19<\/strong>. The beauty of Israel<\/em>, &c.] Better, Thy beauty<\/strong> (lit. the beauty<\/em>), O Israel, upon thine high places is slain.<\/strong> Saul and Jonathan are thus described as the chief ornament and honour of Israel. The word translated glory<\/em> may also mean roe<\/em> or gazelle<\/em>, a rendering which is adopted by some commentators, who refer it to Jonathan. There is not however any satisfactory evidence to shew that Jonathan’s personal beauty and swiftness of foot in attack or retreat had gained for him among the troops the name of ‘the Gazelle,’ as Ewald supposes ( Hist. of Israel<\/em>, III. 30), and as the elegy celebrates both Saul and Jonathan, the opening word cannot be limited to the latter only.<\/p>\n thy high places<\/em> ] Gilboa is meant. The expression suggests the extremity of the disaster, when the mountain-strongholds of the land were forced and their defenders slain. Cp. note on ch. 2Sa 22:34<\/span>.<\/p>\n The beauty … – <\/B>i. e. Saul and Jonathan who were the chief ornament and pride of Israel, and slain upon high places 2Sa 1:25<\/span>, namely, on Mount Gilboa.<\/P> <\/p>\n 2Sa 1:19-20<\/span><\/p>\n The beauty of Israel is slain.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The fall of Christians<\/strong><\/p>\n We have here an illustration of the degenerating influences of sin upon the character of Christians, and the lamentable effects in the eyes of the world.<\/p>\n How are the mighty fallen!–<\/strong><\/p>\n The death of the great<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>How is the mighty fallen!–fallen under the superior power of death!–Death, the king of terrors, the conqueror of conquerors; whom riches cannot bribe, nor power resist; whom goodness cannot soften, nor dignity and loyalty deter, or awe to a reverential distance. Death intrudes into palaces as well as cottages; and arrests the monarch as well as the slave. How astonishing and lamentable is the stupidity of mankind! Can the natural or the moral world exhibit another phenomenon so shocking and unaccountable? Death sweeps off thousands of our fellow-subjects every year. Our neighbours, like leaves in autumn, drop into the grave, in a thick succession; and our attendance upon funerals is almost as frequent and formal as our visits of friendship or complaisance. Yet how few realise the thought that they must die! Pilgrims and strangers imagine themselves everlasting residents; and make this transitory life their all, as if earth was to be their eternal home; as if eternity was but a fairy land, and heaven and hell but majestic chimeras.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Since the <\/strong>mighty is fallen, how vain are all things beneath <\/strong>the <\/strong>sun! Vanity of vanities; all is vanity! How unworthy the hopes, how inferior to the desires, how unequal to the duration of human nature! Who then art thou, who settest thine affections on things below? Dost thou value thyself on thy birth? Dost thou value thyself on thy riches? Dost thou value thyself on thy power? Dost thou glory in thy constancy, humanity, affection to thy friend; justice, veracity, popularity, universal love? If even kings cannot extract perfect happiness from things below; if the gross, unsubstantial, and fleeting enjoyments of life are in their own nature incapable of affording pure, solid, and lasting felicity, must we not all despair of it? Yet such a happiness we desire; such we need; nay, such we must have; or our very existence will become our curse, and all our powers of enjoyment but capacities of pain. And where shall we seek for it? where, but in the supreme Good? But though crowns, and thrones, and kings, though stars, and suns, and worlds, sink into promiscuous ruin, there is one gift of Heaven to mankind which shall survive; which shall flourish and reign for ever; a gift little esteemed or solicited, and which makes no brilliant figure in mortal eyes; I mean religion. Religion! Thou brightest ornament of human natural Thou fairest image of the Divine! Thou sacred spark of celestial fire, which now glimmers with but a feeble lustre; but will shine bright in the night of affliction; will irradiate the thick gloom of death, and blaze out into immortality in its native element! This will be an unfailing source of happiness, through the revolutions of eternal ages. These majestic trifles are not the tests of real worth, nor the badges of Heaven’s favourites: it is religion that marks out the happy man; that distinguishes the heir of an unfading crown; who, when the dubious conflict of life is over, shall inherit all things, and sit in triumph for ever with the King of kings, and Lord of lords. (S. Davies, A. M<\/em>.)<\/p>\n The beauty of Israel; <\/B>their flower and glory, Saul and Jonathan, and their army, consisting of young and valiant men. <\/P> Upon thy high places, <\/B>i.e. those which belong to thee, O land of Israel. <\/P> How are the mighty fallen!<\/B> how strangely! how suddenly! how dreadfully and universally! <\/P> <\/p>\n 19. The beauty of Israel is slainupon thy high places<\/B>literally, “the gazelle” or”antelope of Israel.” In Eastern countries, that animal isthe chosen type of beauty and symmetrical elegance of form. <\/P> how are the mightyfallen!<\/B>This forms the chorus.<\/P><\/p>\n The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places<\/strong>,…. The high mountains of Gilboa, where Saul their king, and Jonathan his son, a prince of the blood, and natural heir to the crown, and multitudes of young men, the flower of the nation, were wounded and slain. Here begins the lamentation, or the elegiac song:<\/p>\n how are the mighty fallen<\/strong>! mighty men of war, strong and valiant, as Saul and his sons were, and the soldiers in his army.<\/p>\n The ode is arranged in three strophes, which gradually diminish in force and sweep (viz., 2Sa 1:19-24<\/span>, 2Sa 1:25-26<\/span>, 2Sa 1:27<\/span>), and in which the vehemence of the sorrow so gradually modified, and finally dies away. Each strophe opens with the exclamation, “How are the mighty fallen!”<\/em> The first<\/em> contains all that had to be said in praise of the fallen heroes; the deepest mourning for their death; and praise of their bravery, of their inseparable love, and of the virtues of Saul as king. The second<\/em> commemorates the friendship between David and Jonathan. The third<\/em> simply utters the last sigh, with which the elegy becomes silent. The first<\/em> strophe runs thus:<\/p>\n 19 The ornament, O Israel, is slain upon thy heights!<\/p>\n Oh how are the mighty fallen!<\/p>\n 20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon;<\/p>\n Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,<\/p>\n Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph!<\/p>\n 21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let now dew or rain be upon you, or fields of first-fruit offerings:<\/p>\n For there is the shield of the mighty defiled,<\/p>\n The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.<\/p>\n 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,<\/p>\n The bow of Jonathan turned not back,<\/p>\n And the sword of Saul returned not empty.<\/p>\n 23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and kind, in life<\/p>\n And in death they are not divided.<\/p>\n Lighter than eagles were they; stronger than lions.<\/p>\n 24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,<\/p>\n Who clothed you in purple with delight;<\/p>\n Who put a golden ornament upon your apparel! <\/p>\n The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! The first clause of 2Sa 1:19<\/span> contains the theme of the entire ode. does not mean the gazelle here (as the Syriac and Clericus and others render it), the only plausible support of which is the expression “upon thy heights,” whereas the parallel shows that by we are to understand the two heroes Saul and Jonathan, and that the word is used in the appellative sense of ornament<\/em>. The king and his noble son were the ornament of Israel. They were slain upon the heights of Israel. Luther has given a correct rendering, so far as the sense is concerned ( die Edelsten<\/em>, the noblest), after the inclyti <\/em> of the Vulgate. The pronoun “ thy<\/em> high places” refers to Israel. The reference is to the heights of the mountains of Gilboa (see 2Sa 1:21<\/span>). This event threw Israel into deep mourning, which commences in the second clause. <\/p>\n (19) The beauty of Israel,<\/strong> in the sense of the glory or ornament of Israel, referring to Saul and Jonathan. The rendering of the Syriac and some commentators, the gazelle, as a poetic name for Jonathan, is uncalled for, both because the words are spoken of Saul and Jonathan together, and because there is no evidence elsewhere that Jonathan was so called, nor is there any allusion to him under this figure in the song.<\/p>\n Upon thy high places.<\/strong>Comp. 2Sa. 1:21<\/span>; 2Sa. 1:25<\/span>. This line may be considered as the superscription of the whole song.<\/p>\n 19<\/strong>. <\/strong> Gazelle <\/strong> The word primarily means ornament, beauty, <\/em> and is so rendered by the common version and most interpreters. But it also Signifies in many places a gazelle, <\/em> or antelope, <\/em> one of the fleetest and most beautiful of eastern animals. We prefer this rendering here because of its appropriateness and beauty. The allusion is to Jonathan, not to both Saul and Jonathan. This is seen in 2Sa 1:25<\/span>, where, instead of gazelle of Israel, <\/em> we have the name Jonathan. <\/em> Hence the mistake of those who urge that mighty ones <\/em> of one member of the parallelism must be equivalent to the corresponding word of the other. <\/p>\n Thy mountains <\/strong> The mountains of the gazelle. The image is that of a fleet and beautiful animal pierced with arrows, and dead upon its own native heights.<\/p>\n 2Sa 1:19<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> As Jonathan’s death touched David the nearest, it was natural that he should be the first object of his lamentation. Beauty or glory of Israel, slain upon thy high places! <\/em>And to put it out of all doubt that Jonathan <\/em>is here meant, he varies it in a subsequent verse. Jonathan, slain in thine high places! How are the mighty fallen! <\/em>“How untimely and lamentably Jonathan; how sadly and shamefully Saul, by his own hand.” This death, as it was matter of just reproach upon Saul, he knew would be matter of more triumph with the enemy. He could not bear the thought of this infamy to his country and his king; and therefore he breaks out into that beautiful apostrophe; tell it not in Gath, <\/em>&c. for of all things grief is most impatient of reproach and mockery. See Lam 1:21<\/span>. Kennicott would render this verse thus: O beauty of Israel! a warrior on thine high places. <\/em>And he asks, “Can any thing be more worthily conceived, or more happily expressed, than this applause given by David to his dear friend Jonathan,the ornament <\/em>and defence?” <\/em>But how<\/em> are the <\/em>mighty fallen! <\/em>since Saul and Jonathan also are slain in battle. Whoever recollects the preceding history of David, will see the truest nature in his thus breaking forth in the praise of Jonathan only, <\/em>and that without naming him here at first; and then in his decently lamenting the king and the prince together. And that the first break was thus expressive of Jonathan’s praise only, <\/em>is evident from 2Sa 1:25<\/span> where the same words are repeated, and Jonathan’s name is expressly mentioned. But how languid and mean are the several translations of this first exclamation at present! The English translation above is, the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: <\/em>but whose high places? <\/em>And then the lamentation couched in the next words, how are the mighty fallen, <\/em>or slain! <\/em>is entirely anticipated by the term slain, <\/em>which is read in the words before them. It seems, therefore, but reasonable, that we should render the word chalal, <\/em>not as a verb, but as a noun, signifying a warrior; <\/em>which will give beauty not only to this verse, but to another in this celebrated dirge. <\/p>\n (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!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n To offer a comment upon the beauties of this elegy, would be to disgrace it. It is too highly finished in point of language, beauty, simplicity, and the expressions of all the finer feelings of the heart, to receive the smallest addition. But after paying all possible respect to it, as a poem which surpasses everything of the kind to be met with among profane writers, I must still remind the Reader that it falls far short of the other writings of David, and hath no claim to be classed among them. And I hope, indeed, that the pious Reader will discover the vast inferiority in it to everyone of those Psalms, composed under divine inspiration by this sweet Singer in Israel. For what is the subject itself compared to what they contain? The love of Jonathan or the death of Saul, how infinitely doth it shrink to nothing when brought in competition with his love which passeth knowledge, or his death which is the life of the world. Yes, thou blessed Jesus! one thought of thee, and of thy matchless excellency, surpasseth all other meditations as the light of the sun the faint taper of the night. And, if David called upon the daughters of Jerusalem to weep over Saul with tears of love because he clothed them with scarlet, and put on ornaments of gold on their apparel; with what love and tears of holy joy shall we look up to thee, thou precious Redeemer, who hast clothed us with the robe made scarlet in thy blood, and put on the everlasting ornaments of thy salvation, and righteousness, more precious than the gold of Ophir, on our apparel, in which we shall appear before thee, and the Father, in thy courts of bliss forevermore!<\/p>\n 2Sa 1:19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!<\/p>\n Ver. 19. The beauty of Israel.<\/strong> ] Here beginneth this sad sonnet, whereof this verse is the foot, and is therefore repeated. 2Sa 1:25<\/span> ; <\/em> 2Sa 1:27 Junius a<\/em> readeth it, O thou beauty of Israel: which is, saith he, a periphrasis of God, of the land, saith Diodate. Dan 8:9<\/span> ; <\/em> Dan 11:16 In this short song there are many things to be understood as being concise: the expressions of a man grieved for the death of his dear friends, and done in metre, which causeth a cloud. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How are the mighty fallen!<\/strong> ] q.d., <\/em> By a divine hand doubtless, else they could hardly have been over matched: such notable warriors they were. In the remembrance of many that are yet alive at Ostend in the Netherlands, the most warlike soldiers of Europe, whilst they most eagerly contended for that barren plot of land, had, as it were, one common sepulchre, but an eternal monument of their valour. b<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n a<\/em> Est genus lamentationis cycloides.<\/em> – Jun.<\/em> Decus, desiderium, et gloria.<\/em> <\/p>\n b<\/em> Camd., Elis.<\/p>\n beauty = gazelle. Symbolic of beauty and grace. <\/p>\n beauty: 2Sa 1:23, Deu 4:7, Deu 4:8, 1Sa 31:8, Isa 4:2, Isa 53:2, Lam 2:1, Zec 11:7, Zec 11:10 <\/p>\n how are: 2Sa 1:25, 2Sa 1:27, Lam 5:16 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 9:22 – told 2Sa 1:17 – lamented Eze 26:17 – How art Oba 1:5 – how<\/p>\n 2Sa 1:19. The beauty of Israel Hebrew, , hatsebi; the honour, glory, flower, or ornament, meaning Saul and Jonathan, and their army. Delaney understands the expression only of Jonathan, and observes, as Jonathans death touched him nearest, it was natural he should be the first object of his lamentation; and, to put it out of all doubt that Jonathan is meant, he varies the expression in a subsequent verse Jonathan slain in thy high places! The word rendered slain, , chalal, properly means stabbed, and does not appear anywhere to bear the sense that Dr. Kennicott would put upon it, who would understand it as a noun, and not as a participle, and translate it a warrior. How moving a circumstance is this here noticed! Jonathans falling on his own high places! those in which he might naturally have expected safety; those in which he delighted; those in which he had long enjoyed peace and pleasure. Or thine, O land of Israel. How are the mighty fallen How untimely and lamentably Jonathan! How sadly and shamefully Saul by his own hand! How strangely! how unexpectedly! how universally the army! This solemn, noble, and pathetic exclamation of sorrow was probably repeated at the close of every verse of this mournful song.<\/p>\n 1:19 The beauty of Israel is {h} slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!<\/p>\n (h) Meaning Saul.<\/p>\n The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 19. The beauty of Israel, &c.] Better, Thy beauty (lit. the beauty), O Israel, upon thine high places is slain. Saul and Jonathan are thus described as the chief ornament and honour of Israel. The word translated glory may also … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 1:19”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The beauty of Israel. Christianity imparts a distinguishing character to the believer; the moral counterpart of Israel’s separation from the heathen inhabitants that surrounded them, and the evil practices from which they were called.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The beauty of Israel slain. The history of souls proves this possibility.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The beauty of Israel slain in the high places. Many Christians who flourished in the Church while they occupied a lowly position, have had their beauty slain by an ecclesiastical or secular elevation. God’s gems shine best in the shade. But few trees of His growth can challenge the stormy winds of high places.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>The lamentation. How are the mighty fallen, etc.<\/p>\n
V. <\/strong>The church’s proclamation. Tell it not, etc. (The Study<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"