Saul and Jonathan were lovely Hebrew, הנאהבים, hanneehabim, were loved, namely, by each other, and by the people. And pleasant in their lives Amiable and obliging in their carriage and conversation, both toward one another and toward others: for, as for Saul's fierce behaviour toward Jonathan, it was only a sudden passion, by which his ordinary temper was not to be measured; and as for his carriage toward David, it proceeded from that jealousy, and those reasons of state, which too often engage even well-natured princes in similar hostilities. And in their death they were not divided They were united in life and death; in life by the same common affection; in death by the same common fate. This is just what David intends to express. He does not, by any means, appear to design a commendation of their lives in any other respect. Nor does he speak, a word of Saul's piety; he only commends him for those qualities which he really possessed; a fit pattern for all preachers in their funeral commendations. Dr. Lowth has beautifully expressed David's meaning:
“Nobile par, quos junxit, amor, quos gloria junxit, Una nunc fato jungit acerba dies.”
We will not attempt to give our readers a translation of this elegant couplet, but we will present them below with a paraphrase not inferior, perhaps, in elegance or spirit, on this and two or three of the other stanzas of this elegy, from a poetical version of it by Thomas Roberts, Esq., late of Bristol, with which he has kindly favoured us, and in which both the beauty and force of the original seem to be well imitated. We wish the narrow limits of our work would admit of our inserting the whole.
They were swifter than eagles In pursuing their enemies, and executing their designs: which is a great commendation in a prince, and a requisite quality in a warrior. They were stronger than lions Or, rather, more courageous than lions. According to Agur's observation, Proverbs 30:30, the lion never betakes himself to flight, but faces his foe to the last. Courage then seems the most remarkable property of the lion. And since David uses the same word here in speaking of Saul and Jonathan which Agur uses in speaking of this property of the lion, he evidently means to celebrate the courage of his heroes rather than their strength; and to say that, in facing the enemy and braving of danger, they were undaunted as lions.