2 Samuel 1:23 Komentář

In the close of the foregoing book (with which this is connected as a continuation of the same history) we had Saul's exit; he went down slain to the pit, though we was the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. We are now to look towards the rising sun, and to enquire where David is, and what he is doing. In this chapter we have, I. Tidings brought him to Ziklag of the death of Saul and Jonathan, by an Amalekite, who undertook to give him a particular narrative of it (Sa2 1:1-10). II. David's sorrowful reception of these tidings, (Sa2 1:11, Sa2 1:12). III. Justice done upon the messenger, who boasted that he had helped Saul to dispatch himself (Sa2 1:13-16). IV. An elegy which David penned upon this occasion (Sa2 1:17-27). And in all this David's breast appears very happily free from the sparks both of revenge and ambition, and he observes a very suitable demeanour.

This chapter contains an account of the death of Saul and Jonathan, as related to David by an Amalekite, Sa2 1:1; of the sorrow he and his men were filled with at the news of it, Sa2 1:11; of his order to put to death the messenger that brought the tidings, for his concern in the death of Saul, according to his own testimony, Sa2 1:13; and of a lamentation composed by David on this occasion, Sa2 1:17.

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,.... To one another, had no quarrel or difference with each other, only on the account of David; otherwise they agreed together in the court, and in the camp, in their councils, and in their conduct: and in their death they were not divided; neither from the people, nor from one another; Jonathan stuck close by his father to the last; which is observed to clear him from any imputation of conspiracy against him: they were swifter than eagles; in the quick dispatch of business, in hasting to the relief of the distressed, as Saul to the men of Jabeshgilead, and in the pursuit of their enemies, as of the Philistines, more than once: they were stronger than lions; fighting with their enemies, who became an case prey to them; and what is stronger than a lion among beasts? Jdg 14:18; or swifter than an eagle among birds, which is said to cut the air with its wings (x)? (x) Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 15. c. 22. Vid. Ciceron. de Divinatione, l. 2. prope finem.

An Amalekite comes to David, and informs him that the Philistines had routed the Israelites; and that Saul and his sons were slain, Sa2 1:1-4. And pretends that he himself had despatched Saul, finding him ready to fall alive into the hands of the Philistines, and had brought his crown and bracelets to David, Sa2 1:5-10. David and his men mourn for Saul and his sons, Sa2 1:11, Sa2 1:12. He orders the Amalekite, who professed that he had killed Saul, to be slain, Sa2 1:13-16. David's funeral song for Saul and Jonathan, Sa2 1:17-27.

AN AMALEKITE BRINGS TIDINGS OF SAUL'S DEATH. (2Sa. 1:1-16) David had abode two days in Ziklag--Though greatly reduced by the Amalekite incendiaries, that town was not so completely sacked and destroyed, but David and his six hundred followers, with their families, could still find some accommodation.

David's Conduct on Hearing of Saul's Death. His Elegy upon Saul and Jonathan - 2 Samuel 1 David received the intelligence of the defeat of Israel and the death of Saul in the war with the Philistines from an Amalekite, who boasted of having slain Saul and handed over to David the crown and armlet of the fallen king, but whom David punished with death for the supposed murder of the anointed of God (vv. 1-16). David mourned for the death of Saul and Jonathan, and poured out his grief in an elegiac ode (Sa2 1:17-27). This account is closely connected with the concluding chapters of the first book of Samuel.

In death as in life, the two heroes were not divided, for they were alike in bravery and courage. Notwithstanding their difference of character, and the very opposite attitude which they assumed towards David, the noble Jonathan did not forsake his father, although his fierce hatred towards the friend whom Jonathan loved as his own soul might have undermined his attachment to his father. The two predicates, נאהב, loved and amiable, and נעים, affectionate or kind, apply chiefly to Jonathan; but they were also suitable to Saul in the earliest years of his reign, when he manifested the virtues of an able ruler, which secured for him the lasting affection and attachment of the people. In his mourning over the death of the fallen hero, David forgets all the injury that Saul has inflicted upon him, so that he only brings out and celebrates the more amiable aspects of his character. The light motion or swiftness of an eagle (cf. Hab 1:8), and the strength of a lion (vid., Sa2 17:10), were the leading characteristics of the great heroes of antiquity. - Lastly, in Sa2 1:24, David commemorates the rich booty which Saul had brought to the nation, for the purpose of celebrating his heroic greatness in this respect as well. שׁני was the scarlet purple (see at Exo 25:4). "With delights," or with lovelinesses, i.e., in a lovely manner.