2 Samuel 1:16-27 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:11-16

Here is, I. David's reception of these tidings. So far was he from falling into a transport of joy, as the Amalekite expected, that he fell into a passion of weeping, rent his clothes (2 Sam. 1:11), mourned and fasted (2 Sam. 1:12), not only for his people Israel and Jonathan his friend but for Saul his enemy. This he did, not only as a man of honour, in observance of that decorum which forbids us to insult over those that are fallen, and requires us to attend our relations to the grave with... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:17-27

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:16

And David said unto him, thy blood be upon thy head ,.... The blood that he had shed, let him suffer for it; for as he had shed blood, his blood ought to be shed, according to the law of God; and for proof of this, that he had so done, he appeals to his own confession: for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed ; and what might serve to confirm the truth of what he had said were the crown and bracelet which he brought along with him; and besides... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:17

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. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:18

(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow ,.... These words, with what follow in this verse, are rightly put into a parenthesis, since they do not begin nor make any part of the elegiac song, or lamentation of David; and are here inserted to show, that, amidst his sorrow and lamentation, he was not unmindful of the welfare of the people, and to provide for their defence and security; and therefore gave orders that care should be taken, especially in the tribe of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:19

The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places ,.... 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: how are the mighty fallen ! mighty men of war, strong and valiant, as Saul and his sons were, and the soldiers in his army. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:20

Tell it not in Gath ,.... One of the five principalities of the Philistines, and the chief of them, being raised to a kingdom, and whose king was at the head of the armies of the Philistines that engaged with Saul. This is not to be understood of a command of David, who could not hinder the victory the Philistines had got over Israel being known at Gath, and talked of with pleasure there, but a wish it had not: publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon ; another of the principalities... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:21

Ye mountains of Gilboa ,.... On which fell Saul and his sons, and many of the people of Israel, 2 Samuel 1:6 , let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you ; which is not to understood as a real imprecation; for David would never curse any part of the land of Israel, for which he had so great a regard; but only as a poetical figure, expressing his concern for, and abhorrence of what happened on those mountains; much less did this in reality take place, as some have... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:22

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back ,.... That is, it always did execution, the arrows shot frown it pierced into men, shed their blood, and slew them; even they entered into the fat of the mighty, or mighty ones, that were fat, and brought them down; so the arrows of the Medes and Persians, the expert men among them, are said not to return in vain, Jeremiah 50:9 , and the sword of Saul returned not empty ; but was the means of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:23

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... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:11-16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:17-27

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:23

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