2 Kings 1:27
How are the valiant fallen, and the weapons of war perished?
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quomodo ceciderunt robusti, et perierunt arma bellica ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- πῶς ἔπεσαν δυνατοί, καὶ ἀπώλοντο σκεύη πολεμικά.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבּוֹרִ֔ים וַיֹּאבְד֖וּ כְּלֵ֥י מִלְחָמָֽה
Haydock's commentary
Perished, falling into the hands of the enemy; though Saul and Jonathan may be styled the arms, as well as the shield, of Israel. (Menochius)
No character could be more worthy of praise than the latter. His breast was never agitated by envy, though he seemed to be the most interested to destroy David. Even Saul had many excellent qualities; which makes Ven. Bede compare him in those respects with Jesus Christ; as most of the memorable persons and events of the Old Testament had a view to Christ on the one hand, and to the Synagogue on the other. Saul is one of the most striking figures of the reprobation and conduct of the Jewish church. As he was adorned with many glorious prerogatives, and chosen by God, yet he no sooner beheld the rising merit of David, than he began to persecute him: so the Jews had been instructed by the prophets, and had been selected as God's peculiar inheritance; and nevertheless took occasion from the virtues and miracles of the Son of God, to conspire his ruin. The Romans were sent to punish the Jews, who are now become the most abject of all mankind, and are filled with rage, seeing the exaltation of the Christian Church, as Saul was reduced by the Philistines to the greatest distress, and his children were forced to implore the protection of the man whom he had so cruelly persecuted, &c. (Calmet)
Saul and Judas may be a warning to us, that no person ought to live without fear, since they perished so miserably, though they had been elevated by the hand of God. (St. Ambrose, &c.) (Haydock)
Where a note speaks of the Jewish people, the Church teaches that the Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter IX. Cheating and dishonest ways of making money are utterly unfit for clerics whose duty is to serve all. They ought never to be involved in a money affair, unless it is one affecting a man's life. For them the example of David is given, that they should injure none, even when provoked; also the death of Naboth, to keep them from preferring life to virtue
61. But that he spared him was a small matter; he also grieved for him when slain in war, and mourned for him with tears, saying: “Ye mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain fall upon you; ye mountains of death, for there the shield of the mighty is cast away, the shield of Saul. It is not anointed with oil, but with the blood of the wounded and the fat of the warriors. The bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and very dear, inseparable in life, and in death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with your ornaments, who put on gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan was wounded even to death. …