2 Samuel 1:11

11 Then David grabbed his clothes and ripped them—and all his soldiers did the same.

2 Samuel 1:11 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:11

When David took hold on his clothes
Not on the young man's but his own:

and rent them;
on bearing of the death of Saul and Jonathan, see ( Genesis 37:34 ) ; from whence the Jews ^F12 gather, that a man is bound to rend his clothes for a prince, and for the father of the sanhedrim, since Saul, they say, was the prince, and Jonathan the father of that court:

and likewise all the men that [were] with him;
rent their clothes also, in imitation of him; the same custom obtained among the Gentiles on mournful occasions ^F13.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 T. Bab. Moed. Katon, fol. 26. 1.
F13 "-----it scissa veste Latinus". Virgil. Aeneid. 12. prope finem.

2 Samuel 1:11 In-Context

9 He said to me, ‘Please come over here and kill me, because convulsions have come over me but I'm still alive.'

10 So I went over to him and killed him, because I knew he couldn't survive after being wounded like that. I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and I've brought them here to you, my master."

11 Then David grabbed his clothes and ripped them—and all his soldiers did the same.

12 They mourned and cried and fasted until evening for Saul, his son Jonathan, the LORD's army, and the whole house of Israel, because they had died by the sword.

13 "Where are you from?" David asked the young man who brought him the news. "I'm the son of an immigrant," he answered. "An Amalekite."