¹⁷ Then David composed a funeral song for Saul and Jonathan, ¹⁸ and he commanded that it be taught to the people of Judah. It is known as the Song of the Bow, and it is recorded in The Book of Jashar.

¹⁹ Your pride and joy, O Israel, lies dead on the hills!
    Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen!
²⁰ Don’t announce the news in Gath,
    don’t proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon,
or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice
    and the pagans will laugh in triumph.

²¹ O mountains of Gilboa,
    let there be no dew or rain upon you,
    nor fruitful fields producing offerings of grain.
For there the shield of the mighty heroes was defiled;
    the shield of Saul will no longer be anointed with oil.
²² The bow of Jonathan was powerful,
    and the sword of Saul did its mighty work.
They shed the blood of their enemies
    and pierced the bodies of mighty heroes.

²³ How beloved and gracious were Saul and Jonathan!
    They were together in life and in death.
They were swifter than eagles,
    stronger than lions.
²⁴ O women of Israel, weep for Saul,
for he dressed you in luxurious scarlet clothing,
    in garments decorated with gold.

²⁵ Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen in battle!
    Jonathan lies dead on the hills.
²⁶ How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan!
    Oh, how much I loved you!
And your love for me was deep,
    deeper than the love of women!

²⁷ Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen!
    Stripped of their weapons, they lie dead.

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Dear God, I’ll be the first to admit I do not understand ancient Israelite song structure, so what I’m going to say will likely sound ignorant to you and to any scholar. With that said, this is fascinating.

First, the fact that David took the time to compose a song when hearing this tragic news. Poetry, song writing, and psalm writing (is there a difference between the three) were obviously a huge part of his nature and identity. He knew he had to write down his emotional response to this in a song. Then, interestingly, he had the authority to get others to sing it with him, even the personal parts about Jonathan.

Second, and this is where song structure might come into play and I can’t tell, his first thoughts are to not let the enemies know because they will delight in the news. They might laugh and celebrate. The thought of their joy in the midst of this personal loss for David and national loss for Israel made him sick. Of course, they would know. Of course, there was no hiding it from them. But he included this part of his emotion in his song.

I would also say that, as the presumptive leader, his first act wasn’t to reassure everyone and tell them it would be okay. It was to kill the man who polished Saul off (even though this seems cruel to me because I think the guy did Saul a favor) and then write this song of mourning. This would be a pattern for David. As your anointed he was good about setting precedent that that anointing was to be respected, both in the stories in 1 Samuel when he had a chance to kill Saul and didn’t do it because of Saul’s anointing, and later with Absolom when he was on the run and depending upon you to restore him to the throne.

Of course, there is the middle of the song that calls on everyone, especially the women, to mourn Saul’s death. He was their king and had done good things. He should be remembered with honor.

The personal part is with Jonathan: “²⁶ How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan! Oh, how much I loved you! And your love for me was deep, deeper than the love of women!” What a personal thing to say! And to have everyone sing along with himself.

And then the classic line, “How the mighty have fallen.” I don’t think I realized this is where it came from. Usually, this is line is more of a criticism and almost a victorious phrase as we look at a hubristic person who has been taken down a few pegs. In fact, this is so different than that, I Googled it to see if this is the origin of the phrase, and, as far as I can tell, it is. But where David sings this as a lament, we have changed it to mockery.

As far as what I would take from this, I see that there is a place for mourning. There is also a place for me to be myself. This part of 2 Samuel 1 is very true to who David was. He was very consistent, including his vulnerability in poetry. So help me to be true to who I am. Help me to bring all of myself to you. Help me to submit all of myself to you. Help me to authentically share who I am with others so that your strength might be made perfect in my weakness. Oh, God, guide me in every moment.

I pray this through the precious, forgiving, redemptive blood of Jesus,

Amen