Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 1:17–end
When David had rent his clothes, mourned, and wept, and fasted, for the death of Saul, and done justice upon him who made himself guilty of it, one would think he had made full payment of the debt of honour he owed to his memory; yet this is not all: we have here a poem he wrote on that occasion; for he was a great master of his pen as well as of his sword. By this elegy he designed both to express his own sorrow for this great calamity and to impress the like on the minds of others, who ought to lay it to heart. The putting of lamentations into poems made them, 1. The more moving and affecting. The passion of the poet, or singer, is, by this way, wonderfully communicated to the readers and…
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The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places--literally, "the gazelle" or "antelope of Israel." In Eastern countries, that animal is the chosen type of beauty and symmetrical elegance of form.
how are the mighty fallen!--This forms the chorus.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 1:18
The use of the bow - The use of is not in the Hebrew; it is simply the bow, that is, a song thus entitled. See the observations at the end, Sa2 1:21 (note).
John Gill on 2 Samuel 1:19
The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places,.... The high mountains of Gilboa, where Saul their king, and Jonathan his son, a prince of the blood, and natural heir to the crown, and multitudes of young men, the flower of the nation, were wounded and slain. Here begins the lamentation, or the elegiac song:
how are the mighty fallen! mighty men of war, strong and valiant, as Saul and his sons were, and the soldiers in his army.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Samuel 1:19
The ode is arranged in three strophes, which gradually diminish in force and sweep (viz., Sa2 1:19-24, Sa2 1:25-26, Sa2 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 upo…
