2 Samuel 1:17

2 Sam. 1:17. David's behavior on occasion of the death of Saul his (see verses 2 Samuel 1:11; 2 Samuel 1:12) grand persecutor, who long sought his life, and whose death was so much to his advantage, together with the spirit he showed on other occasions of love and meekness and forgiveness towards those that injured him, do greatly confirm that the imprecations we have in his Psalms on his persecutors, of whom Saul was the chief, are not the expression of a spirit of private revenge, but imprecations he put up in the name of Christ as Head of the Church against His and His church's enemies, and what he spake as a prophet in the name of the Lord. Observe, also, his behavior with respect to the death of Abner and Amasa. By this also we may see what is the spirit of true religion, how it disposes persons to overlook and hide the worst faults of their worst enemies, and [to] speak the best of them and lament their calamities. See note on Psalms 59:13, and on Job 31:30.