2 Samuel 1:25

2Sa 1:25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, [thou wast] slain in thine high places.

Ver. 25. In the midst of the battle.] Making good their station, and dying on the place: not flying to save themselves.

Thou wast slain, &c.] Est hoc carmen spiritu militari conscriptum. David, as he fought, so he wrote.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How are the mighty fallen - The recurrenee of the same idea 2Sa 1:19, 2Sa 1:25, 2Sa 1:27 is perfectly congenial to the nature of elegy, since grief is fond of dwelling upon the particular objects of the passion, and frequently repeating them. By unanimous consent this is considered one of the most beautiful odes in the Bible, and the generosity of David in thus mourning for his enemy and persecutor, Saul, enhances the effect upon the mind of the reader.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2Sa_1:25

How are the mighty fallen.

The dirge of the mighty

How are the mighty fallen--the words sound in our ears like a deep undertone in some mournful harmony. The warrior-bard is celebrating the memory of a king and a king's son--warriors themselves of no mean prowess, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions, the crown and glory of their land. Yet ever and anon we hear that sad refrain--the knell of their departed greatness, How are the mighty fallen!

1. How are the mighty fallen! It is the doleful dirge of human history through all time, the monument of many a blasted reputation, the brief but telling epitaph of a thousand wrecked lives. A statesman engaged in the service of' his country, honoured as a public minister of his sovereign, a maker of laws in the Senate and a ruler of men in the State, is overtaken in a career of baseness unworthy of the meanest citizen. Indeed, the greater the eminence, the deeper and deadlier the fall. The clergyman who ought to set forth God's Word by preaching and living too often only negatively illustrates the truth he preaches, and furnishes a warning rather than an example. The trusted guide along the heavenly heights reveals by his fall the yawning gulf to which every traveller is exposed, and against which he himself gave men warning. A tradesman exchanges the counting-house and the shop for the dock and the cell. Another scene rises before my eyes. There sits one in dust and ashes who has lost the glory of woman. The unmanliness of a man has betrayed her too frail virtue. The flower that might have bloomed long days to come lies uprooted, withered, dead. She who was once belie of the social circle, the observed of all observers, is now an outcast. Thus and thus in so many instances how are the mighty fallen! But in all such cases was there not a cause? The open disgrace, like the death of Saul, only marks and manifests the-consummation and the consequences of sin. For we may be sure the heart was wrong long before the life betrayed itself. The mountain of fire long held in its awful depths the springs of death before it belched forth the liquid molten flood, bringing devastation and destruction over the land. If you could trace the inner history of these fallen ones of the mighty you would find Saul's disobedience repeated. They made their own will and pleasure the standard of their moral conduct, and though at first this was only seen by God, self-enlarged its desire till its baseness was laid bare before the world. Life apart from God was the beginning of evil, actual conflict with God's will and law, the development of it, and abandonment by God to the devil's devices the end thereof. They chose not to retain God in their knowledge, and so He gave them up to their own hearts' lusts and let them follow their own imaginations. The leaking drop has become at last a wide breaking in of waters and ruin is in the breach. It is the poet's touching tale--

the little rift within the lute,

Which by-and-bye will make the music mute,

And ever widening slowly silence all.

See then that your heart is right with God and your desires centred in Him. The heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked will deceive you, if you do not yield it unto God, who alone can know it, who alone can renew it in holiness after His own image.

2. But there are several considerations that will hold us back from exulting over these fallen ones of society--

(1) Let us remember that they have carried many down with them in their fall. Men may sin alone but they cannot suffer alone. None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself, and the thought of our relations with others should act as a motive to deter us from sin. The husband suffers with the wife, parents with children, brother with sister, friend with friend. Saul, the foe of David, involves Jonathan, David's friend, in his own fall.

2. But again, remember that though these fallen sinners are banished from the world's society, Christ will receive them, if they will not in pride and obstinacy of heart sink to a yet greater depth. It is still true of Him that He receiveth sinners and eateth with them. God takes the world's castaways and gives them--weary of sin and broken in heart--an inheritance in His house, and often as our Lord said, the publican and the harlot go into the kingdom of God before the self-righteous.

3. Notice the concluding words of our text, How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Such language may fitly teach, as by a parable, the solemn lesson that the conflict of evil with good, of darkness with light, is still raging around us, and that our danger is not past. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall (1Co_10:12). Let us, then, utterly distrustful of self, find our strength, our safety, our all, in Jesus, and cleave ever unto Him. Let us go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and make mention of His righteousness, even His righteousness only. (J. Silvester, M. A.)

The fall of the mighty

The mighty, you know, are the puissant and great; and persons may be styled mighty on account of their birth, station, abilities, or noble exploits. This title is given in common to the kings, princes, and nobles of the earth: but the term is more peculiarly adapted to persons of s military profession, and fitly sets forth a champion or general experienced in war. They are properly mighty who are justly renowned for their valour and skill, like the princes of Israel, recorded in 1Ch_26:1-32. And this idea of the word agreeth with the character of those whose decease David mourns. How are the mighty fallen! Fallen indeed! Not merely fallen. A general may fall from his horse, or by a dangerous wound. But from such falls the mighty may recover, rise up again, speak with the enemy, and gloriously triumph in the end. The mighty are fallen; fallen like Sisera (Jdg_5:27) fallen down dead. This is his sorrowful dirge! 'Tis added, And the weapons of war perished! I cannot be of opinion that this is to be taken in a literal sense, as though the loss of these instruments of war, properly speaking, grieved the soul of the Psalmist. Could the value of any number of weapons which can with reason be supposed to be broken or lost on this fatal defeat, demand so deep a lamentation; and especially after weeping over the mighty themselves, who were famous for handling the instruments of battle with skill and success? It seems evident to me that David concludes the elegy with a figure, under which he describes those eminent persons whose fall he bewails. The mighty who are fallen, and the weapons of war, are one and the same.

I. Consider the fact, namely, that the noblest of princes, or the most valiant and honourable of the earth, are liable to fall. Death reigns over all without distinction, under the prince of life, our exalted Saviour, who is alive from the dead, anti hath the keys of the grave. Crowns and sceptres, thrones and palaces, and the whole force of the mighty, secure them not for an hour; yea, not for a moment from the domination of darkness.

II. Reasons for great lamentation when a mighty man falls.

1. That when the mighty fall, in proportion to their zeal, puissance, and highness, the glory of a people is departed.

2. By the fall of the mighty the strength of a people is impaired, which is another reason for mourning when such are removed. The mighty, in proportion to their rank and activity, for the welfare of the public, are the defence of a nation.

3. The known disposition of the enemies of a land to rejoice, and to avail themselves of the loss a people sustain when their mighty men die, is a further reason for mourning their fall. On this account we have seen David enjoin it on Israel, not to spread the melancholy report of Jonathan and Saul.

4. Individuals have just cause of mourning the fall of great men, on account of the general grief that spreads through the nation. Under such awful strokes the land mourns, and every one who seeks its prosperity is sensibly afflicted.

II. Since the mighty fall, and die, as other men, and since the most noble and valiant are liable thus suddenly to perish, let us take heed that we do not place an absolute dependence upon them. Under God, there is a just expectation and confidence in wise and good princes: we see they are in some measure the glory and defence of a land; and are doubtless to be honoured and trusted; yet, since they must die, and may be cut down in a moment, our ultimate hope should not be in them. This also shows it to be foolish and vain for great men to exalt themselves as though they were gods, and the baseness of those sycophants who at any time flatter them; such instances are upon record. In one word, when the mighty fall, how vain is this world in its best estate, how uncertain and transitory its honour and beauty l The advantages gained by the exploits of the greatest men on earth are temporal, but one thing is needful, an interest in the triumphs of the cross, and the redemption obtained by the blood of the Son of God. (B. Wallin.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The second strophe (Sa2 1:25 and Sa2 1:26) only applies to the friendship of Jonathan:

25 Oh how are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!

Jonathan (is) slain upon thy heights!

26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:

Thou wast very kind to me:

Stranger than the love of woman was thy love to me!

Sa2 1:25 is almost a verbal repetition of Sa2 1:19. צר (Sa2 1:26) denotes the pinching or pressure of the heart consequent upon pain and mourning. נפלאתה, third pers. fem., like a verb הל with the termination lengthened (vid., Ewald, 194, b.), to be wonderful or distinguished. אהבתך, thy love to me. Comparison to the love of woman is expressive of the deepest earnestness of devoted love.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

25. O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places] O Jonathan, slain upon thine high places! The insertion of thou wast weakens the force and pathos. Cp. 2Sa_1:19. The hero of a hundred fights, slain at last in those mountain strong-holds of his country which he had once won and defended so successfully (1 Samuel 14).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!.... The mighty and valiant men of war, the common soldiers as well as their general officers, whose loss David mourns, and the repetition of shows how much it affected him:

O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places; in the high places of the land of Israel, the mountains of Gilboa, which though high, and in his own country, could not protect him from his enemies, and from falling by their hands: he who had been so valiant and victorious a prince, and yet he fell, not in an enemy's country, but his own.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Battle. Hebrew, "in the midst of battle! O Jonathan, thou warrior upon thy high places!" (Kennicott, Diss. i. p. 123.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Which were in thy country, and (had not thy father disinherited thee by his sins) in thy dominions.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thine - Which were in thy country, and (had not thy father disinherited thee by his sins) in thy dominions.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle

This phrase is repeated in verse 27 to emphasize that Israel's best warriors are dead. AT: "The mighty men have died in battle"

the mighty

Here "mighty" is plural and may refer to only Saul and Jonathan, or to all of the soldiers of Israel. AT: "the mighty warriors" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

have fallen

This is a polite way to say "have died." (See: Euphemism)

Jonathan is killed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Jonathan has died in battle" or "The enemy has killed Jonathan" (See: Active or Passive)

on your high places

David continues to address this part of the song to the mountains of Gilboa as he started in 2 Samuel 1:21. (See: Apostrophe)

my brother Jonathan

Here "brother" is used in the sense of a very close friend.

Your love to me was wonderful, exceeding the love of women

Here "love" is used in the sense of friendship and loyalty. Jonathan's loyalty to David was even greater than the loyalty a woman has for her husband and children.

translationWords

might

high place

love

perish

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

On your heights, you were slain. On your strong point you have been killed.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.