Holy Bible

A man came out of the camp. 2 Samuel 1:2-16 The man who professed to have slain Saul R. Young, M. A. On the day that Saul fell by his own hand, and before his body had been discovered by the Philistines, an Amalekite, passing by, recognised the corpse of the fallen king, and bethought him how best to turn the event to his own advantage. He determined to hasten to David, at Ziklag, and to inform him that, at the king's own request, he had consented to slay him, being persuaded that in any case he must perish, as his wounds were mortal. Thus he hoped to render himself acceptable to David, whose name doubtless was prominently mentioned in popular report as that of the coming king, and who was known moreover to have been injured by Saul. His professed cruelty, ingratitude, and falsehood earned for him, not a reward, but the penalty of death. I. THAT OUTWARD APPEARANCES ARE DECEITFUL. How often are signs of sorrow thus assumed, when the heart within is joyful! How often is a cheerful countenance worn outwardly when the spirit within is broken! Scriptural phrases may be upon the lips of the ungodly, and falsehood may have a "goodly outside." The Lord alone can see into the heart, and can discern between the hypocritical and the sincere. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." II. THAT SYCOPHANTIC ADORATION OF THE FORTUNATE OUGHT NOT TO BE VALUED. The tendency of humanity is to worship the rising sun, to follow whatever fashion may be in vague, be it good or evil. If the inclinations of the leading personages of the day tend towards impiety, then the great mass of the people will be godless; if, on the other hand, the leaders of society condescend to extend their patronage to religion, then the people of the age become generally assiduous attendants on the ordinances of religion. Notwithstanding the genuflections of the Amalekite, David did not accord to him the welcome that he had expected. III. THAT THOUGH EVIL COMMUNICATIONS CORRUPT GOOD MANNERS, ASSOCIATION WITH THE RIGHTEOUS DOES NOT MAKE RIGHTEOUS. This Amalekite came out of the camp of Israel. A worthy parent has often an unworthy child, a godly man is found in union with an ungodly friend. IV. THAT GUILEFUL HEART MAKES CRAFTY TONGUE. There is a world of iniquity in the tongue, and we need to guard against the errors into which it leads us. V. THAT SYCOPHANCY LEADS TO FALSEHOOD. There are three f's closely allied with each other — namely, flattery, fulsomeness, and fiction — that ought to be avoided by the Christian. There are three h's also related to each other, that he should strive to develop, namely humanity, honesty, and honour. VI. THAT EVEN THE MOST HARDENED CRIMINAL TRIES TO PALLIATE HIS OFFENCE. We all attempt to make excuses for our faults and failings, to soften down our guilt, to palliate our offences, to lay cur' sins at the door of others. Is it fear, or a relic of man's better nature, that thus induces men to desire to exculpate themselves in some degree from their crimes? Who can tell? God alone, who "trieth the hearts." VII. THAT THE MOST INGENIOUS EXCUSES, AFTER A STATEMENT HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY MADE, CANNOT INVALIDATE THE FORCE OF THAT STATEMENT. Noting, doubtless, that David was indignant at his treason, the Amalekite answers, when asked by David, "Whence art thou?" "I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite." So futile will be our excuses in the Judgment Day; so vain, indeed, are they often found to be now, even in the light of conscience, not to say in the sight of God. VIII. THAT DECEIT LEADS TO DESTRUCTION SOONER OR LATER. "How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?" No subterfuges or cunningly devised fables can deceive the Almighty, or can prevent Him from giving to every man according to his works. "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." "Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?" IX. THAT HE WHO HAS SOWN THE WIND MUST EXPECT TO REAP THE WHIRLWIND, Saul, contrary to the Divine command, spared a certain portion of the Amalekites, instead of destroying them utterly, as it had been determined, for their sins, that they should be thus severely punished. This very Amalekite may have been one of the captives thus spared; and lo! he comes now in triumph, as it were, in the death of the king whose mercy to the nation of the Amalekites had led to the ruin of Saul himself. "Thus, of our pleasant vices the gods make instruments to scourge us with." "He that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death." X. THAT THE PATH OF HONOUR IS THE PATH OF REAL SUCCESS. In selfishness we often injure self, and with a most shortsighted policy sacrifice a glorious and eternal future for a paltry and fleeting present. ( R. Young, M. A. ) Tidings from Gilboa J. A. Miller. The horrors of the battlefield are far from terminated when the actual encounter is over, and victory has declared in favour of one of the contending parties. The after-scenes are often such as cause humanity to shudder; and to one of the most revolting of these we are introduced by the circumstances under which the tidings of Saul's death first reached David. We refer to the traversing of the field of blood, for the purpose of spoiling and plundering those who can no longer resist the hand of violence. And, probably, it happened in this case — as it has many a time occurred in the annals of robbery and plunder — that the thing stolen has no sooner been actually obtained, than the spoiler finds its possession very inconvenient, on account of its unusual character, or extraordinary value. Wad it been of less splendid material, or of less intrinsic worth, its possession would have excited no remark, and it could have been parted with without difficulty. But a crown and a royal bracelet, which every one would know he could scarcely have acquired by fair means, which every Israelite would recognise as having belonged to his fallen king, and in which the Philistines, too, would have discovered a property to which they, as victors, were entitled, and of which they had been unlawfully deprived by the haste with which he had commenced his predatory excursion on the battle-field — what was to be done with these spoils? It did not answer his purpose to keep them, and yet they were far from being marketable commodities, for the ordinary ways of turning property to account were not available there. It was at this juncture we find him coming to David, and while professing to sympthise with the disgrace of Israel, telling them not only were Saul and his sons dead, but that he himself had put the finishing stroke to his existence; in token of which he stood there as the bearer of the crown and bracelet. The interested part which he had to act accounts for the discrepancy between the recital which he gave, and the narrative previously furnished by the sacred writer. In his own estimation, however, he was taking the surest way to honour and to the advancement of his worldly interests. What reward could be too large for the messenger who brought to David the intelligence of the death of his enemy? — nay , more, who had, by his own hand, put an end to the life of that bitter persecutor? Well contrived as was the plan, it nevertheless failed; and the reason of the failure deserves notice. Many an apparently well-arranged scheme of iniquity has broken through from exactly the same cause. The Amalekite had made a grievous miscalculation as to the character of the man with whom he had to deal. He had done David a gross injustice; and he, doubtless, was not long in discovering his mistake; but then it was quite too late to recede. His mistake was fatal. He was treated as a murderer, on his own confession. He had failed in his scheme for securing his own advantage and aggrandizement, because he had formed altogether a wrong estimate of the character of David. 1. The incident gives us an opportunity of marking the immense difference in the order of mind and character which may subsist between two individuals brought together by one event, and having their attention occupied by one and the same object. And we observe, too, in this instance, a circumstance which is the natural attendant upon this diversity — the incapability, on the part of the possessor of the meaner and inferior order of mental and moral qualities, to enter into the feelings and principles of the possesser of superior endowments. This incapability operates to prevent its unfortunate subject from suspecting the existence, in a fellow-creature, of any other mode of thinking and acting than that which he himself adopts and employs; and it issues, therefore, in the habit of judging all around him by his own standard, and of reckoning that they will be actuated, in their conduct, by the principles which direct his own proceedings. Now, whenever such judgments are formed, and on the same principle, it must be obvious that a considerable amount of personal injustice is perpetrated; and in reference, too, to that very point upon which a well-regulated mind will be most sensitive. To an upright man — to one who exercises himself to have a conscience void of offence towards God — character is a far more momentous consideration than thousands of silver and gold could ever be; and judgments formed on the principles of which this passage reminds us, do injustice to personal character. Nor is it to be wondered at that David should have felt the injustice acutely. For assuredly where, by the Grace of God, a man has been taught the lesson of true self-respect — where he has been enabled, as the child of God, to hold that principle humbly, firmly, and for sanctified purposes — where the Spirit of God has produced moral elevation, and has stamped sin with its real character of debasement and dishonourableness — where these results have been brought about in the moral history of an individual, there is something very humiliating, something peculiarly distressing, because felt to be deeply degrading, in this very circumstance of having been so misunderstood and misjudged, as to have been supposed capable of finding gratification in acting out the principles which rule minds of another order, and of sympathising with the courses to which these principles conduct. There is scarcely a trial which is more hard to endure, or which pierces the heart with so deep a pang, than thus to find one's self standing, in the estimation of a man whose feelings and principles are low, on that same low platform which marks his own moral position, and side by side with himself. It may be said, indeed, that conscious integrity — the personal conviction of uprightness — ought to have a power to heal the pang, that it ought to be enough for a man to know that the judgment formed of him is wrong. But a more delicate perception will discover that it is this very circumstance which occasions the pang, which embitters the trial. It would be no trial but for this consciousness of personal integrity; and in employing this argument as a comfort to the child of God writhing beneath an injurious and unjust supposition, whether implied or expressed, the danger would be, that instead of mitigating the smart, you should only increase the anguish of the wound. The true solace, then, for the heart bleeding at the injustice perpetrated by a false and injurious estimate of character will be found in an intelligent view of those important ends which such a trial is peculiarly calculated to answer, and in yielding to the trial for the sake of the spiritual benefit which it is designed to promote. It may be hard to bear — it will be; yet it will be worth while to have had the spirit wounded by the injustice, and the heart depressed by the injury, if only the principles of gratitude to God, of humility, dependence, and caution, acquire power in the painful process; if only sin become more hateful — self become more completely laid in the dust — and God be more completely glorified. So long as human nature is what it is — so long as men of corrupt minds want excuses for their sins, or sanction and encouragement in the commission of them — so long we must expect that they will find it convenient to form for themselves, and, if necessary, to present to others, a low and unjust estimate of the character of those whom Divine grace has made the subjects of a better nature. But "the Lord taketh part with them that fear Him." 2. But let it not be thought by any that they can with impunity-commit, under any circumstances, the injustice which has now been described. Apart from the injury which they inflict upon religious character by so representing it to themselves or to others, as that it shall be employed as a sanction for their own sins, or as an excuse for their wrong-doing, it must not be forgotten that, supposing the real character of a professor of religion were such as they represent it — supposing that beneath a profession of purity and love, in any instance, there really did exist a cherished impurity and an indulged malignity, from which they might gain encouragement in their plans, and from which they might secretly expect sanction, yet even this would not justify them in sinning. God looks at sinners in their individual capacity, and deals with them as such. Sin is felt by God to be a personal matter in reference to Himself, and nothing can justify its commission; no, not all the suspected hypocrisy, nor all the proved unfaithfulness of professors of religion, with all the imaginary sanction which the one might give, and all the real encouragement which the other would afford. We know, indeed, that the formation of these wrong judgments of character constitutes a chosen method by which the great enemy of souls seeks to entrap men to their own destruction. He belies and misrepresents religion in their view. He suggests that the high standard of a religious profession is a thing of imagination rather than of reality. He whispers stealthily that, notwithstanding the untoward difference between the men whose lives are avowedly under a higher influence and the rest of mankind, it is not very difficult — for a consideration — to induce these very professors, either to act upon a lower, principle themselves, or to give their sanction to those who adopt an inferior standard of religion and morals. He thus removes the checks and restraints which religious example and influence would exert in discouraging the young from evil. He does more; for, by the insinuation and imputation of real sympathy with sin on the part of professors, he gives direct encouragement to evil courses. Having thus, by acting out his character of "accuser of the brethren," produced an impression of personal religion as being hollow and valueless, the enemy of souls next presents some well-adapted temptation — some well-arranged enticement — to secure present advantage by means which involve personal guilt and expose to heavy penalty. The scheme succeeds — the youth falls into the trap prepared for him — the criminal deed is done — the actual guilt is incurred — and then, the tempter's object being gained, conscience is allowed to speak, to make itself heard; and, amidst shame and misery, the discovery is made that the impressions about religion and religious professors which induced to the commission of sin, were wrong after all. Then the victim of the temptation wakes up to learn that there is such a thing as religious principle; that it does produce a stats of mind which holds sin in abhorrence; that it teaches men to press the inquiry for themselves, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" There is a fearful peril which the Scripture exposes to view, and to which nothing will so certainly conduct men as this habit of misjudging the character of the people of God for the purpose of gaining sanction to their own sins. The transition is made from entertaining unjust and low thoughts of the people of God to forming unworthy and degrading views of God Himself; and in the same way that a transgressor finds encouragement and sanction for personal sins in attributing to his fellow-creatures the same vicious motives which rule his own heart, so may he proceed a step further, and imagine that the Creator is altogether such an one as himself. It would seem hardly credible, at first sight, that such an idea could ever find entrance in the human heart; but Omniscience records the fact as the object of its own discovery and censure — proving that there is no length to which the hardening influence of sin will not carry a man. ( J. A. Miller. ) The Amalekite messenger C. Ness. 1. A scrutiny touching the veracity of this Amalekite's long harangue: Though I find some learned men patronising this Amalekite, and purging him from lying to David, saying his story was a real truth, for Saul had indeed fallen upon his own weapon, but his coat of mail had hindered it from piercing deep enough to be so speedily a mortal wound, but that the Philistines might come and catch him alive and abuse him; and though it be said (when his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead) he slew himself ( 1 Samuel 31:5 ). Which yet Dr: Lightfoot senseth thus: When he saw Saul had given himself so deadly a wound, he did the like, and died indeed, but Saul's wound was not of so quick a dispatch, therefore he desired this man to kill him outright. Notwithstanding all this, yet upon a more serious inquest into particulars, this whole story seems more probably to be a pack of lies, one stitched to another for these reasons: — 'Tis altogether improbable, either that Saul, after he had given himself such a deadly wound, whereof he was ready to die, should be able to call him, and spend so many words in talking with him; or that this man should dare to stay so long in this discourse with Saul, seeing he also was fleeing (with the whole army) to save his own life, which he might have lost by making this halt, had the Philistines overtaken him in their pursuit (which Saul feared for himself) during this parley. Nor can it be probable that Saul should desire to die rather by the hands of an uncircumcised Amalekite, than of the uncircumcised Philistines which he so much feared. He could not put any such difference between them, seeing Amalek was more accursed and devoted to destruction than the Philistines. 'Tis expressly said, that Saul fell upon his own sword ( 1 Samuel 31:4 ), but this fellow saith, he fell upon his own spear (ver. 6). 'Tis as expressly said, that Saul's armour-bearer, being yet alive, saw that Saul was dead ( 1 Samuel 31:5 ), which doubtless he would thoroughly know before he did kill himself. Had the armour-bearer been yet alive when Saul called this Amalekite to dispatch him, he would certainly have hindered him from doing that which himself durst not do ( 1 Samuel 31:4 ). Nor could that be more probable, which he told David, "I took the crown that was upon his head" (ver. 10), but looked rather like a lie, for it is not likely Saul would wear his crown upon his head in battle; this would make him a fair mark to his enemies, whom they chiefly aimed at. A wise general will rather disguise himself ( 1 Kings 22:30 ) than be so fondly exposed, etc. The scripture of truth does manifestly ascribe Saul's death to be his own action ( 1 Samuel 31:4, 5 ), even to his failing upon his own sword, which must be of more credit with us, than an artificially composed speech of an accursed Amalekite, who had taught his tongue to tell lies ( Jeremiah 9:5 ), and all to curry favour with David, from whom he promised to himself some great preferment by thus glozing with him. 2. A just hand of God on this Amalekite for his lying. ( C. Ness. ) And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. 2 Samuel 1:17 David's lament W. H. Hutchings, M. A. 1. The Bible has been called "the record of human sorrows," and so it is. There are, however, parts of the sacred Scriptures where the shadows lay thickest, and the notes are ever in the minor key: I refer to the lamentations. What strains in music are more pathetic and moving than those of the "Marcia Funebre"! and when did ever Handel, or Beethoven, or Chopin exercise their genius with greater effect than in those compositions which unveil in sound the secret agony of bereavement! So in Holy Scripture, when the plectrum of the Spirit sweeps across the chords of the human soul in the dark hour of grief, there is something unspeakably touching in the inspired cadences. 2. Such outpourings of grief as are found in the dirge in this lesson, composed by David, may be "highly poetical," and betray the tense condition of the emotions; yet they are not devoid of moral teaching, and vividly depict the affectionate character of him who was a type of "the Man of sorrows." I. DAVID'S LAMENT OVER SAUL. 1. I see in this the spirit of forgiveness. There was enough in Saul's dealings with David to have dulled the poignancy of grief, and even to have called up resentment. David's conduct seems an anticipation of the Christian precept, not only to forgive, but to love your enemies. Forgiveness of injuries, "the flower of charity," was ripened by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, for there was little enough of it in the world before Christ came. I am not forgetting that Solomon said, "It is the glory of a man to pass by a transgression" ( Proverbs 19:11 ). On the other hand, there is a tone of vindictiveness in parts of the Old Testament — in the Psalter, for instance — which reveals a low standard of morality in some respects. The "eye for eye" and "tooth for tooth" principle required nothing short of the Life and Death of Christ to dislodge it. Even David, on another occasion, betrayed something very much like the spirit of revenge ( 1 Kings 2:9 ). However, before us we have a beautiful instance of forgiveness, when the maxim, "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," was certainly not in the ascendant. 2. Moreover, David not only gave vent to his grief in the utterances of this elegy; but he taught it to the people. This arose from his generous desire that Israel should remember the greatness of Saul. 3. The object of teaching this dirge to the people was that they might remember it and repeat it. In the same way, the "Lamentations" of Jeremiah are repeated by the Jews at the "Wailing Place" with weeping, and thus the recollection of their sins and miseries is perpetuated. David willed that the memory of his predecessor should live in the hearts of the people. 4. David weeping over Saul is a type of Christ weeping over Jerusalem which rejected Him. II. DAVID'S LAMENT OVER JONATHAN. 1. This was the climax of his grief, the bitterest element in the cup of sorrow. 2. David's sorrow arose from the friendship which existed between him and Jonathan ( 1 Samuel 18:1 ). Similarly, Jacob's love for Benjamin is described ( Genesis 44:30 ). But this was outside all family ties. Strangers found in each other what they could not find in the domestic circle. This romantic form of love played a conspicuous part in the ancient world. Poets, artists, and philosophers made it their subject. Christianity has been taunted with its disregard of friendship. Yet the wider circles of love did not obliterate, in the heart of Christ, that. "love of mutual benevolence" which could delight in certain souls through an "affinity of natural qualities and feelings." Thus Lazarus was a friend of Christ, and St. John "the disciple whom Jesus loved." 3. But it may be admitted — although there are Christian friendships recorded in the history of the Church, and to be found amongst Christians, which are beautiful and separate from all that is essential or merely sentimental — that friendship has not the same conspicuous place which it had when Aristotle took two books of his "Ethics" to treat the theme; and there are reasons for this which need not now be discussed. It is sufficient to observe that its rightful value as a form of love is preserved. "What it seems to lose in importance, it gains in inward, worth by the consecration it receives from the Christian spirit" (Luthardt). 4. The description of Jonathan's love for David has ever been interpreted as a type of the love of the Christian for Christ, David's Son and Lord; and the covenant which he made with him, and the way he stripped himself of his robes and weapons ( 1 Samuel 18:3, 4 ), to be an image of the covenant with Christ, and the willingness to be stripped of all for His sake. The strong language which depicts the fervour of natural affection is a vehicle to describe the intensity and transforming character of Christian love.Lessons: 1. To try to learn the lesson — hard for flesh and blood, but possible through the grace of the Holy Spirit, not only to forgive, but to love those who have injured us. Though Saul had sought David's life, David wept over Saul's death. 2. To learn from the friendship between Jonathan and David, and the value which has been set upon friendship, how important is the choice of friends. How the influence may be powerful either for good or evil which comes from companionship: "With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with a perfect man thou shalt be perfect;" so the opposite, "With the froward thou shalt learn forwardness" ( Psalm 18:25, 26 ). 3. All human friendship must be subordinate to the love of that Friend who laid down His life for us, and who is faithful when all others desert us. ( W. H. Hutchings, M. A. ) Death of Saul and Jonathan Monday Club Sermons. I. A GOOD CHANCE WILL NOT ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL CAREER. Be thankful for an open path to success. But be cautious. Education, fortune, and friends will not make a man. That, his own energy and faithfulness must do. The world's competition makes short work of external advantages, and a good chance makes more conspicuous poor achievement. Indeed, the kindest choice may be the adversity which puts men on their mettle, calling out that earnestness and thoroughness which the world loves to honour. A thousand times it has been proved that he who will succeed, can; a thousand times, that the fairest opportunity may be thrown away by reckless or impotent or unwise favourites of fortune. II. DIVINE HELP WILL NOT SECURE SUCCESS. What more could Heaven have done for this king with a ruined life? And are there none in these days for whom God seems to have done everything? Their very birth was into blessings. How sacred influences have sung over their cradles, and rocked them to sleep in a fond mother's arms. How friends have taken them by the hand, wise to counsel, patient to bear, helpful to instruct. And God has come very near. It is almost impossible for a youth to grow up in a Christian land without feeling strongly and persuasively the claim of God upon him. Companions, older friends, become Christians. He joins them and catches the inspiration. He knows God has come to him, and thinks he has come to God. Is it genuine? Will it last? Each of us knows some Saul who has fought against Heaven's kindness to accomplish his own ruin. Divine love cannot save an unwilling heart. III. ENTIRE CONSECRATION TO GOD IS THE ONLY ASSURANCE OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER. Saul's ruin sprang from his disobedience. Absolute surrender to God, unquestioning and unswerving obedience, would have fixed his will and enthroned the good in his nature. Though God gives opportunity, man must use it. Special Divine favours heap up condemnation, if not met with a consecrated will. The Divine purpose may use a bad man against his will and without his profit. There is no sadder sight than the gradual breaking down of a lofty soul under the influence of unresisted temptation. Religious impressions are not religious principles. Good and evil dwell together in every soul; character is determined, not by our sensitiveness to their influence, but by our choice. How do I know but that now some of you may be hesitating before great temptations — to use for yourselves that which is not yours; to break over the pure and sacred laws which control the relations of man and woman? That way lies death. The laws of God cannot be overcome. Though you lived a king, shame would defile you, gloom and fear gather about your last hours. But to the wise, God increaseth knowledge; to the obedient He addeth strength. On this earth they have peace and honour; among the angels, before the face of God, eternal blessedness. ( Monday Club Sermons. ) The song of the bow E. Paxton Hood. David, after the bloody battle of Gilboa, in which he lost his old enemy, Saul, and his dear friend, Jonathan, infused into the hearts of the people a spirit of national pride. The words in the text, "the use of," you will notice are not in the original; they are supplied, carefully printed by our translators in italics, to show that they are an interpolation, from the supposition that they were wanted to mark the sense of what followed. In fact, they are not needed. "The Bow" is the title of the poem which is then given, and it would rather read, "Also he bade them teach the children of Israel the song of the bow," — the bow, by which their King and Prince had been slain; the bow, dear to the poet's memory as the means by which the young prince, Jonathan, had saved his friend's life, in that tender story when the unwitting lad through its instrumentality warned him; the bow, by which they were to assert and maintain their nationality. So he taught them not only the use, but he taught the song of the bow. Song filtrates and refines, gives passion and fervour to national feeling, and this, though so old, is a very wonderful song — surely one of the most pathetic and wonderful of all elegies, and it furnishes the key, and gives the fulness to that most wonderful of all funeral wails, the Dead March in Saul. The bow became representative of every kind of furniture of war. Just as bread stands for every kind of food in the Hebrew, so also the bow represents every kind of furniture for war. He turned, therefore, the death of Saul in his song into the means of bringing all the energies, the glowing patriotism of the land, upon national defence. He roused and concentrated the military spirit, and taught them the use, while he taught them the song, of the bow. History is inspiring. The bow, in Scripture, stands for something more than the mere engine of earthly war. Joseph was not a soldier, but it is the grand commendation of his character that "his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the mighty God of Jacob." And you will notice that in the Bible no name becomes permanently great, no name is recorded of sterling and lasting worth, which is not moved by the Spirit of God, and which does not represent a firm compliance with His will. God spoke to each of these old heroes, God separated each, usually early in life. The heart looked up, knew the voice, owned it, and followed it. Life is no more matched and mastered without a struggle, without discipline and endeavour, than you are likely to be accomplished in your service of arms without training and trial. You know we speak of a Standard Bearer, and somebody has said that that means stand hard, and bear well. 2. The Song of the Bow is, therefore, a song of war. In the old Hebrew fashion, this is full of the grief of life. Nature is called, as it were, to put on mourning for the illustrious dead; "Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be on you no dew," no refreshing shower, no bubbling desert spring. It is as if the plants and the woods were called to join in the melancholy wail, and the very flowers to sigh forth their grief; and it is so that in a great and sorrowful deprivation, trees and herbs, flowers and forests are called to sympathise with human sorrow; the rose to blush mournfully, and the anemone and the hyacinth to speak forth in their floral leaves the .tokens of grief, what conquers, what overcomes this. The Song of the Bow is not only the song of battle, discipline, and trial, but a song of victory and triumph. In Christ we adore the God of resurrections. We see Him, indeed, whose bow was made quite naked in the sight of all the tribes; "there brake He the arrows of the bow, the spear, the shield in the battle;" there "He brake the bow, and snapped the spear in sunder." Verily, when I think of the death of Christ and His resurrection, I feel that we may teach the children the Song of the Bow. Life is, indeed, full of resurrections. In many a floral and insect world she seems to exhibit something of the gospel of the resurrection, and hangs over the grave "resurrection lights." From repulsive shells which look for

Benson Commentary 2 Samuel 1:1 Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; 2 Samuel 1:1-2 . David had abode two days in Ziklag — Which, it appears from this, the Amalekites had not so burned down that David and his men could not lodge in it. On the third day — From David’s return to Ziklag. With his clothes rent — As the manner of deep mourners was. 2 Samuel 1:2 It came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. 2 Samuel 1:3 And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. 2 Samuel 1:4 And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. 2 Samuel 1:5 And David said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? 2 Samuel 1:6 And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 2 Samuel 1:6 . Behold, Saul leaned upon his spear — Endeavouring to run it through his body. It is plain, that what this Amalekite told David was a made story; for it is expressly said, in the foregoing chapter, that Saul fell upon his sword. Who this Amalekite was does not appear; but, as Delaney observes, there are always a great number of strollers that follow camps, and this lad probably was one of them. Their business is pillage and stripping the dead. This youth, it seems, knew his business, and got the start of the Philistines in the pillage of Saul. Having met with his body, he robbed it of its royal ornaments, and made the best of his way to David with them, in order to ingratiate himself with him, as he was likely to succeed to the throne: and he made up a story of such circumstances as he imagined would appear plausible, and gain David’s favour. 2 Samuel 1:7 And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. 2 Samuel 1:8 And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. 2 Samuel 1:9 He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. 2 Samuel 1:9 . For anguish is come upon me — The Hebrew word ???? shabats, here rendered anguish, seems to be wrongly translated in this place. It is rendered ocellata chlamys, by Buxtorf, a wrought, embroidered, or speckled coat of mail: a translation which is countenanced by Exodus 28:4 , and Psalm 14:14, where words of the same derivation are rendered broidered coat and raiment of needle-work. The sense of the sentence seems to be, my coat of mail hinders the spear from entering far enough to produce instant death, though my wound is mortal. Thus it is understood by many interpreters. This Amalekite pretended therefore that Saul desired him to draw out the spear from his wound, and to run it through his body with force where the coat of mail would give it a passage. 2 Samuel 1:10 So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord. 2 Samuel 1:10 . So I stood upon him and slew him — Saul, according to the true history, was afraid of being slain by the uncircumcised: and how was the matter mended by desiring to die by the hand of an Amalekite? And I took the crown that was upon his head — “Possibly the serious reader,” says Delaney, “may not think it an observation altogether unworthy of his regard, that an Amalekite now took the crown from Saul’s head, which he had forfeited by his disobedience in relation to Amalek.” 2 Samuel 1:11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him: 2 Samuel 1:12 And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword. 2 Samuel 1:12 . They mourned and wept, and fasted — This is an evident instance of the disinterestedness and tenderness of David’s heart, in that he could not forbear bewailing this melancholy end of Saul, though he was his bitter enemy, and sought his life. 2 Samuel 1:13 And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite. 2 Samuel 1:13-14 . The son of a stranger — This expression signifies one who resided among the Israelites, and had embraced their religion, though not admitted into their communion. David said, How wast thou not afraid to destroy the Lord’s anointed? — Who possibly might have recovered, and been carried off by some of his own men; the Philistines, by some extraordinary providence of God, being diverted from the pursuit. It was the greater presumption in this young man to do it, since none of Saul’s own servants durst venture upon such an act. 2 Samuel 1:14 And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD'S anointed? 2 Samuel 1:15 And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. 2 Samuel 1:15 . He smote him that he died — Abarbinel thinks that, as the man was an Amalekite, David supposed that he had killed Saul out of revenge for the slaughter he had made of the Amalekites. But, if not; if the fact were as this Amalekite stated, and Saul bid him despatch him, “David rightly judged, that Saul had no power over his own life; and, consequently, should not have been obeyed in such a command: God and the state had as much right to his life when he was weary of it as when he most loved it. And, besides all this, it behooved David to vindicate his own innocence to the world, by so public an execution: he might otherwise, perhaps, have been branded with the guilt of employing that wretch to murder his persecutor. David also, doubtless, had it in view to deter others by this example. He consulted his own safety in this, as Cesar is said, by restoring the statues of Pompey, to have fixed his own. This was a wise lecture to princes, and many of them have unquestionably profited by it.” — Delaney. 2 Samuel 1:16 And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD'S anointed. 2 Samuel 1:17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: 2 Samuel 1:17 . David lamented with this lamentation — He and his servants had lamented over Saul and Jonathan before, 2 Samuel 1:12 . But now he composed a song for a public and universal lamentation, than which there is nothing more elegant and passionate to be found in all antiquity. The bursts of sorrow are so strong, so pathetic, so short, so various, so unconnected, that no grief was ever painted in such living and lasting colours. And it is one sure sign and beautiful effect of this sorrow, that David’s heart was so softened and melted by it as to lose all traces of Saul’s cruelty to him. He remembered nothing now but the brave man, the valiant leader, the magnificent prince, the king of God’s appointment, his own once indulgent master, his Michal’s and his Jonathan’s father. In the mean time there are the utmost decency and propriety in the concern which David discovers, and in the encomiums respectively passed on Saul and Jonathan; nothing but what became the character of both, and suited the situation of him who penned it. Saul he celebrates for his former victories, his swiftness, and strength, and sheds a tear over him for his defeat, and the indignities which were offered to him after his death; which humanity would draw from the eye, even over an enemy that was otherwise brave, and died fighting for his country; but without the least expression of sorrow for him on his own account; and, what deserves to be mentioned to his honour, without a single reflection upon his past injustice and cruelty toward himself. But as to Jonathan, how just and warm is the grief he manifests! I am distressed for thee, &c. — Delaney and Chandler. 2 Samuel 1:18 (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) 2 Samuel 1:18 . And bade them teach the children of Judah — Among whom he now was, and over whom he first reigned; the use of the bow — While he made lamentation for the dead, he did not neglect the living: that they might be provided with better means to defend themselves, as the king designed of God to reign over them, he ordered that they should immediately learn to be skilful in the use of bows and arrows, by which principally the Philistines had gained this victory. The Israelites seem hitherto to have chiefly used slings, spears, and swords; but were now taught to shoot with bows and arrows. As, however, the words, the use of, are not in the original, but literally translated it is, He bade them teach the children of Judah the bow; many learned men are of opinion that it was not the use of the bow, which they were to learn, but this song of David, termed The Bow. There does not appear, however, to be any proof that this song bore any such title, nor is any sufficient reason given why it should bear any such. It seems much more probable, for the reason just named, that our translators have given us the true interpretation of the passage. Behold it is written in the book of Jasher — That David enjoined the use of the bow to be taught. It is more largely and particularly described there. Or, if The Bow meant this song, the sense is, that the song was recorded in that book, which some think to have been a book of odes and hymns, in which were recited the successes or misfortunes of the Israelites in battle. 2 Samuel 1:19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 2 Samuel 1:19 . The beauty of Israel — Hebrew, ???? , hatsebi; the honour, glory, flower, or ornament, meaning Saul and Jonathan, and their army. Delaney understands the expression only of Jonathan, and observes, as Jonathan’s death touched him nearest, it was natural he should be the first object of his lamentation; and, to put it out of all doubt that Jonathan is meant, he varies the expression in a subsequent verse — Jonathan slain in thy high places! The word rendered slain, ??? , chalal, properly means stabbed, and does not appear anywhere to bear the sense that Dr. Kennicott would put upon it, who would understand it as a noun, and not as a participle, and translate it a warrior. How moving a circumstance is this here noticed! Jonathan’s falling on his own high places! those in which he might naturally have expected safety; those in which he delighted; those in which he had long enjoyed peace and pleasure. Or thine, O land of Israel. How are the mighty fallen — How untimely and lamentably Jonathan! How sadly and shamefully Saul by his own hand! How strangely! how unexpectedly! how universally the army! This solemn, noble, and pathetic exclamation of sorrow was probably repeated at the close of every verse of this mournful song. 2 Samuel 1:20 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. 2 Samuel 1:20 . Tell it not in Gath, &c. — Such a lamentable misfortune and disgrace, David would, if possible, have concealed from all the enemies of Israel. And he finely insinuates in these words what matter of triumph it would be to the Philistines, and seems scarce able to bear the thought of it, especially as it would be greatly to the dishonour both of God and his people. Lest the daughters, &c. — He mentions these, because it was the custom of women in those times and places to celebrate with triumphal songs and dances those victories which their men obtained. 2 Samuel 1:21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. 2 Samuel 1:21 . Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, &c. — This is not an imprecation, but a passionate expression of the sorrow and horror which he felt at this public disgrace and loss, which were such as if he thought every person or thing which contributed to it ought to bear tokens of the divine displeasure, such as the earth does when it is deprived of the influence of dew and rain. Nor fields of offerings — That is, fertile fields, which may produce fair and goodly fruits fit to be offered to God. For there the shield of the mighty is vilely (that is, dishonourably) cast away — “Throwing away the shield was a matter of the highest reproach in all the accounts of antiquity. And this in the practice of so brave a prince as Saul was an example of terrible consequence, and therefore must not go unreproved, especially in a song which soldiers were to learn. David could not censure Saul; he was his prince and his enemy; the infamy, however, must fall somewhere; let the place in which it happened be accursed. Poetry justifies this, and we need not scruple to say, it is the most masterly stroke the science will admit. And with what inimitable address has he conducted this reproach! For at the same time that the mountains are cursed for it, he hath contrived to turn it into praise upon Saul: There the shield of the mighty was cast away; no hint by whom.” 2 Samuel 1:22 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. 2 Samuel 1:22 . The bow of Jonathan returned not back — Without effect. The arrows shot from his bow did not miss their mark, but pierced deep into the fat and flesh, the heart and bowels, and shed the blood of the mighty. The sword of Saul returned not empty — Always did great execution (as we now speak) upon those with whom he fought. 2 Samuel 1:23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 2 Samuel 1:23 . Saul and Jonathan were lovely — Hebrew, ??????? , hanneehabim, were loved, namely, by each other, and by the people. And pleasant in their lives — Amiable and obliging in their carriage and conversation, both toward one another and toward others: for, as for Saul’s fierce behaviour toward Jonathan, it was only a sudden passion, by which his ordinary temper was not to be measured; and as for his carriage toward David, it proceeded from that jealousy, and those reasons of state, which too often engage even well-natured princes in similar hostilities. And in their death they were not divided — They were united in life and death; in life by the same common affection; in death by the same common fate. This is just what David intends to express. He does not, by any means, appear to design a commendation of their lives in any other respect. Nor does he speak, a word of Saul’s piety; he only commends him for those qualities which he really possessed; a fit pattern for all preachers in their funeral commendations. Dr. Lowth has beautifully expressed David’s meaning: — “Nobile par, quos junxit, amor, quos gloria junxit, Una nunc fato jungit acerba dies.” We will not attempt to give our readers a translation of this elegant couplet, but we will present them below with a paraphrase not inferior, perhaps, in elegance or spirit, on this and two or three of the other stanzas of this elegy, from a poetical version of it by Thomas Roberts, Esq., late of Bristol, with which he has kindly favoured us, and in which both the beauty and force of the original seem to be well imitated. We wish the narrow limits of our work would admit of our inserting the whole. They were swifter than eagles — In pursuing their enemies, and executing their designs: which is a great commendation in a prince, and a requisite quality in a warrior. They were stronger than lions — Or, rather, more courageous than lions. According to Agur’s observation, Proverbs 30:30 , the lion never betakes himself to flight, but faces his foe to the last. Courage then seems the most remarkable property of the lion. And since David uses the same word here in speaking of Saul and Jonathan which Agur uses in speaking of this property of the lion, he evidently means to celebrate the courage of his heroes rather than their strength; and to say that, in facing the enemy and braving of danger, they were undaunted as lions. 2 Samuel 1:24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 2 Samuel 1:24 . Ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep over Saul — “Nothing,” says Dr. Dodd, “can be more elegant than this verse: while the warriors of Israel lamented their chiefs, the divine poet calls upon the women of the land to shed their tears over the ashes of princes, whose warlike exploits had so often procured them those ornaments which are most pleasing to the sex, and had enriched them with the spoils of their enemies.” Who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights — The word other seems to be unnecessarily supplied here by our translators, there being nothing for it in the Hebrew, which, literally rendered, is, Who clothed you in scarlet with delights; that is, in scarlet, wherewith you are so much delighted. For this seems to have been the colour in which the Israelitish women delighted. 2 Samuel 1:25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. 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. 2 Samuel 1:26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 2 Samuel 1:27 How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Samuel 1:1 Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; CHAPTER I. DAVD’S LAMENT FOR SAUL AND JONATHAN. 2 Samuel 1:1-27 . DAVID had returned to Ziklag from the slaughter of the Amalekites only two days before he heard of the death of Saul. He had returned weary enough, we may believe, in body, though refreshed in spirit by the recovery of all that had been taken away, and by the possession of a vast store of booty besides. But in the midst of his success, it was discouraging to see nothing but ruin and confusion where the homes of himself and his people had recently been; and it must have needed no small effort even to plan, and much more to execute, the reconstruction of the city. But besides this, a still heavier feeling must have oppressed him. What had been the issue of that great battle at Mount Gilboa? Which army had conquered? If the Israelites were defeated, what would be the fate of Saul and Jonathan? Would they be prisoners now in the hands of the Philistines? And if so, what would be his duty in regard to them? And what course would it be best for him to take for the welfare of his ruined and distracted country? He was not kept long in suspense. An Amalekite from the camp of Israel, accustomed, like the Bedouin generally, to long and rapid runs, arrived at Ziklag; bearing on his body all the tokens of a disaster, and did obeisance to David, as now the legitimate occupant of the throne. David must have surmised at a glance how matters stood. His questions to the Amalekite elicited an account of the death of Saul materially different from that given in a former part of the history, “As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold Saul leaned upon his spear; and lo, the chariots and the horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me. Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said unto me, Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and slay me, for anguish hath taken hold of me: because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood beside him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen; and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was upon his arm, and have brought them hither to my lord.” There is no reason to suppose that this narrative of Saul's death, in so far as it differs from the previous one, is correct. That this Amalekite was somehow near the place where Saul fell, and that he witnessed all that took place at his death, there is no cause to doubt. That when he saw that both Saul and his armour-bearer were dead he removed the crown and the bracelet from the person of the fallen king, and stowed them away among his own accoutrements, may likewise be accepted without any difficulty. Then, managing to escape, and considering what he would do with the ensigns of royalty, he decided to carry them to David. To David he accordingly brought them, and no doubt it was to ingratiate himself the more with him, and to establish the stronger claim to a splendid recompense, that he invented the story of Saul asking him to kill him, and of his complying with the king's order, and thus putting an end to a life which already was obviously doomed. In his belief that his pretended dispatching of the king would gratify David, the Amalekite undoubtedly reckoned without his host; but such things were so common, so universal in the East that we can hardly divest ourselves of a certain amount of compassion for him. Probably there was no other kingdom, round and round, where this Amalekite would not have found that he had done a wise thing in so far as his own interests were concerned. For helping to dispatch a rival, and to open the way to a throne, he would probably have received cordial thanks and ample gifts from one and all of the neighbouring potentates. To David, the matter appeared in a quite different light. He had none of that eagerness to occupy the throne on which the Amalekite reckoned as a universal instinct of human nature. And he had a view of the sanctity of Saul's life which the Amalekite could not understand. His being the Lord's anointed ought to have withheld this man from hurting a hair of his head. Sadly though Saul had fallen back, the divinity that doth hedge a king still encompassed him. "Touch not mine anointed" was still God's word concerning him. This miserable Amalekite, a member of a doomed race, appeared to David by his own confession not only a murderer, but a murderer of the deepest dye. He had destroyed the life of one who in an eminent sense was "the Lord's anointed." He had done what once and again David had himself shrunk from doing. It is no wonder that David was at once horrified and provoked, - horrified at the unblushing criminality of the man; provoked at his effrontery, at his doing without the slightest compunction what, at an immense sacrifice, he had twice restrained himself from doing. No doubt he was irritated; too, at the bare supposition on which the Amalekite reckoned so securely, that such a black deed could be gratifying to David himself. So without a moment's hesitation, and without allowing the astonished youth a moment's preparation, he caused an attendant to fall upon him and kill him. His sentence was short and clear, “Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed.” In this incident we find David in a position in which good men are often placed, who profess to have regard to higher principles than the men of the world in regulating their lives, and especially in the estimate which they form of their worldly interests and considerations. That such men are sincere in the estimate they thus profess to follow is what the world is very slow to believe. Faith in any moral virtue that rises higher than the ordinary worldly level is extremely rare among men. The world fancies that every man has his price - sometimes that every woman has her price. Virtue of the heroic quality that will face death itself rather than do wrong is what it is most unwilling to believe in. Was it not this that gave rise to the memorable trial of Job? Did not the great enemy representing here the spirit of the world, scorn the notion that at bottom Job was in any way better than his neighbours, although the wonderful prosperity with which he had been gifted made him appear more ready to pay honour to God? It is all a matter of selfishness, was Satan's plea; take away his prosperity, and lay a painful malady on his body, his religion will vanish, he will curse Thee to Thy face. He would not give Job credit for anything like disinterested virtue - anything like genuine reverence for God. And was it not on the same principle the tempter acted when he brought his threefold temptation to our Lord in the wilderness? He did not believe in the superhuman virtue of Jesus; he did not believe in His unswerving loyalty to truth and duty. He did not believe that He was proof at once against the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. At least he did not believe till he tried, and had to retreat defeated. When the end of His life drew near Jesus could say, “The prince of this world cometh, but hath nothing in Me." There was no weakness in Jesus to which he could fasten his cord - no trace of that worldliness by which he had so often been able to entangle and secure his victims. So likewise Simon the sorcerer fancied that he only needed to offer money to the Apostles to secure from , them the gift of the Holy Ghost. "Thy money perish with thee!" was the indignant rebuke of Peter. It is the same refusal to believe in the reality of high principle that has made so many a persecutor fancy that he could bend the obstinacy of the heretic by the terrors of suffering and torture. And on the other hand, no nobler sight has ever been presented than when this incredulous scorn of the world has been rebuked by the firmness and triumphant faith of the noble martyr. What could Nebuchadnezzar have thought when the three Hebrew children were willing to enter the fiery furnace? What did Darius think of Daniel when he shrank not from the lions' den? How many a rebuke and surprise was furnished to the rulers of this world in the early persecutions of the Christians, and to the champions of the Church of Rome in the splendid defiance hurled against them by the Protestant martyrs! The men who formed the Free Church of Scotland were utterly discredited when they affirmed that rather than surrender the liberties of their Church they would part with every temporal privilege which they had enjoyed from connection with the State. Such is the spirit of the world; if it will not rise to the apparent level of the saints, it delights to pull down the saints to its own. These pretences to superior virtue are hypocrisy and pharisaism; test their professions by their worldly interests, and you will find them soon enough on a level with yourselves. The Amalekite that thought to gratify David by pretending that he had slain his rival had no idea that he was wronging him; in his blind innocency he seems to have assumed as a matter of course that David would be pleased. It is not likely the Amalekite had ever heard of David's noble magnanimity in twice sparing Saul's life when he had an excellent pretext for taking it, if his conscience had allowed him. He just assumed that David would feel as he would have felt himself. He simply judged of him by his own standard. His object was to show how great a service he had rendered him, and thus establish a claim to a great reward. Never did heartless selfishness more completely overreach itself. Instead of a reward, this impious murderer had earned a fearful punishment. An Israelite might have had a chance of mercy, but an Amalekite had none - the man was condemned to instant death. One can hardly fancy his bewilderment, - what a strange man was this David! What a marvelous reverence he had for God! To place him on a throne was no favor, if it involved doing anything against “the Lord's anointed!” And yet who shall say that in his estimate of this proceeding David did more than recognize the obligation of the first commandment? To him God's will was all in all. Dismissing this painful episode, we now turn to contemplate David's conduct after the intelligence reached him that Saul was dead. David was now just thirty ( 2 Samuel 5:4 ); and never did man at that age, or at any age, act a finer part. The death, and especially the sudden death, of a relative or a friend has usually a remarkable effect on the tender heart, and especially in the case of the young. It blots out all remembrance of little injuries done by the departed; it fills one with regret for any unkind words one may have spoken, or any unkind deeds one may ever have done to him. It makes one very forgiving. But it must have been a far more generous heart than the common that could so soon rid itself of every shred of bitter feeling toward Saul - that could blot out, in one great act of forgiveness, the remembrance of many long years of injustice, oppression, and toil, and leave no feelings but those of kindness, admiration, and regret, called forth by the contemplation of what was favourable in Saul's character. How beautiful does the spirit of forgiveness appear in such a light! Yet how hard do many feel it to be to exercise this spirit in any case, far less in all cases! How terrible a snare the unforgiving spirit is liable to be to us, and how terrible an obstacle to peaceful communion with God! "For if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." The feelings of David toward Saul and Jonathan were permanently embodied in a song which he composed for the occasion. It seems to have been called "The Song of the Bow," so that the rendering of the Revised Version - "he taught them the Song of the Bow," gives a much better sense than the old - "he taught them the use of the bow." The song was first written in the book of Jasher; and it was ordered by David to be taught to the people as a permanent memorial of their king and his eldest son. The writing of such a song, the spirit of admiration and eulogy which pervades it, and the unusual enactment that it should be taught to the people, show how far superior David was to the ordinary feelings of jealousy, how full his heart was of true generosity. There was, indeed, a political end which it might advance; it might conciliate the supporters of Saul, and smooth David's way to the throne. But there is in it such depth and fullness of feeling that one can think of it only as a genuine cardiphonia - a true voice of the heart. The song dwells on all that could be commended in Saul, and makes no allusion to his faults. His courage and energy in war, his happy co-operation with Jonathan, his advancement of the kingdom in elegance and comfort, are all duly celebrated. David appears to have had a real affection for Saul, if only it had been allowed to bloom and flourish. His martial energy had probably awakened his admiration before he knew him personally; and when he became his minstrel, his distressed countenance would excite his pity, while his occasional gleams of generous feeling would thrill his heart with sympathy. The terrible effort of Saul to crush David was now at an end, and like a lily released from a heavy stone, the old attachment bloomed out speedily and sweetly. There would be more true love in families and in the world, more of expansive, responsive affection, if it were not so often stunted by reserve on the one hand, and crushed by persecution on the other. The song embalms very tenderly the love of Jonathan for David. Years had probably elapsed since the two friends met, but time had not impaired the affection and admiration of David. And now that Jonathan's light was extinguished, a sense of desolation fell on David's heart, and the very throne that invited his occupation seemed dark and dull under the shadow cast on it by the death of Jonathan. As a prize of earthly ambition it would be poor indeed; and if ever it had seemed to David a proud distinction to look forward to, such a feeling would appear very detestable when the same act that opened it up to him had deprived him forever of his dearest friend, his sweetest source of earthly joy. The only way in which it was possible for David to enjoy his new position was by losing sight of himself; by identifying himself more closely than ever with the people; by regarding the throne as only a position for more self-denying labours for the good of others. And in the song there is evidence of the great strength and activity of this feeling. The sentiment of patriotism burns with a noble ardour; the national disgrace is most keenly felt; the thought of personal gain from the death of Saul and Jonathan is entirely swallowed up by grief for the public loss. "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!" In David's view, it is no ordinary calamity that has fallen on Israel. It is no common men that have fallen, but "the beauty of Israel," her ornament and her glory, men that were never known to flinch or to flee from battle, men that were "swifter than eagles, and stronger than lions." It is not in any obscure corner that they have fallen, but "on her high places," on Mount Gilboa, at the head of a most conspicuous and momentous enterprise. Such a national loss was unprecedented in the history of Israel, and it seems to have affected David and the nation generally as the slaughter at Flodden affected the Scots, when it seemed as if all that was great and beautiful in the nation perished - "the flowers o' the forest were a' weed awa'." A word on the general structure of this song. It is not a song that can be classed with the Psalms. Nor can it be said that in any marked degree it resembles the tone or spirit of the Psalms. Yet this need not surprise us, nor need it throw any doubt either as to the authorship of the song or the authorship of the Psalms. The Psalms, we must remember, were avowedly composed and designed for use in the worship of God. If the Greek term psalmoi denotes their character, they were songs designed for use in public worship, to be accompanied with the lyre, or harp, or other musical instruments suitable for them. The special sphere of such songs was - the relation of the human soul to God. These songs might be of various kinds - historical, lyrical, dramatical; but in all cases the paramount subject was, the dealings of God with man, or the dealings of man with God. It was in this class of composition that David excelled, and became the organ of the Holy Ghost for the highest instruction and edification of the Church in all ages. But it does not by any means follow that the poetical compositions of David were restricted to this one class of subject. His muse may sometimes have taken a different course. His poems were not always directly religious. In the case of this song, whose original place in the book of Jasher indicated its special character, there is no mention of the relation of Saul and Jonathan to God. The theme is, their services to the nation, and the national loss involved in their death. The soul of the poet is profoundly thrilled by their death, occurring in such circumstances of national disaster. No form of words could have conveyed more vividly the idea of unprecedented loss, or thrilled the nation with such a sense of calamity. There is not a line of the song but is full of life, and hardly one that is not full of beauty. What could more touchingly indicate the fatal nature of the calamity than that plaintive entreaty - "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon"? How could the hills be more impressively summoned to show their sympathy than in that invocation of everlasting sterility - "Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, or fields of offerings"? What gentler veil could be drawn over the horrors of their bloody death and mutilated bodies than in the tender words, "Saul and Jonathan were loving and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided"? And what more fitting theme for tears could have been furnished to the daughters of Israel, considering what was probably the prevalent taste, than that Saul had "clothed them with scarlet and other delights, and put on ornaments of gold upon their apparel"? Up to this point Saul and Jonathan are joined together; but the poet cannot close without a special lamentation for himself over him whom he loved as his own soul. And in one line he touches the very kernel of his own loss, as he touches the very core of Jonathan's heart - "thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." Such is the Song of the Bow. It hardly seems suitable to attempt to draw spiritual lessons out of a song, which, on purpose, was placed in a different category. Surely it is enough to point out the exceeding beauty and generosity of spirit which sought in this way to embalm the memory and perpetuate the virtues of Saul and Jonathan; which blended together in such melodious words a deadly enemy and a beloved friend; which transfigured one of the lives so that it shone with the luster and the beauty of the other; which sought to bury every painful association, and gave full and unlimited scope to the charity that thinketh no evil. Demortuis nil nisi bonum, was a heathen maxim, - "Say nothing but what is good of the dead." Surely no finer exemplification of the maxim was ever given than in this "Song of the Bow." To "thoughts that breathe and words that burn," like those of this song, David could not have given expression without having his whole soul stirred with the desire to repair the national disaster, and by God's help bring back prosperity and honour to Israel. Thus, both by the afflictions that saddened his heart and the stroke of prosperity that raised him to the throne, he was impelled to that course of action which is the best safeguard under God against the hurtful influences both of adversity and prosperity. Affliction might have driven him into his shell, to think only of his own comfort; prosperity might have swollen him with a sense of his importance, and tempted him to expect universal admiration; - both would have made him unfit to rule; by the grace of God he was preserved from both. He was induced to gird himself for a course of high exertion for the good of his country; the spirit of trust in God, after its long discipline, had a new field opened for its exercise; and the self-government acquired in the wilderness was to prove its usefulness in a higher sphere. Thus the providence of his heavenly Father was gradually unfolding His purposes concerning him; the clouds were clearing off his horizon; and the "all things" that once seemed to be "against him" were now plainly "working together for his good." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.