2 Samuel 1:23

23 Saul and Jonathan! So well loved, so dearly cherished! In their lives and in their deaths they were never separated. They were faster than eagles, stronger than lions!

2 Samuel 1:23 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:23

Saul and Jonathan [were] lovely and pleasant in their lives,
&c.] To one another, had no quarrel or difference with each other, only on the account of David; otherwise they agreed together in the court, and in the camp, in their councils, and in their conduct:

and in their death they were not divided;
neither from the people, nor from one another; Jonathan stuck close by his father to the last; which is observed to clear him from any imputation of conspiracy against him:

they were swifter than eagles;
in the quick dispatch of business, in hasting to the relief of the distressed, as Saul to the men of Jabeshgilead, and in the pursuit of their enemies, as of the Philistines, more than once:

they were stronger than lions;
fighting with their enemies, who became an case prey to them; and what is stronger than a lion among beasts? ( Judges 14:18 ) ( Proverbs 30:30 ) ; or swifter than an eagle among birds, which is said to cut the air with its wings F24?


FOOTNOTES:

F24 Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 15. c. 22. Vid. Ciceron. de Divinatione, l. 2. prope finem.

2 Samuel 1:23 In-Context

21 You hills of Gilboa! Let there be no dew or rain on you, and no fields yielding grain offerings. Because it was there that the mighty warrior's shield was defiled— the shield of Saul!—never again anointed with oil.
22 Jonathan's bow never wavered from the blood of the slain, from the gore of the warriors. Never did Saul's sword return empty.
23 Saul and Jonathan! So well loved, so dearly cherished! In their lives and in their deaths they were never separated. They were faster than eagles, stronger than lions!
24 Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul! He dressed you in crimson with jewels; he decorated your clothes with gold jewelry.
25 Look how the mighty warriors have fallen in the midst of battle! Jonathan lies dead on your heights.
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