2 Samuel 1:18

also he bade, &c. And he gave commandment to teach the children of Judah the Bow. The E. V. cannot be right in inserting "the use of," for the bow was a weapon already in common use. If the text is sound, "the Bow" must be a title given to David's elegy from the mention of Jonathan's bow in 2 Samuel 1:22. Somewhat similarly the section of Exodus containing the account of the burning bush is called "the Bush" in Luke 20:37, and the second chapter of the Koran is called "the Cow" from the incidental mention in it of the sacrifice of a cow.

It must be noted however that the Vatican MS. of the LXX. omits the word bow, and reads simply "And he commanded to teach [it] to the children of Judah." Possibly therefore the word over which much discussion has been spent, has found its way into the text through some scribe's mistake, and should be struck out.

The elegy was to be learnt by heart by the people in order to preserve the memory of Saul and Jonathan fresh among them. Compare the direction concerning the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 31:19), and the title of Psalms 60.

behold, it is written in the book of Jasher The elegy was included in the volume known as The Book of Jashar, or, the Upright. (LXX. βιβλίον τοῦ εὐθοῦς; Vulg. liber iustorum.) This book is mentioned only here and in Joshua 10:13. "The Upright" is explained by some to mean Israel as the covenant people of God, and connected in etymology and sense with the title Jeshurun(Deuteronomy 32:15); by others it is referred to the heroes whose praises were celebrated in the book. All that can be inferred from the references to it is that it contained a collection of ancient poems, commemorating remarkable events or great heroes of the national history: so that it formed a "book of Golden Deeds" for the instruction of posterity, a "national anthology" to which additions would be made from time to time as occasion offered.