Bible Commentaries

2 Samuel 1:18

1. The Song of the Bow.—We never come to this song of the bow without being struck afresh with its beauty, its pathos, its lofty patriotism, its wholehearted grief, its tender recollection of a dead friend, and, perhaps, best of all, its generous forgetfulness of all that is bad in a dead enemy. The news has just been brought to David that his arch-enemy Saul is dead; and David, anointed by God to be Saul's successor, has been for seven years outcast. An outlaw in daily fear of his life, surrounded by a company of men desperate as 2 Samuel 1:26

My love for my Brothers, from the early loss of our Parents, and even from earlier misfortunes, has grown into an affection "passing the love of woman". I have been ill-tempered with them—I have vexed them—but the thought of them has always stifled the impression that any woman might otherwise have made upon me.

—John Keats (letter to Benjamin Bailey, 1818).

References.—I:26.—A. G. Mortimer, The Church's Lessons for the Christian Year, part iii. p111. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, vol. ii. p253. R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons (3Series), p139. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxix. No2336. I:27.—E. J. Hardy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi1899 , p327. II:1.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. lii. No2996. II:1-11.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— 2 Samuel , etc, p1. II:17-27.—J. Mackay, Jonathan, The Friend of David, p193. III:17.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii. p101. III:17 , 18.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No1375. III:33.—C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p339. III:36.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xli. No2420. III:38.—J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. iv. p222. III:39.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. No334. V:17-25.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xl. No2348. V:23 , 24.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for Some Feast Days in the Christian Year, p291. V:24.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii. No147. V:24 , 25.—Ibid. vol. xl. No2348. VI:1-12.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— 2 Samuel , p14. VI:6 , 7.—A. G. Mortimer, Studies in Holy Scripture, p94. VI:11.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— 2 Samuel , p21. VI:20-22.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii. p127. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. No321; see also vol. xxxiv. No2031. VII:1 , 2.—"Plain Sermons" by contributors to the Tracts for the Times, vol. ii. p41. VII:1-22.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlv. No2641. VII:2.—S. Martin, Bain Upon the Mown Grass, p56. VII:4-16.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— 2 Samuel , p30.