2 Samuel 1: Mourning the Loss of Human Life

¹⁷ And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, ¹⁸ and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah. -2 Samuel 1:17-18

When David learned of the death of Saul and Jonathan, he mourned. In addition, he instructed others to mourn. I personally thought it was odd that David would teach others to mourn the death of people. Do people really need to be taught this?

Apparently so. In David’s time, death in war and life was a regular occurrence. This was likely not too dissimilar to our view of the nightly news or daily headlines. So many stories of death and tragedy exist that we barely blink an eye, much less shed a tear, unless the person is a close friend or relative.

The more I think about it, the more I realize we all have a lot to learn about mourning. How can thousands die today due to famine or disease and I do not even think about it? How can I read a headline about civilians killed in Syria and not shed a tear? How can I listen to a report about a local death and not even stop to think about the loss of life?

I don’t know about you, but I certainly need to learn how to mourn. By this, I mean learning to stop and reflect on the loss of human life that takes place around me and to genuinely care about the souls at stake.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.