Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives— David means in this verse to express the union of Saul and Jonathan by friendship in life, and by the same common fate in death; and he does not by any means appear to design a commendation of the loveliness or excellency of their lives in any other respect. Dr. Lowth, in his poetical paraphrase, has finely expressed the meaning;
Nobile par, quos junxit amor, quos gloria junxit, Unaque nunc fato jungit acerba dies.
Houbigant renders it, Saul and Jonathan, while they lived, were in mutual friendship and love; and even in death they were not separated. The elegant opposition which this version forms, evidently gives it the preference; and we should remark upon this song, as upon the other sacred pieces of Hebrew poetry, that the clauses in it alternately correspond each to the other. Though Jonathan thought differently from Saul in what concerned David, he appears always to have maintained a great friendship with his father, and never to have been wanting in filial duty; and Saul also appears in the general to have lived in great friendship with Jonathan. David proceeds to bestow on them the highest eulogium that can be given to warriors, saying, that they united in their combats the rapidity of the eagle, and the invincible courage of the lion; and as courage is the peculiar property of the lion, the last clause would be better rendered, they are more courageous than lions. See Proverbs 30:30 and Green's Notes.