David, the veteran of many pitched battles, seeks first to prepare his people for wars to come.
The two chief weapons of the Israelite soldier were the sword and the battle bow. One was for hand-to-hand combat and the other for fighting at a distance. In the recent battle in the Jezreel Valley, the Philistine horses and chariots had full advantage in the flat land, and, as the Amalekite reported, “the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him” (2 Sam 1:6). Armed with swords for this battle in the plain, the men of Israel fled onto the slopes of Gilboa to neutralize the chariot power of the enemy. But it was then that “the battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers” (1 Sam 31:3). It seems the Israelites were unprepared for this long-distance salvo. This, perhaps, explains David’s instructions: “Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow” (2 Sam 1:17-18). He would not have his people unprepared for any tactic of the enemy, near or far. Now as Scripture unfolds, we find the Savior expert both with the Battle-bow (Zech 10:4) and the Sword (Rev 19:11-16). In fact, He has equipped His people with both as well. For up-close combat, we have “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:17). But for fighting at a distance, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate” (Ps 127:4-5). We should want our children to go further for God than we have, but in order to do that, they must be polished, aimed, and then let go. If only Saul had done that with his boys, his life’s battle would have gone differently. Very differently!