prominently pious men whose names were connected with these events. (Erdmann.). Other conjectures have been formed about this book, but they appear unworthy of attention.
2Sa. 1:19. The ode (which here begins) is arranged in three strophes, which gradually dimiuish in force and sweep (viz., 2Sa. 1:19-27), and in which the vehemence of sorrow is gradually modified, and finally dies away. Each strophe opens with the exclamation, How are the mighty fallen! The first contains all that had to be said in praise of the fallen heroes; the deepest mourning for their death, etc. The second commemorates the friendship between David and Jonathan. The third simply utters the last sigh, with which the elegy becomes silent. (Kiel.)
2Sa. 1:19. Some read the first stanza, Thy glory, O Israel, upon thy heights (is) slain. De Wette, Kitto, Stanley, and others, for glory read gazelle, and Ewald refers it to Jonathan. But this, says Erdmann, in the absence in the song of any comparison with the gazelle, or any allusion to its swiftness and agility, is untenable, because the song speaks throughout not of one hero but of two. As the composition has the ring of a hero song in honour of these two, who were, in fact, the hero glory of Israel, we must render the word glory, ornament.
2Sa. 1:20. Gath, Askelon. These two Philistine cities as the most prominent, are named for the whole land, which they represent (Gath very near, Askelon at a distance on the sea.) (Erdmann.) Lest the daughter, etc. Referring to the Oriental custom of the celebration of victories by the women of the nation. (1Sa. 18:6, etc.)
2Sa. 1:21. Fields of offerings, or of first-fruits, i.e., fields from which were taken the first-fruits, which were, of course, the most fruitful. The last clause of this verse should be read without the italics in the authorised versionThe shield of Saul not anointed with oil. It was customary to clean and polish the shield with oil (see Isa. 21:5), and this expression denotes its defilement and unfitness for war consequent upon the defeat of its owner.
2Sa. 1:24. With delights, or with lovelinesses; i.e., in a lovely manner. (Keil.) Al the adornments here enumerated were probably the spoils of war.
2Sa. 1:25. O Jonathan. Davids union of heart with his friend differences this lament sharply from the foregoing over him and Saul as heroes. (Erdmann.)
2Sa. 1:27. Weapons of war. Not the materials of warfare but the heroes themselves.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.2Sa. 1:17-27
DAVIDS LAMENT OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN
I. The truly great can separate the man and the enemy. We cannot do David the injustice to suppose that any of the language which he here uses is anything but the expression of the feelings of his heartthat any word of praise which occurs here is used merely for effect, or is an exaggeration of what he felt to be truth. How, then, was it possible for him so to regard the man who had now for so many years made him an exilewho had made his youth and early manhood a season of unceasing anxiety and danger? To be able honestly to render such a tribute to Sauls memory, David must have been able to look at the man quite apart from the treatment which he had received from himto put entirely aside the hatred with which he knew Saul regarded him, and to look at him not only without prejudice but with pity, and thus sincerely to mourn over his sins and his sorrows.
II. The truly great think their own advancement as nothing compared with Gods honour. The first and ruling emotion in the breasts of most men in Davids place would have been.if not gratification at the downfall of an enemy, yet of exultation at being delivered from his persecution and being once more free to return in safety to his native land. And with the remembrance of the anointing oil upon his head, no one in whom all thoughts of a personal nature were not swallowed up in anxiety for the public good could have avoided looking forward with anticipation to the issue of this great event. But such a man as David found more matter of mourning in the triumph of the uncircumcised than of rejoicing in his own altered prospects. It was more to him that the God of Israel had been dishonoured in the eyes of the heathen than that the heavy cloud was lifted from his own future. In all his conduct at this time he showed that true nobility which is only possible to him who makes God, and not himself, the centre of the universe.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
I believe it is not dangerous but safe, not a homage to falsehood but to truth, in our judgments of those who are departed, to follow Davids example. We may dwell upon bright and hallowed moments of lives that have been darkened by many shadows, polluted by many sins; these moments may be welcomed as revelations to us of what God intended His creature to be; we may feel that there has been a loveliness in them which God gave them, and which their own evil could not take away. We may think of this loveliness as if it expressed the inner purpose of their existence; the rest may be for us as though it were not. As Nature, with her old mosses and her new spring foliage, hides the ruins which man has made, and gives to the fallen tower and broken cloister a beauty scarcely less than that which belonged to them in their prime, so human love may be at work too, softening and concealing, and busy with her hand in healing the rents that have been made in Gods nobler temple, the habitation of His own Spirit.Maurice.
2Sa. 1:12. The only deep mourning for Saul, with the exception of that of the Jabeshites, proceeded from the man whom he had hated and persecuted for so many years even to the time of his death; just as Davids successor wept over the fall of Jerusalem, even when it was about to destroy himself.Von Gerlach.
2Sa. 1:26. Passing the love of woman? How can that be? we of these days shall say. What love can pass that, saving the boundless love of Him who stooped from heaven to earth that He might die on the cross for us? No. David, when he sang these words, knew not the depth of a womans love. And we shall have a right so to speak. The indefeasible and divine right which is bestowed by fact. As a fact we do not find among the ancient Jews that exalting and purifying ideal of the relations between man and woman which is to be found, thank God, in these days, in almost every British work of fiction or fancy. It is enunciated, remember always, in the oldest Hebrew document. On the very threshold of the Bible it is enunciated in its most ideal purity and perfection. But in practice it was never fulfilled. Abraham had Sarah his princess wife. But he has others. And so has David in like wise, to the grief and harm both of him and Abraham.Kingsley.
If ever to the human heart of David the throne had seemed desirable as the height of worldly grandeur, detestable in the last degree would such a feeling now appear, when the same act that opened it up to him deprived him of his dearest friendhis sweetest source of earthly joy. The only way in which it was possible for David to enjoy his new position was by losing sight of self; by identifying himself more closely than ever with his people; by regarding the throne only as a position for more self-denying labours for the good of others. And in this song there is evidence of the great strength and activity of this feeling. Thus both by the afflictions that saddened his heart and by the stroke of prosperity that raised him to the throne, David was impelled to that course of action which is the best safeguard under God against the baneful influences both of adversity and prosperity.Blaikie.
These words of the song,
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon,
have, since that time, in the circles of the faithful, become a proverb. It is frequently heard when one of their community has failed to take heed to his ways, and therefore has given rise to a scandal. Would that that call were more faithfully observed than is for the most part the case! Would that the honour of the spiritual Zion lay always as near to the heart of the children of the kingdom as did that of the earthly to the heart of David! But how often does it happen that they even strive to disclose before the world the weaknesses of their brethren, and thus, by a repetition of the wickedness of Ham, become traitors to the Church which Christ has purchased with His own blood. Thus they make themselves guilty of bringing dishonour upon the Gospel, while they open the gates to such dishonour through their perhaps altogether malicious tale-bearing, and to their own great prejudice disown the charity which believeth all things, and hopeth all things, and also covereth a multitude of sins.Krummacher.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The Song of the Bow. 2Sa. 1:17-27
17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
18 (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher:)
19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places:
how are the mighty fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath,
publish it not in the streets of Askelon;
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph
21 Ye mountains of Gilboa,
let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you,
nor fields of offerings:
for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been
anointed with oil,
22 From the blood of the slain,
from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan turned not back,
and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
and in their death they were not divided:
they were swifter than eagles,
they were stronger than lions.
24 Ye daughters of Israel,
weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights;
who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.
26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:
very pleasant hast thou been unto me:
thy love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women.
27 How are the mighty fallen,
and the weapons of war perished!
11.
What was the Song of the Bow? 2Sa. 1:18
The Song of the Bow is the name given to lamentation that David wrote at the time of the death of Saul and Jonathan. Why this title is given to this particular passage is not known. There is a mention of the bow in 2Sa. 1:22. It seems better to regard this verse as a notice of the fact that David commanded that the children of Judah learn this song than that he ordered all of them to have training in the actual use of the bow.
12.
What was the book of Jasher? 2Sa. 1:18 b
The book of Jasher was evidently a non-canonical book kept by the Israelites to record the outstanding exploits of their national heroes. This book is mentioned also in Jos. 10:13. The word Jasher comes from a Hebrew root which signifies the upright or the righteous. This is evidently another way of referring to the Israelites by calling them the righteous or upright people.
13.
In whom was the beauty of Israel? 2Sa. 1:19
Later on in the song David refers to Saul and Jonathan being lovely and pleasant in their lives (2Sa. 1:23). He may have been referring to the king of Israel who was indeed a handsome man. He stood head and shoulders above all the other Israelites. More than this David was lamenting the fact that the best young men of all Israel had fallen in battle.
14.
Why did he not want it told in Gath? 2Sa. 1:20
The Philistines had taken Sauls head and sent it around to the various cities of Philistia (1Sa. 31:9). They published it in the house of their idols and among the people. David regretted this and he did not want it told. He was praying that they might not have reason to rejoice in Philistia. He did not want it told in Ashkelon or to see the daughters of Philistines rejoice.
15.
Why did he speak about the mountains of Gilboa? 2Sa. 1:21
The mountain of Gilboa would stand for defeat to the people of Israel from this day forward. It was the place where their first king had fallen in battle. David prayed that there might not be dew or rain upon the mountains. He prayed that there might not be fields of offerings. Evidently he meant that he hoped that there would not be grain to grow, a portion of which might be used for an offering. This was Davids way of saying that the mountain of Gilboa would stand for defeat as Waterloo did for Napoleon.
16.
Did David praise Saul? 2Sa. 1:22
David did praise Saul. David had always praised Saul. He would not condone Sauls sin; he would praise those things worthwhile in the character of Saul. Sauls character, up until the time that he became unmindful of the commandments of God, was worth praising. David said that Saul and Jonathan had been victorious in many battles, They had not come back empty from their campaigns. The bow of Jonathan had turned not back from the blood of the slain or from the fat of the mighty.
17.
What benefits had Israel received from Saul? 2Sa. 1:24
Davids mentioning of the women being clothed in scarlet and other delights indicates that some prosperity had come to Israel because of Sauls reign. David said that he had put on them ornaments of gold which would point to considerable prosperity. Many of Samuels predictions of the nature of the kingdom must have come true. Samuel had said that if Israel had a king they would have to pay taxes (1Sa. 8:10-18). Samuel indicated that a king would become so oppressive that they would cry out for relief. This certainly came true in the days of Rehoboam (1Ki. 12:1-4) when the people of Israel asked for relief from their taxes. Some indication of their chafing under the yoke of the king is seen from the fact that people who were distressed or in debt came to follow David (1Sa. 22:2). These people had to pay for some of the blessings which they had received, but they should have been thankful for the leadership which Saul gave to them.
18.
Why did David speak of Jonathans love? 2Sa. 1:26
Jonathans soul was knit to the soul of David from the time of Davids introduction to Saul after David had killed Goliath (1Sa. 18:1). At that time we read Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Jonathan and David entered into a covenant which was renewed on a number of occasions. They pledged themselves to lifelong loyalty to each other and they also promised that they would not do harm to each others descendants. It was for this reason that David spoke of Jonathans love.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(17) Lamented with this lamentation.This is the technical expression for a funeral dirge or elegy, such as David also composed on the death of Abner (2Sa. 3:33-34), and Jeremiah on the death of Josiah (2Ch. 35:25). It is the only instance preserved to us (except the few lines on the death of Abner) of Davids secular poetry. It is one of the finest odes of the Old Testament, full of lofty sentiment, and springing from deep and sanctified emotion, in which, without the slightest allusion to his own relation to the fallen king, David celebrates without envy the bravery and virtues of Saul and his son Jonathan, and bitterly laments their loss. (Keil.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
DAVID’S LAMENTATION OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN, 2Sa 1:17-27.
17. This lamentation, which evidently sprang from deep and sanctified emotions, is an elegy of surpassing tenderness, and one of the most beautiful odes of the Old Testament. The fallen power and beauty of Israel, as represented by the king and his noble-hearted son, is the poet’s theme, and though that king had burned with a deadly fury towards David, chased him like a partridge in the mountains, and sought his life in many ways, not the slightest trace of resentment or cherished passion, not the most distant allusion to the persecutions which he had suffered from him, appear in all this tender song. It is the pure lamentation of a loving heart that has forgiven and forgotten the injuries of the past, and knows no other feeling than that of profoundest sympathy and sorrow for the heroic dead. “It is almost impossible,” says Dr. Clarke, “to read the noble original without feeling every word swollen with a sigh or broken with a sob. A heart pregnant with distress, and striving to utter expressions descriptive of its feelings, which are repeatedly interrupted by an excess of grief, is most sensibly painted throughout the whole.” We give, as usual in our notes on poetical passages, a new and literal version, in which the order and idiom of the Hebrew original is, as far as possible, exhibited.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David’s Lamentation Over Saul And Jonathan ( 2Sa 1:17-27 ).
In this lamentation the writer crowns the life of Saul and leads on into the life of David. As far as the whole book is concerned Saul was an unfortunate but necessary interlude between the lives of two successful YHWH inspired leaders, Samuel, with whom the book began, and David, who throughout the life of Saul has been trained up and prepared for this moment. This lamentation, in which David reveals how highly he valued both Saul and Jonathan, aptly closes off the life of Saul in readiness for David’s triumph. Except to the cynically minded there is really no doubt that David truly admired Saul and saw him as a great king and war-leader in spite of his faults, an assessment which is clearly reflected in the background to the narratives, narratives which have themselves tended to focus in on Saul’s failures through unbelief.
Furthermore humanly speaking David would never have been the king he was (in spite of his failures) without Saul. It was Saul who introduced him to court life. It was Saul who made him a company commander, and at first encouraged and nurtured his military prowess. It was Saul who then constantly persecuted him and hunted him down and threw him in God. And it was those experiences, together with his time as a shepherd, and as a petty king at Ziklag, that honed him for kingship, and firmly established his faith and trust in YHWH and his consideration towards men.
Analysis (which also gives the poem in full prior to looking at the detail).
a
“Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How are the mighty fallen!” (2Sa 1:17-19).
b
Do not tell it in Gath,
Do not publish it in the streets of Ashkelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.” (2Sa 1:20).
c
“You mountains of Gilboa,
Let there be no dew nor rain upon you,
Nor fields of offerings,
For there the shield of the mighty was vilely soiled,
The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.” (2Sa 1:21).
d
“From the blood of the slain,
From the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.” (2Sa 1:22).
c
“Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
And in their death they were not divided,
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.” (2Sa 1:23).
b
“You daughters of Israel,
Weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet delicately,
Who put ornaments of gold on your clothing.” (2Sa 1:24).
a
“How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan is slain on your high places.
I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan,
Very pleasant have you been to me,
Your love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!” (2Sa 1:25-27)
Note how in ‘a’ the mighty have fallen, and the same occurs twice in the parallel. In ‘b’ the daughters of the Philistines are hopefully to be prevented from singing about the fall of Saul by keeping the knowledge from them, and in the parallel the daughters of Jerusalem are called on to weep over Saul because of what he had done for them. In ‘c’ there was to be mourning because the shield of the mighty had failed, and in the parallel we have the mighty jointly described both before and after their failure. Centrally in ‘d’ we have a eulogy to Saul and Jonathan.
2Sa 1:17
‘ And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son,
The composing of a lamentation over a dead ‘hero’ was a regular practise of those days, for what happened at the time of death was seen as important and it ensured in a small way the ‘survival’ of those spoken of. Through the lamentation they lived on in the memory. It would thus be natural for David, ‘the sweet Psalmist of Israel’ (2Sa 23:1), to compose such a lamentation.
The cynical might see it as partly a political ploy in order to win over the hearts of the Israelites, but there really can be no doubt that there is a genuineness in the words that belies such a thought. It is remarkably free from any edge of bitterness, and from that point of view unnecessarily fulsome. It is indeed quite clear from the lamentation that David genuinely admired both Saul and Jonathan and saw them both as great leaders and warriors, and Saul as overall a great king. It reflects what we have seen previously that to David Saul was ‘the anointed of YHWH’ and that nothing that Saul did to him could dim that appreciation, even though to the writer of the book Saul was a fallen hero.
2Sa 1:18
‘ And he bade them teach the children of Judah ‘The Bow’, behold, it is written in the book of Jashar,’
It is clear from this that the lamentation was included in the Book of Jashar (literally ‘the book of the upright one’, compare Jos 10:13) under the title of ‘The Bow’. It would appear that this was a regularly maintained book containing tributes to famous heroes of Israel, in a similar way to that in which cities kept a special roll of those who had brought most honour to their city (compare Isa 4:3; Psa 69:28; Mal 3:16). That this particular lamentation was given the title of ‘The Bow’ was possibly partly because it was the title already given to it by David in honour of Jonathan the bowman (2Sa 1:22), and partly because to the Benjaminites, who were skilled bowmen, (and were the tribe from which Saul and Jonathan came), the bow represented the highest form of weaponry (1Ch 12:2). It was thus a title of martial honour.
2Sa 1:19
“Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How are the mighty fallen!
In a moving opening tribute David describes Saul and Jonathan as ‘the glory’ of Israel. They were the ones to whom the nation had looked and who had striven to maintain its glory, security and independence, and they had maintained that position honourably. But now ‘the glory of Israel’ was no more. It was slain on the heights of Israel, the mountains of Gilboa. Those who had once been mighty had fallen, and how they had fallen! It is being made clear that it was a national tragedy.
Note how the phrase ‘how are the mighty fallen’ is used as an inclusio. Compare 2Sa 1:27. It also occurs in 2Sa 1:25. It weighed heavily on the heart of David, made more poignant by the death of his beloved Jonathan.
2Sa 1:20
Do not tell it in Gath,
Do not publish it in the streets of Ashkelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. “
David was now concerned lest the streets of the Philistine cities be filled with rejoicing women (in contrast with the lamenting women of Israel in 2Sa 1:24), for it was then the custom for the womenfolk to unite in order to celebrate the victories of their nation by singing and dancing (compare 1Sa 18:6; Exo 15:20-21). Thus he calls for a blanket on the news and the silencing of the criers in the streets of Gath and Ashkelon, the former the Philistine city with which he was most familiar, and the latter closely associated with it on the coast, possibly also as the city to which Saul’s armour had been taken, for it contained a famous Temple of Ashtoreth. The thought of ‘the daughters of the uncircumcised’ celebrating the death of the anointed of YHWH filled David with abhorrence. He saw it as an act of religious defilement. Note that although YHWH is not mentioned in the lamentation, (it is a eulogy, not a religious song), it nevertheless breathes His presence simply because of David’s love for Him.
2Sa 1:21-22
“You mountains of Gilboa,
Let there be no dew nor rain upon you,
Nor fields of offerings,
For there the shield of the mighty was vilely soiled,
The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.”
He next calls on the mountains of Gilboa to bear the brunt of YHWH’s displeasure at what had happened. They had been the scene of the disaster, and had received the blood, and the cast off weapons, of the heroes. Let them therefore from henceforth not receive rain or dew from the heavens (the absence of which was a sign of God’s displeasure), and let them no longer enjoy the fruitfulness that would result in offerings to YHWH. Let them rather be places of perpetual mourning. For this was the place where the shields of Saul and Jonathan had been soiled with their blood at the height of battle, and unanointed because they were dead (it was a regular practise to oil shields after a battle, in order to remove the grime of battle and preserve the material). How then could such ‘guilty’ soil, produce anything that could be pleasing to YHWH?
“Vilely soiled.” That is, with the blood of the heroes. The verb means to cast away, to abhor, and in the niphal (as here) to defile so as to be fit only to be hated and cast away.
It need hardly be pointed out that this was poetic licence indicating David’s feelings. There was no intention that it actually happen to the literal mountains, although he may have felt like it at the time.
2Sa 1:22
“From the blood of the slain,
From the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.”
Centrally in the dirge David now recounts the glory of Saul and Jonathan. They had never returned from battle with their weaponry unused. Rather they would be covered with the blood of those whom they had slain, and with the flesh of the mighty warriors that they had defeated. They never turned back until it was so. They never came back ‘empty’. The description is simply intended to indicate what mighty and intrepid warriors they were.
The descriptions of bow and sword do not mean that Jonathan was essentially only a bowman, although as we know he regularly practised the art. It is simply taking the two principle sophisticated weapons of war and assigning one to each. He may, however, have been looked on as especially adept with the bow, as many Benjaminites were.
2Sa 1:23
“Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
And in their death they were not divided,
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.”
The thought now turns back to the deaths of the two heroes, paralleling verse 21. They had lived lovely and pleasant lives, especially towards each other (at such a time exceptions could be ignored), and as in life, so in death, they were in full accord and not separated. They, as it were, died together in full harmony. The eulogy then continues. They could be compared with advantage to the most voracious of hunters, the swift eagle and the powerful lion, for they were ‘swifter than eagles, stronger than lions’. The speed of an eagle’s strike was renowned, and the lion was seen as the most ferocious of beasts, but as hunters (of men) Saul and Jonathan outdid them both.
2Sa 1:24
“You daughters of Israel,
Weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet delicately,
Who put ornaments of gold on your clothing.”
In contrast with the rejoicing daughters of the Philistines in 2Sa 1:20 David calls on the daughters of Israel to weep over the loss of Saul, reminding them that it was due to his prowess and victories that they had been able to clothe themselves in finery, and be ornamented with gold. It was only the victors who could afford such things for all. They had much to be grateful to Saul for.
2Sa 1:25-27
“How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan is slain on your high places.
I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan,
Very pleasant have you been to me,
Your love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!”
David then closes his dirge off with the same thought with which he had begun, the fall of the mighty (2Sa 1:25; 2Sa 1:27). He had previously singled out Saul to receive the lamentations of the daughters of Israel, now he singles out Jonathan to receive his own lamentations (an evidence of Davidic authorship). Previously it was ‘the glory of Israel’ who had been slain on the high places (2Sa 1:19), now it was specifically Jonathan. And David then goes on to emphasise his own personal distress over Jonathan’s death. It slightly disturbs the balance of the poem but it adequately expresses his own personal grief distress. For the death of his beloved comrade-in-arms had distressed him greatly, and he remembered what a good friend Jonathan had been to him, and especially the love that Jonathan had had for him, that noble love that exceeds that of a woman because it is pure and wholly altruistic. Jonathan had had absolutely nothing to gain by it. It had been freely given. (Again we are not to take it too literally. Some women do love like this as well).
The lamentation then closes with a repetition of the thought of the fall of the mighty already spoken of in 2Sa 1:25, and it is paralleled with the idea of their weapons of war being destroyed because there is no further use for them. Those who would have used them have gone. Alternately we might see ‘the weapons of war’ as indicating Saul and Jonathan. The two ideas in fact go together. The whole poem is magnificent, and exalts Saul and Jonathan, as king and crown prince, to the heights. None could now doubt their glory and splendour, and the dreadfulness of what their deaths meant for Israel (although we can add, had not YHWH raised up David to take their place).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
David’s Lament
v. 17. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan, his son; v. 18. (also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow, v. 19. The beauty, v. 20. Tell it not in Gath, publish, v. 21. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you nor fields of offerings, v. 22. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, v. 23. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant, v. 24. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, v. 25. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places! v. 26. I am distressed for thee, v. 27. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2Sa 1:17. David lamented with this lamentation Let any one but read over this admirable ode, than which there is nothing more elegant and passionate in all antiquity; and he will find the utmost decency and propriety in the concern which David discovers, and the encomiums respectively passed on Saul and Jonathan; nothing but what became the characters of both, and suited the situation of him who penned it. Saul he celebrates for his former victories, his swiftness and strength; and sheds a tear over him for his defeat, and the indignities which were offered to him after his death; which humanity would draw from the eye, even over an enemy, that was otherwise brave, and died fighting for his country; and, what deserves to be mentioned to his honour, without a single reflection upon his past injustice and cruelty towards himself. But as to Jonathan, how just and warm is the grief he manifests! I am distressed for thee, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(17) And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: (18) (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
Probably David, in the first paroxysms of his grief, expressed himself in a strain like those pathetic parts of the elegy which follow. What this book of Jasher means is not generally understood. It hath never been handed down to the Church. And whether the Bow which he commanded to be taught, means the bow of the battle, or of music, I cannot say. The use of the bow was known long before David’s time. Jacob, in his dying moments, spake of the bow of Joseph his son. No doubt in his instance it meant the spiritual armory in Jesus’s salvation. But whether David meant it so I know not. See Gen 49:24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 1:17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
Ver. 17. And David lamented. ] He composed this following elegy, or epitaph, this funeral song: a usual practice among the ancients.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the Song of the Bow
2Sa 1:17-27
This noble poem is unrivaled. It is a perfect model of a funeral dirge. It is in poetry what Hndels Dead March in Saul is in music. The psalmist is borne along both by art and affection. He could not have composed this song unless he had been a consummate artist, and unless he had drunk deep of that divine love which believes, bears, hopes and endures all things and never fails.
He forgets all that he has suffered. His love refuses to consider anything but what has been pleasant and lovely in his liege lord. And for Jonathan there is a special stanza. A brother soul! The Philistines had felt Davids might, but his friend had tasted his sweetness! Terrible as a whirlwind in flight, yet winsome as a woman! But if human love can impute only good to those who are the objects of its affection, what will not Gods love say of us, feel toward us and impute to us! Here is a clue to the exceeding riches of the love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
lamented: 2Sa 1:19, Gen 50:11, 2Ch 35:25, Jer 9:17-21
Reciprocal: Gen 23:2 – mourn Gen 50:10 – seven days Psa 35:14 – I behaved Psa 59:10 – let Psa 141:6 – When their judges Eze 32:16 – General Mic 2:4 – and lament
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 1:17. David lamented with this lamentation He and his servants had lamented over Saul and Jonathan before, 2Sa 1:12. But now he composed a song for a public and universal lamentation, than which there is nothing more elegant and passionate to be found in all antiquity. The bursts of sorrow are so strong, so pathetic, so short, so various, so unconnected, that no grief was ever painted in such living and lasting colours. And it is one sure sign and beautiful effect of this sorrow, that Davids heart was so softened and melted by it as to lose all traces of Sauls cruelty to him. He remembered nothing now but the brave man, the valiant leader, the magnificent prince, the king of Gods appointment, his own once indulgent master, his Michals and his Jonathans father. In the mean time there are the utmost decency and propriety in the concern which David discovers, and in the encomiums respectively passed on Saul and Jonathan; nothing but what became the character of both, and suited the situation of him who penned it. Saul he celebrates for his former victories, his swiftness, and strength, and sheds a tear over him for his defeat, and the indignities which were offered to him after his death; which humanity would draw from the eye, even over an enemy that was otherwise brave, and died fighting for his country; but without the least expression of sorrow for him on his own account; and, what deserves to be mentioned to his honour, without a single reflection upon his past injustice and cruelty toward himself. But as to Jonathan, how just and warm is the grief he manifests! I am distressed for thee, &c. Delaney and Chandler.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 1:17-27. Davids Lament over Saul and Jonathan.This poem is almost universally accepted as the work of David. It was included in the Book of Jashar (Jos 10:12 ff., p. 45), and probably borrowed from that book by the author of one of the documents from which Samuel was composed (p. 273).
Let the evil tidings be kept from the Philistines, lest they triumph over Israel. May Gilboa be accursed. Saul and Jonathan were mighty warriors, united in life and death. Let the Israelite women lament them. Alas for Jonathan.
2Sa 1:18. he bade them . . . bow: the RV insertion of the song of represents a theory that The Bow was the title of the poem: this is hardly likely to be correct. Probably the text is corrupt. The favourite explanation is that 2Sa 1:18 a contains a corruption of the opening words of the poem. Eg., SBOT proposes the following reconstruction of 2Sa 1:18 f.:
Behold it is written in the Book of Jashar.And he said:
Think on calamity, O Judah!
Grieve, O Israel!
On thy heights are the slain;
How are the mighty fallen!
2Sa 1:21. not anointed with oil: i.e. uncared for.
2Sa 1:25. Jonathan is slain upon thy high places: the text and rendering are uncertain; Cent.B, following Budde, proposes to restore 2Sa 1:25 thus:
How are the mighty fallen
In the midst of the battle!
Jonathan, my heart (?) by thy death
Is pierced through.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan 1:17-27
Students of David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan’s deaths have called it the Song of the Bow (cf. 2Sa 1:22). Laments over the deaths of individuals are not uncommon in the Old Testament (cf. 1Ki 13:30; Jer 22:18; Jer 34:5; Eze 28:12-19; Eze 32:2-15). The only other of David’s laments over an individual’s death recorded in Scripture were for Abner, Saul’s commander-in-chief (2Sa 3:33-34), and David’s son Absalom (2Sa 18:33). Many people in Judah learned and sang David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan’s deaths (2Sa 1:18). The Book of Jasher (2Sa 1:18) is no longer extant (cf. Jos 10:13).
"How the mighty have fallen" is the key refrain in the song (2Sa 1:19; 2Sa 1:25; 2Sa 1:27). It forms an inclusio that brackets the entire poem as well as appearing in the middle. The strophes gradually diminish in force with the falling away of the sorrow expressed therein. [Note: C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel, p. 289, argued for three strophes, while William H. Shea "Chiasmus and the Structure of David’s Lament," Journal of Biblical Literature 105:1 (1986):13-25, saw five, and Youngblood, p. 810, seven.] The lament lauds the fallen heroes, mourns their deaths, and praises their bravery, inseparable love, and Saul’s virtues (2Sa 1:19-24). It then expounds David and Jonathan’s friendship (2Sa 1:25-26) and concludes with a final sigh of grief (2Sa 1:27).
Jonathan had remained loyal to Saul as his father and as the Lord’s anointed even though Saul had many faults. The reference to "your beauty" or "your glory" (2Sa 1:19) may be a reference to Jonathan (cf. 1Sa 14:4-5; 1Sa 14:10; 1Sa 14:12-13). One writer believed that the Hebrew word hassebi, translated "your glory" or "your beauty," should be "the gazelle," and that this was a nickname for Jonathan. [Note: David Noel Freedman, "The Refrain in David’s Lament Over Saul and Jonathan," in Ex Orbe Religionum: Studia Geo Widengren Oblata, part 1, p. 120.] Gath and Ashkelon (2Sa 1:20) were the easternmost and westernmost cities in Philistia respectively and therefore probably represent the totality of that nation. [Note: David L. Zapf, "How Are the Mighty Fallen! A Study of 2 Samuel 1:17-27," Grace Theological Journal 5:1 (1984):113.] The Hebrew words translated "beloved" or "loved," and "pleasant" or "gracious" (2Sa 1:23), refer to physical attractiveness and fundamental devotion respectively. They occur again together in 2Sa 1:26 but in reverse order where we read "love" and "pleasant" or "dear."
"Taken together the two words articulate a peculiar and precious bonding with David." [Note: Walter Brueggemann, First and Second Samuel, pp. 216-17.]
Saul’s reign had been good for Israel economically. He had been a source of some blessing because he was God’s anointed even though he also caused sorrow (2Sa 1:24; cf. 1Sa 14:47).
"The separate treatment of Jonathan in a fake coda [2Sa 1:25] subtly shows David’s preference for him [over Saul]." [Note: Zapf, p. 121.]
David considered Jonathan’s love better than that of women (2Sa 1:26). The Hebrew word translated "love" here appears as "friendship" in Psa 109:4-5 (NIV). David was not alluding to some perverted type of love that he shared with Jonathan but to covenant and political loyalty. [Note: See Youngblood, p. 816; and Robert North, "Social Dynamics From Saul to Jehu," Biblical Theology Bulletin 12:4 (1982):112. ] One writer argued that Jonathan’s love for David was tantamount to a homosexual relationship. [Note: T. Horner, Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times.] David probably meant that he and Jonathan enjoyed a oneness that most married couples do not, because of their deep and strong commitment to Yahweh as well as to one another. The "weapons of war" that had perished (2Sa 1:27) may refer to the Israelite soldiers who had perished in the battle. They probably refer to Saul and Jonathan metaphorically (cf. the metaphorical reference to Jonathan in 2Sa 1:19). [Note: See Stanley Gevirtz, "David’s Lament Over Saul and Jonathan," in Patterns in the Early Poetry of Israel, p. 95. For additional studies of this song, see James Kennedy, "David’s Lament over Saul and Jonathan: 2 Samuel 1:19-27," American Journal of Semitic Languages 32 (1916):118-25; William L. Holladay, "Form and Word-Play in David’s Lament over Saul and Jonathan," Vetus Testamentum 20:2 (April 1970):153-89; and William H. Shea, "David’s Lament," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 221 (February 1976):141-44. Gale A. Yee argued that this passage is a parody and was the basis for Isaiah 14:4b-21 in "The Anatomy of Biblical Parody: The Dirge Form in 2 Samuel 1 and Isaiah 14," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 50:4 (October 1988):565-86.]
Even when Saul died, David acted properly toward the Lord’s anointed. This shows his regard for Yahweh’s leadership over Israel. Jonathan would have succeeded Saul on the throne customarily, but now he was dead too. Even though David saw in the deaths of these men the removal of obstacles to his coronation, he did not rejoice. David’s funerary lament over Saul’s death recalls Jesus’ lament over the death of Jerusalem (Mat 23:37-39).
In the Saul and David narrative just completed (1 Samuel 16 -2 Samuel 1) the importance of the anointed one surfaced many times. To be right before God and to enjoy His blessing, one had to respond properly to His anointed. This always holds true, especially concerning God’s anointed, Jesus Christ. As Yahweh’s anointed David was to lead Israel in its battles. David began doing this with a shepherd’s tools rather than with those of a warrior, showing that he would be an ideal leader. He led as a shepherd. Many in Israel, even the royal family of Saul, as well as many outside the nation (among the Philistines, Amalekites, et al.), recognized that God was bringing blessing to Israel through David. Like the ark, David went into exile in Philistia, but the Philistines sent him back because he was a greater threat than a help. This shows that God had been with David as He had been with the ark.
The major conflict between Saul and David in 1 Samuel 16 through 2 Samuel 1 contains eight sub-conflicts: God’s Spirit left Saul and came upon David at his anointing (ch. 16). Goliath and Saul conflicted with David (1Sa 17:1 to 1Sa 18:5). Saul conflicted with David and Saul’s household (1Sa 18:6 to 1Sa 20:42). Saul and Doeg conflicted with David and Israel’s priests (chs. 21-22). Saul conflicted with David in the wilderness (chs. 23-26). Saul and his heirs conflicted with the Philistines (chs. 27-29). The Amalekites conflicted with David (ch. 30). Finally Saul and Jonathan conflicted with the Philistines (1 Samuel 31 -2 Samuel 1).
The basic conflict between Saul and David recalls the one between Samuel and Eli’s sons. Saul was the epitome of what Israel wanted in a king. David, on the other hand, was the youngest son in his family, a shepherd, and even a surprise to Samuel as God’s choice. David became what the ark had been earlier in 1 Samuel: the source of blessing for the godly and of trouble for the ungodly. He was largely the fulfillment of Hannah’s desire for an anointed one (1Sa 2:10). [Note: Martin, pp. 39-40.]
Both Samuel (1 Samuel 7) and David (1Sa 17:1 to 1Sa 18:5) defeated the Philistines who had no regard for Yahweh, though they did acknowledge His power. In contrast, Saul was never able to do so except with Jonathan’s help. Only those deeply committed to Yahweh could overcome His enemies (cf. Mar 9:14-29).