23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their lives, Even in their death were not divided; They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle."
Behold, he cometh up as clouds, and his chariots are as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are destroyed.
And it came to pass, when he had ended speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
And he said to him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, and not apprise me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
And the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines smote Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers came up with him; and he was much terrified by the archers. Then said Saul to his armour-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through with it; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armour-bearer would not; for he was much afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. And when his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on his sword, and died with him.
And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was swift of foot, as one of the gazelles that are in the field.
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, son of a valiant man, great in exploits, of Kabzeel: he it was that smote two lions of Moab; and he went down and smote a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.
And of the Gadites, there separated themselves to David in the stronghold in the wilderness mighty men of valour, men fit for the service of war, armed with shield and spear; whose faces were [like] the faces of lions, and who were swift as the gazelles upon the mountains:
They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey.
The lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Samuel 1
Commentary on 2 Samuel 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Second Book of Samuel
Chapter 1
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 he 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,
2Sa 1:1-10
Here is,
2Sa 1:11-16
Here is,
2Sa 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 to lay it to heart. The putting of lamentations into poems made them,