2 Samuel 1:25

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 1:25-27. O Jonathan, slain in thy high places — He says thy, for they were in Jonathan’s country; and, had not his father disinherited him by his sins, in his dominions. Thus David’s grief, which began with Jonathan, naturally ends with him. It is well known that we lament ourselves in the loss of our friends; and David was no way solicitous to conceal this circumstance. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan — In the former part of this lamentation David celebrates Jonathan as a brave man, in the latter he laments him as a friend. And in this respect he had certainly as great obligations to him as ever man had to another. For, as he here observes, Jonathan’s love to him was indeed wonderful, passing the love of women. And the weapons of war perished — All military glory gone from Israel! “It may be the work of fancy in me,” says Dr. Delaney, “but to me, I own, this last stanza is the strongest picture of grief I ever perused. To my ear every line in it is either swelled with sighs, or broken with sobs. The judicious reader will find a break in the first line of it, very probably so left in the original, the writer not being able to find an epithet for Jonathan answering to the idea of his distress.” Our translators have supplied the interjection O! O Jonathan, stabbed in thy high places! “To conclude: Few have ever perused this lamentation with so little attention as not to perceive it evidently animated with a spirit truly martial and magnanimous! It is the lamentation of a brave man over brave men. It is, in one word, a lamentation equally pathetic and heroic. To this may be added, it is not less generous. For in the most noble spirit David passes over in entire silence all the ill-treatment which he, and his friend Jonathan on his account, had received from Saul; he does not make the most distant allusion to it, but seems through the whole song to strive to conceal every thing that might cast any reflection upon him.” The lines we promised are as follows: —

“Mid the throng’d phalanx, where the battle press’d,

The bow of Jonathan, infuriate, burn’d;

Nor e’er, from slaughter’s sanguinary feast,

The sword of Saul unsatiated return’d!

All eyes, all hearts, admired the lovely pair,

The princely parent and the pious son;

Whom life united, not divided are

In death, whose dire catastrophe is one.

With rapid pinion through th’ aerial plain

The lightning eagle flies, but swifter they;

Strong is the monarch of the wood’s domain,

But more their might indignant o’er the prey.

Ye weeping nymphs, attune the mourning lyre

To solemn strains of sympathetic wo;

Daughters of Israel, who the brave admire,

Bid for the brave the lay funereal flow!

‘Twas Saul returning from the battle’s toils,

Triumphant chief! amidst his warriors bold,

Who crown’d your beauties with Philistia’s spoils,

Who deck’d your charms with diamonds and gold,”

For the rest, see the Arminian Magazine for June 1811.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:17-27 Kasheth, or the bow, probably was the title of this mournful, funeral song. David does not commend Saul for what he was not; and says nothing of his piety or goodness. Jonathan was a dutiful son, Saul an affectionate father, therefore dear to each other. David had reason to say, that Jonathan's love to him was wonderful. Next to the love between Christ and his people, that affection which springs form it, produces the strongest friendship. The trouble of the Lord's people, and triumphs of his enemies, will always grieve true believers, whatever advantages they may obtain by them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

How are the mighty fallen - The recurrenee of the same idea 2 Samuel 1:19, 2 Samuel 1:25, 2 Samuel 1:27 is perfectly congenial to the nature of elegy, since grief is fond of dwelling upon the particular objects of the passion, and frequently repeating them. By unanimous consent this is considered one of the most beautiful odes in the Bible, and the generosity of David in thus mourning for his enemy and persecutor, Saul, enhances the effect upon the mind of the reader.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24-27. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, &c.—The fondness for dress, which anciently distinguished Oriental women, is their characteristic still. It appears in their love of bright, gay, and divers colors, in profuse display of ornaments, and in various other forms. The inmost depths of the poet's feeling are stirred, and his amiable disposition appears in the strong desire to celebrate the good qualities of Saul, as well as Jonathan. But the praises of the latter form the burden of the poem, which begins and ends with that excellent prince.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which were in thy country, and (had not thy father disinherited thee by his sins) in thy dominions.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!.... The mighty and valiant men of war, the common soldiers as well as their general officers, whose loss David mourns, and the repetition of shows how much it affected him:

O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places; in the high places of the land of Israel, the mountains of Gilboa, which though high, and in his own country, could not protect him from his enemies, and from falling by their hands: he who had been so valiant and victorious a prince, and yet he fell, not in an enemy's country, but his own.

Geneva Study Bible

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places] O Jonathan, slain upon thine high places! The insertion of thou wast weakens the force and pathos. Cp. 2 Samuel 1:19. The hero of a hundred fights, slain at last in those mountain strong-holds of his country which he had once won and defended so successfully (1 Samuel 14).

2 Samuel 1:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The second strophe (2 Samuel 1:25 and 2 Samuel 1:26) only applies to the friendship of Jonathan:

25 Oh how are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!

Jonathan (is) slain upon thy heights!

26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:

Thou wast very kind to me:

Stranger than the love of woman was thy love to me!

2 Samuel 1:25 is almost a verbal repetition of 2 Samuel 1:19. צר (2 Samuel 1:26) denotes the pinching or pressure of the heart consequent upon pain and mourning. נפלאתה, third pers. fem., like a verb הל with the termination lengthened (vid., Ewald, 194, b.), to be wonderful or distinguished. אהבתך, thy love to me. Comparison to the love of woman is expressive of the deepest earnestness of devoted love.