Jonathan and Saul's " bow...and sword" were used by them in the fateful battle on Gilboa (2 Sam. 1:22). Does this mean that Jonathan was trusting in his human strength again? Psalm 44, which sounds very much like David's meditation on Israel's defeat on Gilboa, includes the comment: "I (David) will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me" (Ps. 44:6). Or does it mean that although Jonathan gave David / Jesus his human strength, David gave it back to him, for him to use on his own initiative?
1:22 It is possible to Biblically reconstruct the battle of Gilboa, and thus to enter into the pathos of the whole scene yet more fully. Saul and Jonathan did not retreat (2 Sam.1:22) when the rest of Israel did (1 Sam. 31:1). Saul and his sons held their ground, slaying many Philistines. But then Jonathan was wounded by an arrow (the Hebrew word translated " slain" in 2 Sam. 1:19,22,25 means to pierce to death; crucifixion language), as was Saul. Yet they kept on fighting, until they were surrounded on all sides; they died " in the midst of the battle" (2 Sam. 1:25); they " perished" (2 Sam. 1:27), a Hebrew word also translated 'to have no way to flee'. They tried to flee, eventually throwing down their shields so that they could run faster (2 Sam. 1:21). Eventually Jonathan and his brothers, the cream of Israel, lay slain on Gilboa, and Saul then fell on his sword.
1:23 David's lament over Saul and Jonathan is extremely positive, after the spirit of the way in which Christ looks upon his dead saints (cp. God's positive comments on many of the kings after their death). Yet we know that Saul's death was in recompense for his dire apostasy. In that punishment, David observed, he and Jonathan " were not divided" (2 Sam. 1:23). This may suggest that in some sense Jonathan was too closely linked with his father, and was therefore implicated in his punishment. It can be shown that not all Saul's sons died on Gilboa; therefore there was special point to the fact that Jonathan died with his father in that way. David's command that there should be no dew or rain upon the mountains (2 Sam. 1:21) was to be picked up years later by Elijah, when he made the same imprecation against an apostate Israel (1 Kings 17:1).
1:23 The record reveals a certain closeness between Saul and Jonathan in Jonathan's relationship with Saul. David recognized this when he reflected that even in their death they were not divided (2 Sam. 1:23). Perhaps this means that they died fighting next to each other. Consider the following:
- The description of Jonathan as the son of Saul occurs a massive 23 times; the connection between them is certainly highlighted.
- We have mentioned that Jonathan had Gideon as his personal hero. Yet there is ample evidence that Saul too saw Gideon in this light. Does this suggest that in his more spiritual days, Saul successfully imparted his spiritual enthusiasm for Gideon to his son in Sunday school lessons?
- Mephibosheth is called Saul's son (2 Sam. 9:7,10; 19:24), although he was actually Jonathan's son. This suggests that the son was brought up in Saul's house. This certainly does not give the impression that Jonathan separated himself from his father's house.
- Jonathan was commander of the army (13:2). When he gave "the robe that was upon him" to David (18:4), he was effectively making David the commander (cp. 2 Chron.18:9,29). Thus when "Saul set (David) over the men of war" (18:5), he was tacitly going along with Jonathan's wish, even though by this time he had already heard the women praising David more than himself, and his bitter jealousy against David had already begun (18:6). This little point simply shows the external unity of action between Saul and Jonathan.
This closeness in Jonathan's relationship with Saul shows the emotional tangle which Jonathan was in on account of his relationship with David. If we truly love Christ, and if we are honest enough to come to terms with the pull of our own natures, we will be going through exactly the same. Our Lord seems to have seen in Jonathan a type of ourselves. In the context of warning us that loyalty to him would mean confessing him before men and conflict between fathers and sons, he encourages us that not a hair of our head will perish (Mt.10:30 cp. Lk.21:18). This is picking up the application of this phrase to Jonathan in 14:45.
1:26 "The love of Christ, that passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:19) is clearly prefigured in David's feelings for Jonathan and the love of David for Jonathan. Despite many passionate relationships with women, experiencing the depth of human closeness more than many, David could sob: " Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women" (2 Sam. 1:26). The Hebrew for " wonderful" has a root meaning 'separate'. This love of Jonathan was separate from all other love David had known. In this we see perhaps the first Old Testament foretaste of agape love, love beyond the phileo and eros . Emotionally and spiritually, Jonathan and David went way ahead of their time. David speaks of Jonathan's love in terms of male:female love. He describes him as "the beauty of Israel" , " very pleasant hast thou been unto me" ; and grammatically, "thy love to me..." (2 Sam. 1:26) implies that the lover was female.These two brethren had a spiritual love for each other which totally transcended the gender division. In like manner, our Lord said that male believers could be his sister and mother. We are dealing with high things here. Yet the heights of the David:Jonathan relationship are set down here to challenge us to at least try to touch the sky, however briefly. And when David later wrote of how good and “pleasant” it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Ps. 133), he surely had the pleasantness of his relationship with Jonathan in mind, and wished it to be shared by all his brethren.
1:27 "The mighty"- see on 1 Sam. 14:45.
2:2 - see on 1 Sam. 31:6.
Compare Gen. 48:16 with 2 Sam. 4:9. What Jacob only learnt at the end of his life, David learnt and applied during his life. And we should likewise not be experiential learners, but learn instead from Jacob.
5:17-24- see on 1 Sam. 14:7
6:20- see on 1 Sam. 31:6.
7: 6 "I have . . . walked in a tent and in a tabernacle"- the Angel "walked" in the sense that the Israelites physically walked, carrying the tent and tabernacle on their shoulders, with the associated Angelic presence in them. It was an Angel who actually made the promises to David.
" I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant" (Gen. 32:10) was spoken by Jacob on that night of destiny, in recognition of how he was morally unworthy to receive the promises which God had given him (see context). David picked this up in 2 Sam. 7:18, where he comments on his unworthiness to receive the promises to him, which were an extension of those Jacob received.
7:27 David speaks of being bold in his prayer of praise for the promises made to him (2 Sam. 7:27 RVmg.). Yet Heb. 4:16 encourages us to be bold in prayer. He was our pattern in prayer.
9:3- see on Ps. 35:14.
9:7,10-see on 2 Sam. 1:23; Ps. 35:14.
10:3- see on 1 Sam. 25:5
That David's sin is indeed an epitome of all our sins is proved by the way in which the record of it is framed in the language of the fall. The connections between the falls of Adam and David have been commented upon in Andrew Perry, The Doctrine Of Salvation, Vol.1 p.197. The following is a summary of the links:
Adam (Gen. 2 and 3) David (2 Samuel)
2:8 12:5
2:17 12:5
2:17 12:9
6:2 12:9
3:17 12:10
3:7 12:11
3:8 12:12
3:8 11:24
3:21 12:13
3:17 16:11
3:19 16:13
12:1 Reflection on the record enables us to enter a little into the nature and tragedy of David's sorrow; remembering always that David is our example. His love for Abigail, with marriage to her so wondrously arranged, would have been cruelly mocked by his falling for Bathsheba. His abuse of Uriah's loyalty (when almost certainly Uriah knew exactly what David was playing at) would have created a sadness that can only be described as ineffable. David in his early years described himself as a "poor man" , indicating his humility; yet the very same word is used by Nathan in the parable about Uriah, as if to bring home to David that he had slain a man who had the humble loyalty which he had had in those early, spiritually formative years (1 Sam. 18:23 cp. 2 Sam.12:1,3,4).
12:7 it is difficult to read Rom. 2:1 without seeing an allusion to David's condemnation of the man who killed his neighbour's only sheep: "Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself" . Surely Paul so saying that David's massive self-deception and hypocrisy over Bathsheba can all too easily be replicated in our experience.
12:8 Master's wives- see on 1 Sam. 18:20; 20:30.
12:13- see on Mic. 7:9
15:8 Jacob had vowed: " If God will be with me...then shall Yahweh be my God: and this stone...shall be God's house" (Gen. 28:20-22- words quoted by faithless Absalom in 2 Sam. 15:8). The implication was that Jacob didn't consider Yahweh to be his God at that time. And yet God had promised Abraham that he would be the God of his seed (Gen. 17:7,8); Jacob was aware of these promises, and yet he is showing that he did not accept their personal relevance to him at this time. And Absalom quoted them about himself.
19:6 Joab's comment about the way David loved his enemies (2 Sam. 19:6) was verbatim picked up by the Lord and set up as the example for each of us.
19:20 In the same way as God did not impute iniquity to David (Ps. 32:2), so David did not 'impute iniquity' to Shimei for cursing him, and did not carry out a rightful death sentence against that man (2 Sam. 19:19,21). Note how Shimei uses the very same wording which David used in his repentance: "I have sinned" (2 Sam. 19:20).
19:24-see on 2 Sam. 1:23.
As Samuel tarried longer than Saul expected, so Amasa "tarried longer than the set time which [David] had appointed him" (2 Sam. 20:5).
20:10- see on Jud. 16:13
The last mention of the David : Jonathan relationship is in 2 Sam. 21:12-14, where we read that David personally ("he" cp. "they" ) took and carried the bones of Saul and Jonathan to their final resting place. The love of David for Jonathan is apparent. We are invited to imagine David carrying the bones of his best friend, perhaps just the ashes of them (31:12,13), cradling them (or the container) in his arms, weeping as he walked. How about this for pathos. What is man, that God is mindful of us? The words of David's lament in 2 Sam.1 would have surely come to his mind. It is almost certain that David memorized them, seeing it was taught as a song of remembrance (2 Sam. 1:18). There would have been the restimulation of so much. So that is how the Spirit concludes the story, David walking off into the sunset with the bones of Jonathan. It should be remembered that this occurred after David's disgrace with Bathsheba. The thought must surely have gone through his mind: It's a good thing dear Jonathan isn't hear to see it. The very name of the prophet Nathan, the exposer of David's sin, would have restimulated David. For 'Jonathan' means 'Yahweh-Nathan'. It is quite likely that in practice David would not have pronounced the 'Yah' prefix; he would have called Jonathan 'Nathan' (how many 'Jonathan's do you know whose name isn't abbreviated by their friends?).
David took five stonesto kill Goliath but used only one. Was he faithless and doubting that the first one would hit home? Or did he aim to use the other four on Goliath's four giant sons (2 Sam. 21:16-22)? See article "David and Goliath" in 1 Sam. 17.
David's description of how the cherubim acted in his life in 2 Sam. 22 is full of Angelic language:
v. 2 "My rock"- an Angel (Gen. 49:24)
v. 3 "My shield"- the Angel who made the promises to Abraham (Gen. 15:1)
v. 3 "My saviour"- as the Holy Spirit Angel was to Israel (Is. 63:8-10)
v. 7 "He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears"- the language of Angelic limitation regarding the Angel who dwelt in the temple.
v. 9 "fire"- God makes His Angels a flame of fire (Ps. 104:3,4).
v. 10 "came down " - God manifest in the Angels, as at Sodom and Babel.
v. 11 "a cherub. . did fly. . wings of wind". Gabriel could "fly swiftly"; the Angels are made "spirits"- winds.
v. 12 "darkness. . thick clouds"- the Angel dwelt over the darkness of the Most Holy and in the pillar of cloud; cp. the scene during the Angelic manifestation at Sinai.
v. 15 "arrows. . . lightning"- Angel cherubim language
v. 16 "the blast of the breath (spirit) of His nostrils". God's spirit is manifested through Angels.
v. 17 "He sent from above, He took me"- the physical movement of the Angels from Heaven to earth to obey God's word
v. 25 "Before His eyes"- Angels
v. 37 "Thou hast enlarged my steps. . so that my feet did not slip"- the Angel keeping David from sinning?
23:1 "God of Jacob"- an Angel
23:3 "the rock of Israel" (an Angel) inspired David- which is the work of Angels.
Truly David is our example. David was very much involved in Israel his people. He saw himself as their representative. "The God of my rock is my shield... he is a shield to all them that trust in him" (2 Sam. 22:3,31). “I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the Lord” (2 Sam. 24:14) reflects this. When he sung Psalms, he invited them to come and sing along with him (Ps. 105:2; 107:22; 111:1). And many of these Psalms of praise seem to have their origin in his experience of forgiveness regarding Bathsheba.
" Let people serve thee" was the blessing promised to Jacob in his moment of weakness, as he crouched before his father in fawning deception (Gen. 27:29). And yet David applies this promised blessing to himself (2 Sam. 22:44).
David implies that his inspiration was directly from an Angel: "The God of Jacob. . . the Spirit of the Lord spake by me. . . the God of Israel said. . the Rock of Israel spake to me" (2 Sam. 23:1-3). These four descriptions of God are all Angelic phrases. The Angel which dwelt over the ark between the cherubim, with their Angelic connections, was firmly linked with "the ark of the testimony" (the word of God). "I (the Angel) will meet with thee. . . from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment" (Ex. 25:22). See on Am. 2:9-11
Perhaps the satan which moved David to number Israel was a Satan-Angel (2 Sam. 24:1), acting directly on David's heart to bring about a trial for both David and Israel? This is one of the many indications that the numbering of the people was not David's sin.
24:14- see on 22:3.
"The Lord repented Him of the evil, and said to the Angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; stay now Thine hand" (2 Sam. 24:16). This “destroying Angel” (1 Chron. 21:15 RV) is surely “the destroyer” who operated in the wilderness. We see here one Angel having the ability to formulate a purpose and another blindly carrying it out until told not to- a scenario which we see repeated elsewhere (e. g. at the Passover and in Ez. 9). It was only david’s prayer which lead to “the destroyer” ceasing. Notice how the Angel repented and then encouraged David to offer a sacrifice so the Angel would be "intreated for the land" (v. 19,25). Similarly, the Angel repented of punishing Israel and wanted to restore them, and to enable this to happen He encouraged the people through Ezra to be spiritual. Thus Angelic repentance has to be confirmed by human action.