Poole on 2 Samuel 1:19-27: David's Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, Part 2

Verse 19:[1]  The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places:  (2 Sam. 1:27; 1 Mac. 9:21[2]) how are the mighty fallen!

[The illustrious of Israel have been slain upon thy mountains,הַצְּבִי֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַל־בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָ֑ל ]  [They render it variously:]  Στήλωσον, etc., set up a monument,[3] etc. (Septuagint); which is to say, apply thyself fixedly to this consideration (Nobilius[4]).  Ἀκρίβασον (Aquila[5]), that is, diligently consider (Lapide).  They were reading צֵב from יְצַב, to set oneself (Grotius).  [Perhaps he would have more rightly said הַצֵּב from הִצִּיב, to set up or fix.]  This is the beginning of the funeral song (Mariana).  [But the rest take צְבִי in quite another way, and thus render this passage:]  O Splendor, or Beauty, of Israel (Pagnine, Montanus, Dutch).  O glory, or desire (Vatablus).  An introduction filled with pathos (Junius).  [By splendor they understand:]  Either, 1.  God.  It is a Periphrasis of God (Junius, Piscator, similarly the Dutch); from whom all the beauty and glory of Israel had come.  Compare Deuteronomy 4:7, 8; 33:29 (Dutch).  Or, 2.  Saul (certain interpreters in Munster).  The beauty of Israel is slain, etc. (English, similarly Castalio).  Or, 3.  the land.  He addresses the land of Israel.  O glorious land of Israel (Vatablus out of Munster).  It is Prosopopeia[6] (Munster).  O noble Israel (Munster).  This is an Epithet of the land of Judah, or of Jerusalem, as it is here and in Daniel 8:9,[7] sometimes of the temple or ark, as in Ezekiel 7:20[8] (Malvenda).  Or, 4.  the blooming Youth of Israel (certain interpreters in Malvenda).  The most illustrious of Israel have been killed, etc. (Strigelius).  Upon or on thine heights was he wounded (Pagnine, Montanus, similarly Munster).  On the mountains of thy land, as in verses 21 and 25 (Junius, Piscator).  Nothing helped them, whether the fortitude wherewith they were furnished, or the fortification of places; it was divine vengeance (Mariana).  They, having been pierced (the Hebrew has it in the singular[9]), lie prostrate, that is, Saul and Jonathan (Piscator).  Somewhat more obscure is that lamentation, in which many things are to be understood, because these things are said by a man disturbed by the death of friends.  Therefore, they understand something here, they fell, or how have they fallen, slain upon thine hills or mounds? (Vatablus).  [Others otherwise:]  Ye have set yourselves, O Israel; upon the house of your fortitude were elevated slayers (Jonathan).  O hind, Israel, upon thine hills were they killed? (Syriac, Arabic).

The beauty of Israel; their flower and glory, Saul and Jonathan, and their army, consisting of young and valiant men.  Upon thy high places, that is, those which belong to thee, O land of Israel.

[How have the mighty fallen?]  Heroes, the mightiest of men? that is to say, this was not able to have been done by human might, but by divine vengeance:  for they were the mightiest, and on the higher ground (Vatablus, similarly Menochius, Sanchez).

How are the mighty fallen! how strangely! how suddenly! how dreadfully and universally!

Verse 20:[10]  (1 Sam. 31:9; Mic. 1:10; see Judg. 16:23) Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest (see Ex. 15:20; Judg. 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6) the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of (1 Sam. 31:4) the uncircumcised triumph.

[Tell it not in Gath]  Which city is Gitta in the Fragments of Polybius[11] (Grotius).  That is to say, Would that it might escape the notice of our enemies (Vatablus).  He here mentions two principal prefectures.  Those that are carried away by the passages often wish for things that are not able to be done.  Thus David wishes for the wings of a dove[12] (Martyr).

[Lest the daughters of the Philistines, etc.]  Special mention is made of these, because young women were accustomed to celebrate victories in song and dance, 1 Samuel 18 (Sanchez, Menochius).  Or the daughters here are cities (Castalio).

Tell it not in Gath:  this is not a precept, but a poetical wish; whereby he doth not so much desire that this might not be done, which he knew to be vain and impossible; as express his great sorrow because it was and would be done, to the great dishonour of God and of his people.  He mentions the daughters of the Philistines, because it was the custom of women in those times and places to celebrate those victories which their men obtained, with triumphant songs and dances; as Exodus 15; Judges 11:34; 1 Samuel 18:6.

Verse 21:[13]  Ye (1 Sam. 31:1) mountains of Gilboa, (so Judg. 5:23; Job 3:3, 4; Jer. 20:14) let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings:  for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

[Let neither dew nor rain come upon thee]  He curses the place (Vatablus).  The weight of sorrow has been accustomed to curse even inanimate objects.  Thus Job 3 (Menochius).  He does not curse them in earnest (Tirinus), but he wanted to show in this way his own feelings and devotion towards the deceased (Sanchez).  That is to say, It is equal, that upon the memory of such a slaughter ye be deprived of all dew and rain (Tirinus out of Tostatus and Cajetan).  It is a poetic exclamation with an hyperbolic imprecation, to depict the horror, wherewith the pious, recollecting the evil received, are overwhelmed (Malvenda out of Junius).  Some maintain that it is a prophecy, and that it was actually fulfilled; and that these mountains, previously fertile, afterwards became sterile (Rabanus[14] and the Glossa in Lapide).  But these are reftured by αὐτόπται/eyewitnesses, Brochardus,[15] and the other Burchardus, who experienced rain and dew there; similarly Jacobus de Vitriaco[16] (Malvenda).

Let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you:  this is no proper imprecation; which he had no reason to inflict upon those harmless mountains; but only a passionate representation of the horror which he conceived at this public loss; which was such, as if he thought every person or thing which contributed to it were fit to bear the tokens of Divine displeasure, such as this is, when the earth wants the blessed and necessary influences of dew and rain.

[Nor let there be fields of first-fruits, ‎וּשְׂדֵ֣י תְרוּמֹ֑ת [17]]  And fields of elevations (Montanus), or of first-fruits (Septuagint), or of first-fruits (Septuagint), or ἀφαιρεμάτων, that is, of removals, that is, which are selected and extracted for sacred use (Aquila in Drusius).  And upon the distant fields (Syriac).  Some take it as an exclamation:  O fields of elevations, or high! that is, let neither dew, etc. (Junius in Malvenda).  Neither with dew, nor with rains, that ye, choice fields, might be moistened (Castalio).  And fields of offerings, understanding, lest them not be on you (Vatablus, Mariana); neither let there be fields, etc. (Tigurinus, similarly the Dutch, English, Piscator, Strigelius, Osiander).  The immediately preceding negation is understood (Vatablus), and is repeated ἀπὸ κοινοῦ or by Prozeugma[18] (Piscator); that is, in such a way that fertile fields are not among you, that is, fields bearing fruit, from which an oblation might be made to the Lord hereafter (Vatablus).

Nor fields of offerings, that is, fruitful fields, which may produce fair and goodly fruits fit to be offered unto God.

[Because there the shield of the might was cast away, ‎כִּ֣י שָׁ֤ם נִגְעַל֙ מָגֵ֣ן גִּבּוֹרִ֔ים [19]]  Because there was cast down (shattered [Syriac, Arabic], rejected [Munster], checked [Castalio], stripped off [Strigelius], with contempt (Junius and Tremellius), that is, was cast away with contempt [Piscator, similarly Tigurinus], cast away [Vatablus]) the shield of the mighty (Montanus, Septuagint, Pagnine, Munster, Jonathan), or of heroes (Syriac, similarly Strigelius, Osiander); the spear of giants (Arabic); cast away, as a thing abominable, after they were slain there (Vatablus).  It was a grievous shame to a soldier to have cast away his shield, or to have lost it in any way.  Therefore, David laments this.  Or, which I would prefer, he laments, that the shield and bulwark of the fatherland was gone, namely, the mighty men; with whom removed, it was exposed to the plundering and mockery of enemies (Sanchez).  Or many threw down their shields, so that they might flee more expeditiously; or it is said that the shield was cast away, because it was not able to protect them from arrows (Lyra).

[The shield of Saul, as if he were not anointed with oil,מָגֵ֣ן שָׁא֔וּל בְּלִ֖י מָשִׁ֥יחַ בַּשָּֽׁמֶן׃]  The shield of Saul, as though he were not anointed with oil (Munster, Pagnine, Tigurinus, Piscator, Dutch, English, Vatablus).  Which version admits a twofold sense:  so that it might be understood, either of the shield, or of Sal (Piscator).  1.  Some understand it of the shield (thus Munster, Vatablus, Rabbi Salomon[20] in Lapide); that is, as if Saul had not prepared his shield for battle, that is, as if he had not strenuously resisted his enemies in battle (Vatablus).  He says this, because they were wont to anoint those leather shields (see Isaiah 21:5 [Piscator]), so that they might not easily catch darts and blows (Munster, Vatablus).  [This does not satisfy others:]  Because something special is said to be in Saul, since he is said to be anointed with oil (Sanchez out of Tostatus).  Others maintain that the shield of the King was wont to be anointed, but for another reason, namely, so that his dignity and fortitude might be represented by this anointing (Tostatus in Lapide).  But Royal shields are not of that material, that they might absorb oil (Sanchez).  2.  Others understand this of Saul (thus Estius, Sanchez, Lapide, Tostatus), as if Saul had not been anointed.  Which exposition is more satisfying to the more learned (Vatablus).  Saul was the shield of the Republic and the anointed of the Lord (Menochius).  The title of Kings was sacrosanct before most nations (Martyr).  [Others translate the passage otherwise:]  The shield of Saul, through the consumption of him, who was anointed with oil (Junius and Tremellius).  ‎בְּלִי they derived from בָּלָה, to consume [just as it is taken in Isaiah 38:17[21]].  I would expound it:  pointlessly (that is, in vain) anointed with oil (Malvenda).  Others:  without the one anointed with oil, that is, the shield of Saul was separated from the anointed one, that is, from Saul (Dutch).  David laments that Saul perished in this way, as if he were one of the common and obscure people (Estius).

The shield of the mighty; the shields of the valiant men of Israel.  Vilely; dishonourably; for it was a great reproach to any soldier to cast away or lose his shield.  Cast away to wit, by themselves, that they might flee more swiftly away, as the Israelites did, and Saul with the rest; as is said, 1 Samuel 31:1, 2.  As though he had not been anointed with oil; as if he had been no more nor better than a common soldier:  he was exposed to the same kind of death and reproach as they were.

Verse 22:[22]  From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, (1 Sam. 18:4) the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

[From the blood of the slain, ‎חֲלָלִים]  That is, of those to be slain (Vatablus).

[From the fat of the mighty]  By which expression he signifies either vigorous warriors, who would set themselves in opposition (Sanchez):  or their very fat, not only their blood, etc., that is to say, the arrow of Jonathan was piercing armor, fat, and blood, and was searching out the viscera (Menochius, similarly Sanchez).

[It never turned back]  To return, to turn back, etc., signify an attempt, an ineffective action, Isaiah 45:23 compared with Isaiah 55:11.  Thus Ezekiel 21:5 compared with Jeremiah 50:9 (Sanchez).

Turned not back, to wit, without effect:  compare Isaiah 45:23; 55:11.  Their arrows shot from their bows, and their swords, did seldom miss, and commonly pierced fat, and flesh, and blood, and reached even to the heart and bowels.

[It returned not empty]  But causing wounds and death (Menochius, similarly Vatablus).  Not vacant, in such a way that it has not been filled with blood (Piscator).  With the bodies of armored men contacted, the arrows were not turning back, but were penetrating and killing bodies (Vatablus).  The sense:  Since these things are so, how have these mightiest of men fallen?  Because God was angry (Martyr).  He says these things, so that he might rouse the people to repentance (Martyr on verse 25).

Empty, that is, not filled and glutted with blood:  for the sword is metaphorically said to have a mouth, which we translate an edge; and to devour, 2 Samuel 2:26; 11:25; Jeremiah 2:30; 46:10.  And this their former successfulness is here mentioned as an aggravation of their last infelicity.

Verse 23:[23]  Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant (or, sweet[24]) in their lives, and in their death they were not divided:  they were swifter than eagles, they were (Judg. 14:18) stronger than lions.

[Amiable and attractive in their life,הַנֶּאֱהָבִ֤ים וְהַנְּעִימִם֙ בְּחַיֵּיהֶ֔ם  [25]]  Amiable (friendly [Arabic], dearly beloved [Junius and Tremellius]) and pleasant (Syriac, Munster, Tigurinus), dear (Pagnine), graceful (Montanus), beautiful (Septuagint), beloved (Jonathan), benign (Arabic), most pleasant (Junius and Tremellius), beloved, understanding, in turn, that is, loving one another mutually.  And beloved (pleasant) in their life; that is, who loved each other very much in their life (Vatablus).  David wanted to commend Saul, in what aspect he was able.  Yet he does not lie.  For he only commends his civil virtues and external goods.  They were beautiful (says he) or attractive, and with the best habits.  It is a rare virtue to commend an enemy:  This is the modesty of the pious, that they take note, if anything laudable appears in their enemies:  but they avert their eyes from sin (Martyr here and on verse 25).  Sanchez thinks that these words were solemn and genuine, wont to be used time and again in funerals by those presiding, like those, Alas brother, etc., Jeremiah 22:18; 34:5 (Menochius).

Pleasant; amiable and obliging in their carriage and conversation, both towards one another, and towards their people; for as for Saul’s fierce behaviour towards Jonathan, 1 Samuel 20:30, 33, it was only a sudden passion, by which his ordinary temper was not to be measured; and for his carriage towards David, that was from that jealousy and reason of state which usually engageth even good-natured and well-nurtured princes to the same hostilities in like cases.  But it is observable, that David speaks not a word here of his piety and other virtues; but only commends him for those things which were truly in him; a fit pattern for all preachers in their funeral commendations.  In their lives; Jonathan was not false to his father, as was reported; but stuck close to him.

[In death they were not divided]  Here, he tacitly excuses Jonathan.  For there were those that were suspecting that he had conspired against his father (Martyr).

In their death they were not divided; and as he lived, so he died with him, at the same time, and in the same common and good cause.

[Swifter than eagles]  1.  In body; to pursue the enemy, and to avoid dangers.  2.  In soul, that is to say, they were not delaying when the occasion was right (Martyr).

Swifter than eagles; expeditious and nimble in pursuing their enemies, and executing their designs; which is a great commendation in a prince and in a soldier.

[Stronger than lions]  Both in body, to overcome, and to repel the enemy; and in soul, not frightened of difficult things (Martyr).

Stronger than lions, in regard of their bodily strength and the courage of their minds.

Verse 24:[26]  Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.

[Ye daughters of Israel…weep]  Those were previously wont to adorn the victories of Saul (Martyr).  He addresses the daughters, fo it belonged to them to sing the songs, either triumphal, or nuptial, or mournful (Sanchez).

Ye daughters of Israel:  these he mentions, partly because the women then used to make songs, both of triumph and of lamentation, as occasion required; and partly because they usually are most delighted with the ornaments of the body here following.

[Who was clothing you with scarlet in delights, ‎עִם־עֲדָנִ֔ים]  With delights (Munster out of Kimchi,[27] Pagnine, Junius and Tremellius); and that delicately (Tigurinus, thus Kimchi in Munster), that is to say, he clothed you with colored and fine garments (Munster).  Elegantly (Strigelius); with pleasures, that is, with other garments, costly, or fin, which women were wont to hold in delights (Vatablus, Dutch).  With other delights (English); in delights, that is, their festivities (certain interpreters in Malvenda).  Moreover, Saul did this, when out of the neighboring regions that he had plundered he carried back these delights (Menochius).  Now, soldiers returned home were conferring those ornaments upon their wives and daughters.  Appositely does he commemorate womanly ornaments; for they are wont to value them above all other things (Martyr).

Who clotheth you in scarlet:  this he did, partly because he procured them so much peace as gave them opportunity of enriching themselves; and partly because he took these things as spoils from the enemies, and clothed his own people with them.  Compare Psalm 68:12.

Verse 25:[28]  How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!  O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.

[Jonathan was slain in thine high places]  O beauty of Israel, out of verse 19 (Piscator).  Some things are to be understood in this manner, How hast thou fallen, O Jonathan? slain in thine high places? that is to say, in thy country, in a place more lofty, better, and safer; although thou art otherwise a man altogether invincible, yet art thou slain (Vatablus).

In thine high places:  Which were in thy country, and (had not thy father disinherited thee by his sins) in thy dominions.

Verse 26:[29]  I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:  very pleasant hast thou been unto me:  (1 Sam. 18:1, 3; 19:2; 20:17, 41; 23:16) thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

For thee, that is, for the loss of thee.  For besides the loss of a true friend, and all the comfort of friendship, which is inestimable, he lost him who both could, and undoubtedly would, have given him a speedy, and quiet, and sure possession of the kingdom; whereas now he met with long and troublesome interruptions.

[Above the love of women]  Either actively, wherewith women love their children, or husbands; or wherewith they are loved in turn by men (Sanchez, thus Lyra, Menochius, Martyr, Vatablus).

The love of women, that is, that love wherewith they love their husbands or children; for their affections are usually more vehement and ardent than men’s.

Verse 27:[30]  (2 Sam. 1:19) How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

[How are the mighty fallen, etc.]  A song intercalary, or frequently repeated, has great force for ornament and feeling.  Therefore, David makes use of this artifice elsewhere, Psalm 107; 118.  Thus Theocritus, Idylls 1; 19; Virgil, “Sorceress”[31].  Catullus,[32] in Epithalmia and in Elegies (Sanchez).  He more frequently repeats the same thing, after the manner of mourners:  for they are the words of a man cast into confusion (Vatablus).

[And the weapons of war have perished]  That is, the mightiest men, indeed all the glory of war has completely perished; that is, Saul and Jonathan, who were Israel’s true vessels and instruments of war (Vatablus).  He understands Saul and Jonathan here, whom he called shields (Menochius, similarly Martyr); or he laments that the weapons of war came under the power of the Philistines carrying of plunder, which pertains to the shame of the conquered (Menochius).  He bewails the fact that the people were afterwards going to be unarmed (Martyr).

The weapons of war perished:  Either, 1.  Metaphorically so called, to wit, Saul and Jonathan, and the brave commanders and soldiers of Israel; who might have been called the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.[33]  Or rather, 2.  Properly; for, together with the men, their arms were lost, which was a very great aggravation of their loss, and that loss seems to be at this time more irrecoverable and dangerous than the loss of their men.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎הַצְּבִי֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַל־בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָ֑ל אֵ֖יךְ נָפְל֥וּ גִבּוֹרִֽים׃

[2] 1 Maccabees 9:21:  “How is the valiant man fallen, that delivered Israel!”

[3] The Septuagint translators appear to have taken צְבִי/beauty from נָצַב, to stand.

[4] Flaminius Nobilius (died 1590) was a Roman Catholic text critic, who labored in the reconstruction of the Itala, the Old Latin version.

[5] Aquila of Sinope produced his Greek version of the Old Testament in the second century of the Christian era.  Aquila’s translation champions the cause of Judaism against Christianity in matters of translation and interpretation.  The product is woodenly literalistic.

[6] That is, Personification.

[7] Daniel 8:9:  “And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land (‎וְאֶל־הַצֶּבִי׃).”

[8] Ezekiel 7:20:  “As for the beauty (‎וּצְבִי) of his ornament, he set it in majesty:  but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein:  therefore have I set it far from them.”

[9] 1 Samuel 1:19:  “The beauty of Israel is slain (‎חָלָל/pierced) upon thy high places:  how are the mighty fallen!”

[10] Hebrew: אַל־תַּגִּ֣ידוּ בְגַ֔ת אַֽל־תְּבַשְּׂר֖וּ בְּחוּצֹ֣ת אַשְׁקְל֑וֹן פֶּן־תִּשְׂמַ֙חְנָה֙ בְּנ֣וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים פֶּֽן־תַּעֲלֹ֖זְנָה בְּנ֥וֹת הָעֲרֵלִֽים׃

[11] Polybius (c. 203-120 BC) was a Greek historian, remembered for his The Rise of the Roman Empire, or The Histories.  Only the first five Books survive intact; Books VI-XXXIX are in various states of fragmentation.

[12] Psalm 55:6.

[13] Hebrew: הָרֵ֣י בַגִּלְבֹּ֗עַ אַל־טַ֧ל וְאַל־מָטָ֛ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם וּשְׂדֵ֣י תְרוּמֹ֑ת כִּ֣י שָׁ֤ם נִגְעַל֙ מָגֵ֣ן גִּבּוֹרִ֔ים מָגֵ֣ן שָׁא֔וּל בְּלִ֖י מָשִׁ֥יחַ בַּשָּֽׁמֶן׃

[14] Rabanus Maurus (c. 780-856) was a Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Mainz in Germany.  He wrote theological treatises, an encyclopedia, a martyrology, and commentaries on most of the Old Testament, Matthew, and the Pauline Epistles, which were based chiefly on the exegetical writings of the Church Fathers and Bede.

[15] Brochardus was a thirteenth century Dominican friar.  He lived in the monastery on Mount Sion for ten years.  He wrote a valuable description of those regions (Desciptionem Terræ Sanctæ).

[16] Jacques de Vitry (c. 1165-1249) was a French Canon Regular, eventually elevated to the Bishopric of Acre and the Cardinalate.  With his experience in the Holy Land, he wrote Historiam Orientalem, also known as his Historiam Hierosolymitanam.

[17] רוּם signifies to be high; ‎תְּרוּמֹת, things lifted off, or offerings.

[18] In Prozeugma, the governing term in the first clause is elided in the others.

[19] גָּעַל signifies to abhor or loathe.

[20] The details of the life of Rabbi Salomon Jarchi (Solomon Jarchi ben Isaac) have been obscured by the mists of time.  It is relatively safe to associate him with the eleventh century.  He commented on the whole of the Hebrew Bible, and the principal value of his commentary is its preservation of traditional Jewish interpretation.  He also authored the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud.

[21] Isaiah 38:17:  “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness:  but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption (‎מִשַּׁ֣חַת בְּלִ֔י):  for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”

[22] Hebrew:  ‎מִדַּ֣ם חֲלָלִ֗ים מֵחֵ֙לֶב֙ גִּבּוֹרִ֔ים קֶ֚שֶׁת יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן לֹ֥א נָשׂ֖וֹג אָח֑וֹר וְחֶ֣רֶב שָׁא֔וּל לֹ֥א תָשׁ֖וּב רֵיקָֽם׃

[23] Hebrew:  ‎שָׁא֣וּל וִיהוֹנָתָ֗ן הַנֶּאֱהָבִ֤ים וְהַנְּעִימִם֙ בְּחַיֵּיהֶ֔ם וּבְמוֹתָ֖ם לֹ֣א נִפְרָ֑דוּ מִנְּשָׁרִ֣ים קַ֔לּוּ מֵאֲרָי֖וֹת גָּבֵֽרוּ׃

[24] Hebrew:  ‎וְהַנְּעִימִם.

[25] אָהֵב signifies to love; in the Niphal, to be beloved.  נָעֵם signifies to be pleasant or lovely.

[26] Hebrew:  ‎בְּנוֹת֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶל־שָׁא֖וּל בְּכֶ֑ינָה הַמַּלְבִּֽשְׁכֶ֤ם שָׁנִי֙ עִם־עֲדָנִ֔ים הַֽמַּעֲלֶה֙ עֲדִ֣י זָהָ֔ב עַ֖ל לְבוּשְׁכֶֽן׃

[27] David Kimchi (c. 1160-1235) was a famous Spanish Rabbi.  He wrote a commentary on the entire Old Testament and a Hebrew grammar, as a result of which he has long been respected for his profound scholarship.

[28] Hebrew:  ‎אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבֹּרִ֔ים בְּת֖וֹךְ הַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן עַל־בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָֽל׃

[29] Hebrew:  ‎צַר־לִ֣י עָלֶ֗יךָ אָחִי֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן נָעַ֥מְתָּ לִּ֖י מְאֹ֑ד נִפְלְאַ֤תָה אַהֲבָֽתְךָ֙ לִ֔י מֵאַהֲבַ֖ת נָשִֽׁים׃

[30] Hebrew:  ‎אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבּוֹרִ֔ים וַיֹּאבְד֖וּ כְּלֵ֥י מִלְחָמָֽה׃ פ

[31] Eclogue 8, “Pharmaceutria”.

[32] Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84-c. 54 BC) was a Roman poet.

[33] See 2 Kings 2:12; 13:14.