What is the significance of the words, "How the mighty have fallen!" (2 Samuel 1:19, 25, 27)?

“And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan.” In this lament he expresses his grief over the disasters of Israel's leaders and their army, but this song of the bow is to be learned by the children of Judah (v. 18). It is an instruction for them. As witnesses of Israel's disaster they must know how to avoid such disaster in the future. Saul had been overcome by the archers (1 Sam. 31:3) when he himself had been deprived of archers. Indeed, from 1 Chronicles 12:1-7 we learn that before Saul's defeat the band of archers belonging to the tribe of Benjamin and in large part to the family of Kish had rallied around David and had joined him at Ziklag. This is why Saul “was much terrified” (1 Sam 31:3) by the archers.

This Song of the Bow has a poignant refrain: “How are the mighty fallen!” (v. 19). “How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!” (v. 25). “How are the mighty fallen, and the instruments of war perished!” (v. 27). What did they lack? The bow which had overcome Saul!

He completes his lamentation with the painful words, "How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!" This is the expression of the sad end of the best that man in the flesh can offer. His greatness is brought down to nothing and his ability for conquest totally destroyed. Only Christ will remain: He alone will have the honor of subduing all things under Him.

David was not so anxious to attempt to take the throne of Israel as to neglect the chastening of his own soul before God in view of the sadness of the death of Saul and Jonathan. He genuinely lamented over them with a lamentation recorded from verse 19 to 27. But verse 18 first mentions that David gave orders that Israel's warriors should be taught the use of the bow. It was through archery that Saul was wounded, and this was possibly the deciding factor in the victory of the Philistines (from a human point of view). Israel now must learn this long-range warfare. "The beauty of Israel is slain on you high places: how the mighty have fallen" (v.19). From a natural point of view Saul and Jonathan presented an attractive appearance. In this Israel was certainly not behind any other nation. Yet the "high places" were those in which they fell. The desire of Saul for a place of high honor was increased by his having the throne, but his fall was that much greater.

Though David expressed the desire that the sad news should not be told in the chief cities of the Philistines (Gath and Askelon), we have heard already that it was published in the land of the Philistines (1 Sam.31:9): the daughters of the uncircumcised were already rejoicing in triumph. As to verse 21, we do not know if David's words were fulfilled, though they may have been for a time at least. He felt that the mountains of Gilboa should be deprived of dew or rain, because Saul had fallen there as though he had not been anointed by God as king.

Little remains to be said of David's elegy in detail. "The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen." The flower of Israel was its king, one who had stood out in personal beauty above all his fellows. The heights of Israel should have been strongholds which no power of the enemy could assail; but how have the mighty fallen! All the power, and the beauty, and the greatness of men was here laid in the dust. As he thinks of this overthrow, David would fain draw the curtain over the scene, and hide from the gloating eyes of their enemies this scene of desolation: "Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph."

But what a sight — the king of Israel, the anointed of the Lord, in the house of a witch, fallen upon the earth! Well might David say, "How are the mighty fallen!" But it is not the words of a witch that have prostrated him, but the judgment of God. The outward end, however, has not yet come, and Saul must still face the foe into whose hands he put himself.

"How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle," David laments, and adds, "0 Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places." David felt this, that Jonathan had not taken the place of lowly rejection with David, but in choosing the place of exaltation briefly with Saul, he was humbled from it in a way he had not anticipated (1 Sam.23:17-18).

Israel's mighty men with Saul at their head had met the bow of an enemy stronger than they. The error that led to their ruin was esteeming their own strength to be sufficient. But there is no strength without dependence, for strength is not to be found in us, but rather in Him whose strength is infallible on our behalf. The Man Jesus Christ is the example of this. He did not seek strength except in God nor would He otherwise have been the Perfect Man. Smitten by the archers (Gen. 49:23-24), His strength did not leave Him. When His weakness appeared to succumb to the enemy's power His bow remained strong — His strength was full. This strength existed only in dependence: “The arms of His hands are supple by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.”

There is remembrance of Saul's prowess in battle. He had indeed slain his thousands, and his sword had not returned empty from his conflict, as over Ammon, for instance. There is thus the recognition of what he had done, coupled with the bow of Jonathan. Then a sweet word follows; all, alas, that could be said that was common in the lives of Jonathan and Saul. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, the link between father and son was not broken. Filial affection remained, even when Jonathan was compelled to refuse the conduct of his father, and in their death they were not divided. Losing sight for the time, of Jonathan's sharing in the defeat which we may be justified in connecting with what some have called a course of neutrality, David singles out this one point that he and his father fell together. He has only words of praise for their swiftness and courage in fight.

Then the sweet singer turns to the daughters of Israel who have suffered in the loss of their king. They must not forget that it was he who protected them and made possible their festive garments and other delights, their gold and apparel. There is just a glimpse at all this, and then again the dirge falls back to its theme: "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! "

But now, the eye of love turns to his own dear friend, the one whom he loved as his own soul. Jonathan had been slain in his high places. The one who had so valiantly climbed up into the high places, single-handed, to meet the whole proud host of the Philistines, is here a victim. As he thinks of him, David's heart gushes out with fresh sorrow. What exquisite beauty in these words: "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful."

"Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights; Who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle." 2 Samuel 1.

1891 371 The lamentation of David over Saul discovers a spirit the lack of which may well humble us. There is not a secret word in it suggestive of triumph over a fallen enemy, not an expression of selfish satisfaction at deliverance from his persecution. The cruelly unjust treatment which he had received at the hands of Saul for years, his many personal wrongs are all passed over. David remembers only the brilliant natural qualities which might have adorned a throne but were wholly powerless to shield him from the consequences of his headstrong will.

Bearing these two thoughts in mind, the refusal of the flesh and the setting aside of human government we have in David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, a most fitting and exquisite close to the sad life whose course we have been tracing. Personally, nothing could be more lovely than that David should put the crown upon the course of his own forbearance and lowliness in thus laying a wreath upon the grave of his bitter enemy. It was no formal act, no perfunctory or official threnody which he composed, but the outpouring of a tender and faithful heart which showed even at this time the love which he had evidently had for poor Saul throughout his entire history. Nowhere does the character of David shine out more clearly than it does in the subdued light of this elegy. Unselfishness, the ignoring of Saul's evil, the entire absence of personal resentment and of the slightest note of triumph, all are here present. The love, too, for Jonathan, deeper and sweeter than could possibly be had for Saul, finds here fitting expression. The very brevity of the elegy shows all the more its beauty.