John Gill Commentary 2 Samuel 1:11

"Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him:" — 2 Samuel 1:11 (ASV)

When David took hold on his clothes
Not on the young man's but his own:

and rent them ;
on bearing of the death of Saul and Jonathan, see (Genesis 37:34) ; from which the Jews ^F12 gather, that a man is bound to rend his clothes for a prince, and for the father of the sanhedrim, since Saul, they say, was the prince, and Jonathan the father of that court:

and likewise all the men that [were] with him ;
rent their clothes also, in imitation of him; the same custom obtained among the Gentiles on mournful occasions ^F13 .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: T. Bab. Moed. Katon, fol. 26. 1.
• F13: "-----it scissa veste Latinus". Virgil. Aeneid. 12. prope finem.