2 Samuel 1:17 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Lamented with this lamentation. — This is the technical expression for a funeral dirge or elegy, such as David also composed on the death of Abner (2 Samuel 3:33-34), and Jeremiah on the death of Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:25). It is the only instance preserved to us (except the few lines on the death of Abner) of David’s secular poetry. “It is one of the finest odes of the Old Testament, full of lofty sentiment, and springing from deep and sanctified emotion, in which, without the slightest allusion to his own relation to the fallen king, David celebrates without envy the bravery and virtues of Saul and his son Jonathan, and bitterly laments their loss.” (Keil.)