2 Samuel 1:21

21 You hills of Gilboa! Let there be no dew or rain on you, and no fields yielding grain offerings.^[a] Because it was there that the mighty warrior's^[b] shield was defiled— the shield of Saul!—never again anointed with oil.

2 Samuel 1:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:21

Ye mountains of Gilboa
On which fell Saul and his sons, and many of the people of Israel, ( 2 Samuel 1:6 ) ( 1 Samuel 31:1 ) ;

[let there be] no dew, neither [let there be] rain upon you;
which is not to understood as a real imprecation; for David would never curse any part of the land of Israel, for which he had so great a regard; but only as a poetical figure, expressing his concern for, and abhorrence of what happened on those mountains; much less did this in reality take place, as some have feigned, as if never dew nor rain descended on them

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 afterwards; which has been refuted by travellers, particularly Borchard ^F21, who, speaking of this mountain, says, that as he was upon it, there was such a violent shower fell, that he was wet through his clothes; and in the year 1273, laying all night upon this hill, there was a great dew fell upon him:

nor fields of offerings;
of heave offerings; the meaning is, that he could wish almost that those hills were not fruitful, and that they brought no fruit to perfection, so much as that heave offerings for the service of the sanctuary might be taken; which is expressive of great sterility and scarcity, see ( Joel 1:13 Joel 1:16 ) ;

for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away;
mighty men were obliged to cast away their shields and flee, which were greatly to their reproach and scandal, and to that of the whole nation: it was always reckoned very scandalous, and a great crime, even punishable with death, to cast away a shield, both with the Greeks and others ^F23: yea, also

the shield of Saul, [as though he had] not [been] anointed with oil;
as if he was not the anointed king of Israel, but a common soldier: or else this respects his shield, as if that was not anointed, as shields used to be, that they might be smooth and glib, and missile weapons, as arrows and others, might not pass through them, but slide off, see ( Isaiah 21:5 ) ; though Gersom gives a different turn, that Saul's shield being in continual use, needed not to be anointed, as those did which for a time had been laid aside. Abarbinel interprets these words thus, that he, who was the shield of the mighty, even Saul himself, was vilely cast away, or become loathsome; and that his shield was anointed, not with oil, but with the blood of the slain, and the fat of the mighty, connecting them with the words following.

F20 Cippi Heb. p. 34.
F21 Apud Hottinger not. in ib. see Bunting's Travels, p, 131.
F23 Isocrates de Pace, p. 364. Horat. Carmin. l. 2. Ode 7. Tacitus de Mor. German. c. 6. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 2. c. 13.

2 Samuel 1:21 In-Context

19 Oh, no, Israel! Your prince lies dead on your heights. Look how the mighty warriors have fallen!

20 Don't talk about it in Gath; don't bring news of it to Ashkelon's streets, or else the Philistines' daughters will rejoice; the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate.

21 You hills of Gilboa! Let there be no dew or rain on you, and no fields yielding grain offerings. Because it was there that the mighty warrior's shield was defiled— the shield of Saul!—never again anointed with oil.

22 Jonathan's bow never wavered from the blood of the slain, from the gore of the warriors. Never did Saul's sword return empty.

23 Saul and Jonathan! So well loved, so dearly cherished! In their lives and in their deaths they were never separated. They were faster than eagles, stronger than lions!

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb uncertain, perhaps bountiful fields; alternatively, with LXX L, fields of death, or with correction and no springs from the deep
• [b]. Or warriors’ (plural)