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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 1:19 - 1:19
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The ode is arranged in three strophes, which gradually diminish in force and sweep (viz., 2Sa 1:19-24, 2Sa 1:25-26, 2Sa 1:27), and in which the vehemence of the sorrow so gradually modified, and finally dies away. Each strophe opens with the exclamation, “How are the mighty fallen!” The first contains all that had to be said in praise of the fallen heroes; the deepest mourning for their death; and praise of their bravery, of their inseparable love, and of the virtues of Saul as king. The second commemorates the friendship between David and Jonathan. The third simply utters the last sigh, with which the elegy becomes silent. The first strophe runs thus:
19 The ornament, O Israel, is slain upon thy heights!
Oh how are the mighty fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph!
21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let now dew or rain be upon you, or fields of first-fruit offerings:
For there is the shield of the mighty defiled,
The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.
23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and kind, in life
And in death they are not divided.
Lighter than eagles were they; stronger than lions.
24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in purple with delight;
Who put a golden ornament upon your apparel!
The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! The first clause of 2Sa 1:19 contains the theme of the entire ode. הַצְּבִי does not mean the gazelle here (as the Syriac and Clericus and others render it), the only plausible support of which is the expression “upon thy heights,” whereas the parallel גִּבֹּורִים shows that by הַצְּבִי we are to understand the two heroes Saul and Jonathan, and that the word is used in the appellative sense of ornament. The king and his noble son were the ornament of Israel. They were slain upon the heights of Israel. Luther has given a correct rendering, so far as the sense is concerned (die Edelsten, the noblest), after the inclyti of the Vulgate. The pronoun “thy high places” refers to Israel. The reference is to the heights of the mountains of Gilboa (see 2Sa 1:21). This event threw Israel into deep mourning, which commences in the second clause.