God provided Israel with qualities they should desire in a king. In short, when the king ceased to be right with God, he ceased to be right for the people.
Nations have lost sight of the Almighty God. In doing so, they fail to recognize that neither they nor their leaders are the highest authority.
In Bible times, the mourning process often included a time of lamentation. Although lamentations were diverse, scripture points to a time set aside for speaking about the deceased. Today’s passage shows that David lamented the passing of Saul and Jonathan. He spoke positively about their efforts in battle (2 Samuel 1:25), their usefulness to Israel (2 Samuel 1:24), and their beauty (2 Samuel 1:23). Apparently, part of the healing process includes speaking of those who have departed. Perhaps it would lead to rejoicing in the good memories and crying at the mention of sad times. Regardless, it is clear that talking about the deceased helps those still alive in a time of mourning.
Because of certain false teachings, there remains a great deal of confusion concerning the matter of confessing sins. However, when we accept the Bible as our sole authority, the confusion dissipates and disappears. Our earlier study showed that actions must follow confession, but to whom should we confess? Some religions falsely teach that we confess our sins to man, but this is simply untrue. The Bible requires that man confess his sins to the Lord. This truth is confirmed repeatedly throughout the word of God. Our First John passage teaches this, but the Bible provides several additional witnesses (Psalm 32:5; Joshua 7:19; 2 Chronicles 30:22; Ezra 10:1; and Daniel 9:4, 20, for instance). Our next study delves into the subject of Christians confessing something to men, but confession of sin or sins must be made solely to God.
