A Time to Lament the Fallen—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 6B (2 Samuel 1)
2
Samuel 1:1, 17-27 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
1 After the death of Saul, when David had
returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
17 David intoned this lamentation
over Saul and his son Jonathan. 18 (He ordered that
The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the
Book of Jashar.) He said,
19 “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain
upon your high places!
How the mighty have fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath;
proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice;
the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.
21 You mountains of Gilboa,
let there be no dew or rain upon you
nor bounteous fields!
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,
the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more.
22 From the blood of the slain,
from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,
nor the sword of Saul return empty.
23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and
lovely!
In life and in death they were not divided;
they were swifter than eagles;
they were stronger than lions.
24 O daughters of Israel, weep over
Saul,
who clothed you with crimson, in luxury,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
25 How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan lies slain upon your high places.
26 I am
distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
greatly beloved were you to me;
your love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women.
27 How the mighty have fallen,
and the weapons of war perished!”
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I’ve
presided over my share of funerals. Some have been rather small and others
relatively large. I’ve never overseen the funeral of a President or a person of
renown. But whether the person is a monarch or President or just somebody’s
grandmother, when they pass there is sadness. Even when a person lives to be
over one hundred, we grieve their passing. As I write this reflection, I have
my mind and heart the passing of one of Baseball’s greats, perhaps the greatest
of all time, Willie Mays. While he had already passed his prime by the time I
got interested in baseball in the late 1960s, he was still a force in the
league and on my favorite team. As news spread of his death, people began to
share memories and reflections on his greatness, even if they weren’t Giant
fans they mourned his passing and celebrated his greatness.
When
Saul and his son Jonathan fell in battle with the Philistines, David, the one
who rose to claim the throne in their stead led the mourning for these two
important figures in the life of Israel. While David had become Saul’s enemy,
at least in Saul’s eyes, David still respected the king. As for Jonathan, they
were closer than brothers, friends for life whatever the challenges. So his
grief was real and expressive. David led the people in chanting an elegy for
these two important figures in the kingdom. We are told by the narrator that
this elegy or song of lamentation was preserved in the Book of Jashar, a
prebiblical source.
The
elegy or song of lamentation begins by lifting up the king, the prince of
Israel, who was slain on high places. It ends with a declaration of David’s
profound feelings for his friend Jonathan, whose love for David was “passing
the love of women.” This declaration has led some to intuit a homoerotic relationship
between the two. While that might or might not be true, it is not a necessary
interpretation. The point of the song is the grief that David feels at the loss
of his friend, who like his father had been slain by the Philistines. While
David stood to gain from these deaths, that doesn’t mean he did not feel
heartbroken at their deaths.
There
is a refrain found in the song that closes the song declaring: “How the mighty
have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!” That is the mighty warriors have
perished by the weapons of war. In making this declaration David acknowledges
the tragedy of war, which takes from the people who love them, the mighty
warriors. Israel had demanded a king who would fight their battles, or at least
lead them in battle against their enemies (especially the Philistines), that’s
what they got in Saul and later David. Although David would die in his bed, the
same would not be true of these two leaders of the nation. Saul might not have
been the most competent of kings, but he does appear to have been a good
warrior. While God was tired of Saul’s resistance to God’s directives and thus
directed Samuel to anoint David to be king in his stead, David did not claim
the throne until Saul’s death. In the meantime, David joined Saul’s army, which
he would lead, married Saul’s daughter Michel, and of course befriended Saul’s
son Jonathan, who became David’s closest friend. At the time that these two
leaders of Israel perished in battle, David was in exile fighting the enemies
of the Philistines other than Israel. At the time of Saul’s final battle, David
was off fighting the Amalekites. It was while David was residing at Ziklag,
that he heard of Saul’s death (2 Sam. 1:1-16).
The
book of 2 Samuel tells the story of David’s reign from the death of Saul up to
his own death. In many ways, this elegy marks the beginning of David’s reign
over the nation of Israel. He offers his lament over the death of his
predecessor and apparent heir. They must be mourned if he is to bring the
nation together under his rule. If we take verse 17 at face value, by teaching
this song to the people, he would have been able to connect himself with Saul
and Jonathan as the rightful heir.
David’s
song of lament begins by declaring: “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your
high places! How the mighty have fallen!” The glory of Israel is Saul, the
king. He was slain in battle. Yes, “how the mighty have fallen!” However, being
king, he is hailed as the one who reflects the glory of God. In singing this
song of lament, David shows the concern he has about the future of the kingdom,
which has now fallen to him. He is concerned that the neighbors, especially the
Philistine cities of Gath and Ashkelon, will hear that Saul has been defeated, and
celebrate the demise of Israel’s king. David responds to this concern by
lifting up the victories of Saul and Jonathan. He calls on the people to remember
that “the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul return
empty.”
In this
song of lament, David remembers the two with fondness, even though he and Saul
had been estranged. So, even though Saul had sought to kill him, David declares
Saul and David’s beloved friend Jonathan to be “beloved and lovely!” David
sings of the two fallen warriors: “In life and in death they were not divided; they
were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.” There could be no
greater praise than this. Now, David might have ulterior motives in celebrating
Saul and Jonathan. He is seeking to claim Saul’s throne. He could be seeking to
claim legitimacy by aligning himself with the monarch who sent him into exile.
By assuring the people that whatever rivalry they may have perceived is of no
account now. He now has the mantle of leadership.
While
this might be as much a political speech as it was a heartfelt response to the
death of people whom David loved, if we take the stories of Jonathan and David’s
friendship seriously, the grief at Jonathan’s death must have been real. It is
grief that is made explicit in verse 26:
While this passage has, as noted above, led some to posit a
homoerotic relationship between the two men, the truth is that we can’t know
for sure. Whatever the exact meaning of this word about Jonathan’s love surpassing that of women,
what we can say is that the two had an unbreakable friendship that was
continually tested. What is clear here is that David wanted to celebrate the intimate
nature of this friendship, whether sexual or not. With that, Pablo Jiménez
offers a helpful description of Jonathan being a “man of integrity, trapped
between his loyalty to his father and his loyalty to his friend. Ultimately, he
sacrifices his life fighting a losing battle at his father’s side. Jonathan
thus evokes another young man who loved his friends to the point of sacrifice,
hanging on a cross” [Preaching Transforming Justice, p. 307]. If we
focus our attention on David’s commemoration of his friendship with Jonathan,
we see a celebration of a life lived for others. He was loyal to his father to
the end, and the same was true of his loyalty and friendship with David. He was
caught in the middle, but he did not forsake either man. Thus, David seems to
celebrate this dimension of his friend’s life.
There is another message present in
this song. It’s subtle but I think it’s there. David is a warrior and he
celebrates two men who died as warriors. However, in his declaration that the “mighty
have fallen,” he also recognizes that it was due to the weapons of war that
they now lay dead. These warriors might be celebrated as heroes even in death,
but whether in victory or defeat, war is costly. Or as General Sherman
declared: “War is hell!” We are watching that hell making itself known in
places like Ukraine and Gaza. War has consequences, and death and destruction are
chief among them.
While this song might be seen as a
song glorifying war, it might be better understood as a song of lamentation at
the cost of war. Yes, “how the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!” It
might also be read as a lament at broken friendships that cannot be restored
due to death. Whatever the reason for this lament, it gives us permission to
grieve the loss of friends who have died, whether in war or not. Having
presided over my share of funerals as a pastor, I know that grief must be
acknowledged. Yes, we can celebrate our friends' lives, but it’s okay and
natural to weep at the loss of a life. As the Preacher declares in Ecclesiastes,
there is a time for everything, “time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to
mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:4).
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