2 Samuel 1:27

27 How therefore felled down strong men, and armours of battle perished? (How the strong have fallen, and the arms, or the weapons, of battle have perished!)

2 Samuel 1:27 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:27

How are the mighty fallen
This is the burden of this elegiac song, being the third time it is mentioned:

and the weapons of war perished!
not only the valiant soldiers were killed, but their arms were lost; and particularly he may mean Saul and Jonathan, who as they were the shields of the people, so they were the true weapons and instruments of war, and with them all military glory perished; which must be understood as a poetical figure, exaggerating their military characters; otherwise David, and many mighty men with him, remained, and who revived and increased the military glory of Israel, as the following history shows.

2 Samuel 1:27 In-Context

25 How have strong men fallen down in battle? Jonathan was slain in the high places. (How the strong have fallen in battle! Jonathan was killed on the hills.)

26 I make sorrow upon thee, my brother Jonathan, full fair and amiable more than the love of women; as a mother loveth her only son, so I loved thee. (I have sorrow for thee, my brother Jonathan, so delightful, and whose love for me was more than even the love of women; like a mother loveth her only son, so I loved thee.)

27 How therefore felled down strong men, and armours of battle perished? (How the strong have fallen, and the arms, or the weapons, of battle have perished!)