David's Grief
I Samuel ends with a very brief statement about the death of king Saul and Jonathan, his son, in the battle against the Philistines. II Samuel begins with the account of David's grief over their deaths. Originally, both of these books were together as one long story. That is why one flows right into the other.
David grieved over the death of king Saul, even though he was trying to kill David. He did not hate Saul, and he did not seek to kill him. David did not rejoice in his death. Also, David wept over Jonathan, his closest friend. Jonathan had been such a friend to David and an unselfish supporter, even though that meant he would never become king, himself. This was a terrible loss for David.
It is interesting to see how David grieved for these men. David and all of his men fasted, wept, and mourned the rest of that day. They wept for these deaths and for all the people of Israel, because this was a loss for everyone. They took time to pour out the emotions of their hearts to the Lord for His comfort. Then, David wrote a song about Saul and Jonathan. It was called the Song of the Bow.(II Samuel 1:17,18) All or part of it is recorded in II Samuel 2, but all of it was in the history book, the book of Jasher. In this way David paid tribute to king Saul and to his great friend Jonathan, and he created a memorial for them in song.
I think we can all learn from David's grief. When we lose someone close to us, we should follow these examples. It takes time to grieve, and we need to express our emotions, crying out to God for His comfort from the Holy Spirit. We need to keep the memories of our loved one alive in appropriate ways. However, we do not want to get stuck in the denial stage of grief and act like the person is not dead. It might be very sad for us to say good-bye, but we must go on living our lives. That helps our hurt to heal.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Samuel 2-5.
David grieved over the death of king Saul, even though he was trying to kill David. He did not hate Saul, and he did not seek to kill him. David did not rejoice in his death. Also, David wept over Jonathan, his closest friend. Jonathan had been such a friend to David and an unselfish supporter, even though that meant he would never become king, himself. This was a terrible loss for David.
It is interesting to see how David grieved for these men. David and all of his men fasted, wept, and mourned the rest of that day. They wept for these deaths and for all the people of Israel, because this was a loss for everyone. They took time to pour out the emotions of their hearts to the Lord for His comfort. Then, David wrote a song about Saul and Jonathan. It was called the Song of the Bow.(II Samuel 1:17,18) All or part of it is recorded in II Samuel 2, but all of it was in the history book, the book of Jasher. In this way David paid tribute to king Saul and to his great friend Jonathan, and he created a memorial for them in song.
I think we can all learn from David's grief. When we lose someone close to us, we should follow these examples. It takes time to grieve, and we need to express our emotions, crying out to God for His comfort from the Holy Spirit. We need to keep the memories of our loved one alive in appropriate ways. However, we do not want to get stuck in the denial stage of grief and act like the person is not dead. It might be very sad for us to say good-bye, but we must go on living our lives. That helps our hurt to heal.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Samuel 2-5.