Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,
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...
Commenting on 2 Samuel 1:17-27
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son. Composed the following elegy on account of their death, and sung it in a tune agreeable to it, he and the men that were with him. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son.
DAVID LAMENTS SAUL AND JONATHAN. (Sa2 1:17-27) David lamented with this lamentation--It has always been customary for Eastern people, on the death of great kings and warriors, to celebrate their qualities and deeds in funeral songs. This inimitable pathetic elegy is supposed by many writers to have become a national war song, and to have been taught to the young Israelites under the name of...