After
the death of Saul, 17 David
composed a funeral song for Saul and Jonathan, 18 and he commanded that it be taught to the people of Judah.
It is known as the Song of the Bow, and it is recorded in The Book of
Jashar. 19 Your pride
and joy, O Israel, lies dead on the hills! Oh, how the mighty heroes have
fallen! 20 Don’t announce
the news in Gath, don’t proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon, or the
daughters of the Philistines will rejoice and the pagans will laugh in
triumph. 21 O mountains of
Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fruitful fields
producing offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty heroes was
defiled; the shield of Saul will no longer be anointed with oil. 22 The bow of Jonathan was
powerful, and the sword of Saul did its mighty work. They shed the blood
of their enemies and pierced the bodies of mighty heroes. 23 How beloved and gracious were
Saul and Jonathan! They were together in life and in death. They were
swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. 24 O women of Israel, weep for Saul, for he dressed you in
luxurious scarlet clothing, in garments decorated with gold. 25 Oh, how the mighty heroes have
fallen in battle! Jonathan lies dead on the hills. 26 How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan! Oh, how much
I loved you! And your love for me was deep, deeper than the love of women!
This week we
continue our look at the life of King David in the David Saga, Part 4. It's
actually a pretty big jump to go from the Goliath episode of 1Samuel 17 all the
way to 2Samuel chapter 1 and the death of Saul and Jonathan. Looking at the big
picture and getting a running start to this week's passage: David develops a very close bond with Saul's
son (and heir to the throne) Jonathan; because of his glowing reputation, David
is appointed as Saul's armor bearer; out of jealousy Saul banishes David from
court, yet he appoints him as captain of a thousand fighting men (perhaps
hoping David will be slain in battle); due to his success in battle, David is
given Saul's daughter Michal in marriage; David spends most of his time on the
run from Saul, who, in fits of jealous rage wants to kill him... while at the
same time both Saul AND David are doing non-stop battle with the Philistines
and Israel's other tribal enemies.
During this
whole time, David had two opportunities to kill Saul and rid himself of this
man who meant him no good--yet David refused to lift his hand against the Lord's anointed. As a side-note this is
one of those concepts that is probably difficult for us to understand in our
typically pragmatic mindset. If this
thing is causing me grief, and I have an opportunity to remove it, then of course I'll remove it and my life
will improve. Regardless of how pragmatic David may otherwise have been, part
of what made him a man after God's own
heart was his extremely high regard for God's divine activity. David knew
that he also had been anointed as King, but rather than forcibly taking the
throne from Saul he decided to let God work things out in His own time. That's
called patience, and it's no easy
thing for us--nor was it easy for David, especially when he was fleeing for his
life from Saul.
But that
brings us to this week's passage: the song of lament that David composes upon
hearing of the death of Saul and Jonathan. It may sound a bit jaded to some,
but numerous commentators point out that David is no idiot in composing this
dirge. The last thing he wants is to be seen as a usurper, and cause further
fragmentation in Israel's fragile internal political situation. In our modern
setting I'm always interested to note the glowing funeral comments and eulogies
given to our leaders by their former political adversaries. Suddenly President
such-in-such or Senator so-in-so was a "great American," blah blah
blah. There's a savviness at work in such comments. Nothing is to be gained by
speaking ill of the dead, but by praising them, one comes off as magnanimous; a
voice of unity, and healing. Perhaps something
like that is going on with David. He is intelligent, after all.
Yet on the
other hand, I keep coming back to that man
after God's own heart thing. David never really seemed to lose sight of the
big picture that Saul was the Lord's
anointed, and that Israel was in a battle for its very survival. At various
points it seems that David felt there was work enough for both of them to do
and that Israel was better off with
Saul than without him. And so when David intones the lament Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen (NLT
translation), he does so first and foremost from the perspective of his
grieving, fragile covenant community; he does so from the perspective of one
who, no doubt, does not fully grasp (or even necessarily agree with) God's
sense of timing. After all, the last chapter of 1Samuel which details the death
of Saul and Jonathan, does so in the context of also stating that their entire
fighting force was routed. In other words, it's not just that 2 very important
people are dead.... many are dead...
and the future of the covenant community is in question.
This is
where we can begin to see a potential parallel between this passage and our
life of faith in the 21st century church. We too have mighty heroes who have fallen. In the context of our own faith
community, I'm reminded this morning of: Barb Hasselmann, Gert Stoffregen, Al
and Jane Broten, Rita Schwerin, Al Benson, and too many others to mention here.
I've done over forty funerals since coming to Elk Grove Village. Granted, many
were from the community and not necessarily members of our congregation, but
most were. And WHEN we lose our mighty
heroes, there is always more than a sense of loss... there is also a sense
of DISMAY; dismay that God would choose such inopportune timing, given the struggles
we're in.... the 'battles' we're fighting; dismay that the effect of their loss
will be so demoralizing on those of us left to carry on, that we may just give
up; and dismay regarding the future--always unknown at best, but now seemingly
even more in question. Such feelings at a time like this are universal. David
and the Israelites, no doubt, felt the same way.
So, the
questions that are percolating as I approach this text are things like....
where is the hope? Where is the 'gospel,' the good news? What is God calling
his leaders and his people to do in such a situation? And most importantly,
what can we learn from this passage.... and what can we appropriate for our own
life of faith--both individually and as a worshiping community--from this
passage?
Cheers,
T.M.
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