_A YOUNG MAN BRINGS TIDINGS TO DAVID, THAT SAUL AND HIS SONS ARE FALLEN AND DEAD; AND THAT HE HIMSELF HAD SLAIN SAUL AT HIS REQUEST: DAVID COMMANDS THE YOUNG MAN TO BE PUT TO DEATH. HIS LAMENTATION OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN._ _Before Christ 1055._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ANGUISH IS COME UPON ME— The word שׁבצ _shabatz,_ signifies an inclosing, or inclosure; and the meaning seems to be, _"kill me,_ because an _inclosure,_ or inclosing part of the enemy, has seized me." See the 6th verse, and Parkhurst on the word. Houbigant renders it, with the Vulgate, _tenent m... [ Continue Reading ]
I TOOK THE CROWN—AND THE BRACELET— This crown, probably, was one of the diadems worn by the eastern monarchs, made of a bandage of white linen, and which might easily be concealed under the helmet of Saul. It is not _impossible,_ that the _bracelet_ might be no part of the regalia of the kingdom of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SMOTE HIM, THAT HE DIED— Though it be a maxim of the Jewish law, that no man should be condemned out of the mouth of one witness, and that no man's confession should be taken solely against himself; yet Maimonides asserts, that it was the royal prerogative to condemn a man upon the evidence o... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID LAMENTED WITH THIS LAMENTATION— Let any one but read over this admirable ode, than which there is nothing more elegant and passionate in all antiquity; and he will find the utmost decency and propriety in the concern which David discovers, and the encomiums respectively passed on Saul and Jona... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO HE BADE THEM TEACH THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH THE USE OF THE BOW— Read, says Mr. Locke, _the bow;_ the words, _the use of,_ not being in the original; for that which the sons of Judah were commanded to learn, was not _the use of the bow,_ but _the_ BOW, as it is originally set down; i.e. a song of D... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEAUTY OF ISRAEL IS SLAIN UPON THY HIGH PLACES— As Jonathan's death touched David the nearest, it was natural that he should be the first object of his lamentation. _Beauty or glory of Israel, slain upon thy high places!_ And to put it out of all doubt that _Jonathan_ is here meant, he varies it... [ Continue Reading ]
YE MOUNTAINS OF GILBOA, LET THERE BE NO DEW, &C.— Dr. Delaney renders this verse thus: _Mountains of Gilboa, nor dew nor rain upon you, nor fields of waved offerings; for there the shield of the brave was cast away; the shield of Saul, the weapons of the anointed with oil:_ and Houbigant thus: _Moun... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN, &C.— The Hebrew is חללים מדם _middam chalalim,_ which words, as מ _mem_ is allowed by Noldius to signify _without,_ may be thus rendered; _without the blood of the warriors, without the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan returned not back._ Upon this construction, we... [ Continue Reading ]
SAUL AND JONATHAN WERE LOVELY AND PLEASANT IN THEIR LIVES— David means in this verse to express the union of Saul and Jonathan by friendship in life, and by the same common fate in death; and he does not by any means appear to design a commendation of the loveliness or excellency of their lives in a... [ Continue Reading ]
YE DAUGHTERS, OF ISRAEL, WEEP— Nothing 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... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN, &C.!— David's grief, as it 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. "It may be the work of fancy; but to me, I own," says Dr. Delaney,... [ Continue Reading ]