The Life and Times of

How the Mighty Have Fallen (1:17-27)

17 Then David chanted with this lament over Saul and Jonathan his son, 18 and he told them to teach the sons of Judah the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Jashar.

19 “Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places! How have the mighty fallen! 20 “Tell it not in Gath, Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon; Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. 21 “O mountains of Gilboa, Let not dew or rain be on you, nor fields of offerings; For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil. 22 “From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, And the sword of Saul did not return empty. 23 “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their life, And in their death they were not parted; They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions. 24 “O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. 25 “How have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places. 26 “I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful Than the love of women. 27 “How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!”

Let’s face it, it is hard to know what to say or not to say at a funeral, especially if you are the preacher conducting the service. I have head a lot of lies told at funerals, many of them by preachers. I have heard lies told about God (e.g., “This wasn’t God’s fault. He had no knowledge or control over what has happened.”), and lies told about the one who died. Usually, these lies about the departed tend to exaggerate the good things and deny the bad. I remember hearing the story of a preacher who was very honest at the funeral of a man who was a scoundrel. In the middle of the funeral service, the preacher looked straight at the widow of the man who had died and said something like, “Millie, you know Ralph was a worthless man. Now when you marry again, let’s pick a better man than this.” That’s honesty.

Even though I have conducted many funerals (and some of them were difficult), I think one the toughest funerals ever would be Saul’s. For example, what if you acted in accordance with the saying, “If you don’t have anything good to say about someone, don’t say anything.” What would you do, have 45 minutes of silence for Saul? In our text, it is David who conducts Saul’s funeral, or at least its counterpart. It is certainly not what I would have expected. I think it is safe to say that it is not what his young Amalekite messenger expected either. Since there is not sufficient time or space to carefully expound David’s eulogy (or dirge), let us focus on some overall characteristics.

This eulogy, or dirge, is a psalm of David, a special labor of his love. My father is a retired school teacher and has written poems for years. He has written them for friends who were retiring. He has written them for each of his children on their birthdays. Until there were too many grandchildren, he would write a poem for each of them on their birthday. I know what the Hallmark people say about their cards, but a poem from my father means a lot more than a Hallmark card. It is a labor of love. We know that he has taken the time to think about the one for whom he is composing the poem. We know that it is his way of telling us how much he loves us. That is what David’s eulogy is saying as well. He is expressing his love for Saul and Jonathan, in the finest manner available.

David’s eulogy is a psalm that mourns the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. David mourns over the defeat of Israel and the death of many Israelites, but this is not the focus of his psalm. His psalm expresses David’s sorrow over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. The Amalekite messenger thinks the news of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan will be good news to David. He is wrong. This psalm tells us that David feels a deep sense of loss and sorrow because of their deaths. David genuinely grieves over the news he receives.

David’s eulogy says nothing negative about Saul. When David mourns the death of Saul, there is not even a hint of the mention of any of the evil or unkind things Saul did against David or others. How easy it would have been to include some of these details, to have indicated some kind of divine vindication, but David does not do so.

David’s psalm honors both Saul and Jonathan as fallen heroes. David not only restrains himself from speaking ill of the dead, he honors Saul and Jonathan as war heroes, as men worthy of respect and honor.

David’s psalm begins by focusing upon Saul and ends with the focus on Jonathan. While David has good things to say about his king, it is evident in this psalm that David has a deep love and commitment to Jonathan.⁷ What may have been somewhat private while Jonathan was alive, David now makes public. Here is something the Amalekite totally missed. He seemed to think that Jonathan was David’s enemy, not his closest friend.

David’s psalm appears to be an expression and consequence of the covenant between David and Jonathan. We have seen the covenant made between these two men (1 Samuel 18), implemented (chapter 19:1-7), and then extended and reaffirmed (chapters 20 and 23). By his eulogy, David is already blessing Jonathan and his descendants as he eulogizes him as a hero, whose memory is to be honored.

David’s psalm has been written for a much wider audience than David and his 600 men. The psalm is written and recorded in the “Book of Jashar.” We see this “book” referred to in Joshua:

12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel (Joshua 10:12-14).

In this text in Joshua, we read of the victory God gives Israel over the Amorites, assisted by causing the sun to stand still. This incident is so awesome and monumental it is recorded for later generations to read and to be amazed. Not only does David wish to honor Saul and Jonathan, he wants all of the “sons of Judah to join him” (2 Samuel 1:18), and thus instructs that this song be taught to them. I understand this to mean that not only this generation, but the generations to come are to learn this song and thus to honor Saul and Jonathan.

I am not sure we can grasp the significance of what David does here. Those who rise to the top position of power in a nation normally take all kinds of precautions to prevent any rival from overturning their administration and taking their place of power. This often means the execution of the entire family of the dynasty being ousted from power. It can mean rewriting history, so that this family is disgraced and despised. David does just the opposite. He honors Saul and Jonathan and assures that future generations will look upon these men as national heroes. He honors Saul and Jonathan among the “sons of Judah.” The “sons of Judah” are not Saul’s relatives;⁸ they are the kinsmen of David, the very group he would look to for support as their king. Indeed David does a most remarkable thing in the writing and preservation of this eulogy.