Tell It Not in Gath1
2 Samuel 1:17-27
17And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, 18and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The Book of Jashar was probably a collection of national songs and records of heroic acts. It is now lost. It was not inspired and therefore no special act of God protected it. David not only mourned over Saul and Jonathan personally, but he composed a funeral song to be sung by the whole nation, and especially by his own tribe. He called it “The Song of the Bow,”2 referring to the skill in archery for which Jonathan was famous and which is mentioned in verse 22. David lamenting over the rejected house of Saul, reminds us of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, which was destroyed because it did not know the time of its visitation.3
He said:
19 “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How the mighty have fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath,
publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
21 “You mountains of Gilboa,
let there be no dew or rain upon you,
nor fields of offerings!
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,
the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
22 “From the blood of the slain,
from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan turned not back,
and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
23 “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!
In life and in death they were not divided;
they were swifter than eagles;
they were stronger than lions.
24 “You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
25 “How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!
“Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
very pleasant have you been to me;
your love to me was extraordinary,
surpassing the love of women.
27 “How the mighty have fallen,
and the weapons of war perished!”
Dr. Krummacher, in his “David, the King of Israel,” has the following excellent passage, “David did not, in his lamentation, speak too highly in praise of the king. Was not Saul truly a valiant hero? Did not also that which was gentle and tender often find an echo in his soul? Did not Jonathan and his other sons show themselves true and faithful brothers toward David even unto death? All these things hovered before the mind of David at this time. With memories such as these came a deep, sorrowful compassion for the sad fate of the king. And thus it was David’s genuine feeling and sentiment to which he gave full honest expression in his lamentations for the dead. These words of the song-- ‘Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon.’ have, since that time, become a proverb in the circles of the faithful. It is frequently heard when one of their community has failed to take heed to his ways, and, therefore, has given rise to a scandal. Would that the call were more faithfully observed than is usually the case! Would that the honor of the spiritual Zion was always as close to the heart of the children of the kingdom as the earthly Zion was to the heart of David. But how often does it happen that they even try hard to expose the weakness of their brothers before the world? By doing so, they repeat the wickedness of Ham and become traitors to the Church which Christ has purchased with his own blood. They make themselves guilty of bringing dishonor on the gospel, by showing their disapproval to the world through their talebearing, and to their own great injury they disown the love which ‘believes all things’ and ‘hopes all things.’”
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1 2 Samuel 1:20
2 The “it” in verse 18 is “the bow” or “the song of the bow” in some translations. The ESV uses the Greek Septuagint, “it”, but includes a footnote “Hebrew the bow”
3 Luke 19:41-44
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