2 Samuel 1:17 - Meaning and Application

When David had torn his clothes, mourned, wept, and fasted for Saul’s death, and had also done justice on the man who admitted guilt in it, one might think he had fully paid the debt of honor he owed Saul’s memory. But that is not all. Here we have a poem David wrote on that occasion, for he was a skilled writer as well as a skilled warrior. Through this lament, he meant both to express his own grief over this great loss and to move others to feel it too, since they also ought to take it to heart.

Putting lamentations into poems made them more moving and more lasting. The poet’s or singer’s feeling reaches readers and hearers more strongly through verse. And poems spread farther and last longer, so they can pass from one generation to the next. People who would not read history might still learn from poems.

David also gave instructions along with this lament (2 Samuel 1:18). He ordered that the men of Judah, his own tribe, be taught “the bow.” This may mean the use of the bow in war. The men of Judah already knew how to use bows, since bows and swords were common military weapons long before this (Genesis 48:22). But perhaps they had recently relied more on slings, like David when he killed Goliath, because slings were cheaper. David may have wanted them to return more fully to the bow, because the Philistine archers had pressed hard on Saul (1 Samuel 31:3), and Judah needed to be ready to avenge their prince and defeat the Philistines at their own weapon.

It was a pity if men with such good minds and hearts as Judah’s were not well armed. In this way, David showed his authority over Israel’s armies and his concern for them. He also worked to correct the mistakes of the former reign. But we find that the companies who came to David at Ziklag were armed with bows (1 Chronicles 12:2). So some understand this “bow” in another way, either as a musical instrument with that name, to which the mourning song was to be sung, or as the lament itself. Then David was telling them to teach the children of Judah this “Song of the Bow,” named for Jonathan’s bow and the deeds connected with it.

Moses had commanded Israel to learn his song (Deuteronomy 31:19), and David did the same here. He likely gave this task to the Levites, the tribe set apart for temple service. The song was written in the book of Jasher, where it was kept and later copied into this history. That book was probably a collection of public poems. What is said to be written there in Joshua 10:13 is also poetic, a piece from an old historical poem. Songs would have been forgotten if they had not been written down, and writing is the best way to preserve knowledge.

This lament is not a divine hymn. It was not given by inspiration for use in worship, and it does not even mention God. It is a human composition, so it was placed not in the book of Psalms, which is of divine origin and preserved, but in the book of Jasher, which was only a collection of common poems and is now lost. Yet the lament shows David to have been a man of excellent spirit in several ways.

He was very generous toward Saul, his sworn enemy. Saul was his father-in-law, his king, and the Lord’s anointed. So although Saul had deeply wronged him, David did not take revenge on his memory after death. Like a good and honorable man, he hid Saul’s faults. Though Saul’s sins could not be kept out of the history, they should not be made part of this lament. Charity teaches us to think the best of others and to say nothing bad about the dead when we can say nothing good. We should not get the pleasure of making personal attacks on people who hurt us, still less use that to build a whole character against them, as if any man who wrongs us must therefore be a bad man. Let the corrupt part be buried with the corrupt man, earth to earth, ashes to ashes. Let the blemish be covered, and a veil drawn over the deformity.

David also praised what was worthy in Saul. He did not claim virtues Saul did not have, and he said nothing about Saul’s piety or faithfulness. Funeral praise built on lies does not honor the dead at all, and it reflects badly on the living who give it. But David did honor Saul in true ways. First, Saul had been anointed with oil (2 Samuel 1:21), the holy oil that marked him as chosen and fitted for rule. Whatever Saul was otherwise, the crown of God’s anointing oil was on him, and that alone deserved honor, because God, the source of honor, had honored him. Second, Saul was a man of war, a mighty man (2 Samuel 1:19-21). He had often won victories over Israel’s enemies and troubled them wherever he went, so that his sword did not return empty, but was filled with blood and plunder (2 Samuel 1:22). His last disgrace must not make us forget his earlier successes and service. Though his sun set in darkness, there was a time when it shone brightly.

Third, taken together with Jonathan, Saul was a man of a pleasant and winning temper, one that drew the love of his people (2 Samuel 1:23). Saul and Jonathan were “lovely and pleasant.” Jonathan was always like that, and Saul was so whenever he was in agreement with him. In battle, they were both bold and brave, swifter than eagles and stronger than lions. Those who were fiercest in the camp were no less gracious in the court. They were as pleasing to their subjects as they were terrifying to their enemies. That rare blend of gentleness and strength made their temper a happy one. This may also point to the harmony and affection that usually existed between Saul and Jonathan. Jonathan was a dutiful son, Saul an affectionate father. They were dear to each other in life, and in death they were not divided, but stood together against the Philistines and fell in the same cause.

Fourth, Saul had enriched his country with the spoils of conquered nations and brought in a richer style of dress. When Israel had a king like the nations, they also had clothing like the nations, and in this Saul was especially kind to the women of Israel (2 Samuel 1:24). He clothed the daughters of Israel in scarlet, which was a delight to them.

Besides the tears David had already shed over Saul and Jonathan, he gives Jonathan, David’s dear friend and Saul’s son, a special place of honor. He says, “O Jonathan, you were slain on your high places” (2 Samuel 1:25), which points back to “the beauty of Israel” that he said had fallen (2 Samuel 1:19). David mourns Jonathan as his personal friend, saying, “My brother Jonathan” (2 Samuel 1:26).

He is not grieving only because Jonathan might have been useful to him if he had lived, though Jonathan likely would have helped him greatly in his rise to the throne and might have spared him many struggles with Saul’s family. If that were his only reason, the grief would have been selfish. Instead, David grieves for what Jonathan had already been to him: “You were very dear to me, and now that sweetness is gone, and I am in distress for you.” Jonathan’s love was truly remarkable. He loved the man who would take the crown from Saul’s house, and he stayed loyal to that rival all the way through. That was greater than the strongest marriage love and faithfulness.

From this we learn that nothing in this world is more pleasant than a true friend, one who is wise, good, warmly affectionate, and faithful in all that truly matters. We also learn that nothing is more painful than losing such a friend. It feels like losing part of ourselves. This is one of the sorrows of life, that the things most dear to us are often the things we are most likely to lose. The more deeply we love, the more deeply we grieve.

David was also deeply concerned for God’s honor. That is why he fears that “the daughters of the uncircumcised,” people outside God’s covenant, will rejoice over Israel and over the God of Israel (2 Samuel 1:20). People who truly love God feel insults against Him very deeply.

He was also deeply concerned for the public good. “The beauty of Israel” had been struck down (2 Samuel 1:19), and the nation’s honor had been shamed. “The mighty have fallen” is repeated three times (2 Samuel 1:19, 2 Samuel 1:25, 2 Samuel 1:27), showing how much the nation’s strength had been weakened. People who care for the public good feel public losses strongly. David hoped God would use him to help repair those losses, yet he still mourned them.

David was also a man of strong imagination, as well as a wise and holy man. His words are all beautiful and aimed at stirring deep feeling. His wish that no report of the defeat should be carried to Gath is especially striking (2 Samuel 1:20). It pained him to think the Philistines would hear of it and mock Israel, especially since Israel had once sung of victory over them, saying Saul had killed thousands. That old song would now be turned back against them.

His curse on the mountains of Gilboa, where the battle took place, is also powerful: “Let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings” (2 Samuel 1:21). This is poetic speech, like Job’s wish that the day of his birth should perish. David was not really asking that any part of Israel become barren. He was showing the depth of his sorrow by speaking as if he were angry with the place itself.

Notice two things here. First, the fruitfulness of the earth depends on heaven. The worst thing David can wish on Gilboa is that it become barren and useless to people. Those are truly miserable places, the places that serve no good purpose. Christ used similar language when He cursed the fig tree, saying that no fruit should grow on it again, and the tree withered.

Second, the earth’s fruitfulness is meant to serve God. That is why David speaks of “fields of offerings,” fields whose produce would be brought to God. The crops offered to God were the land’s crown and glory. So when the harvest fails, the loss of offerings is a sad part of that failure. To lack what we should use to honor God is worse than to lack food for ourselves. David’s words lay this shame on the mountains of Gilboa, which had been stained with royal blood and so seemed to have lost their right to heaven’s dew. In this lament, Saul receives a more honorable burial in David’s song than he did from the men of Jabesh-Gilead.