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; [let there be] no dew, neither [let there be] rain upon you; which is not to understood as

Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

Let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you: this is no proper imprecation; which he had no reason to inflict upon those harmless mountains; but only a passionate representation of the horror which he conceived at this public loss; which was such, as if he thought every person or thing which contributed to it were fit to bear the tokens of Divine displeasure, such as this is, when the earth wants the blessed and necessary influences of dew and rain. Nor fields of offerings, i.e. fruitful fields, which may produce fair and goodly fruits fit to be offered unto God. The shield of the mighty; the shields of the valiant men of Israel. Vilely dishonourably; for it was a great reproach to any soldier to cast away or lose his shield. Cast away to wit, by themselves, that they might flee more swiftly away, as the Israelites did, and Saul with the rest; as is said, ,2. As though he had not been anointed with oil; as if he had been no more nor better than a common soldier: he was exposed to the same kind of death and reproach as they were.

2 Samuel 1:21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew, neither [let there be] rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, [as though he had] not [been] anointed with oil.Ver. 21. Ye mountains of Gilboa.] A poetical exclamation, together with a hyperbolical imprecation-which possibly was as effectual as that of our Saviour pronounced upon the barren fig tree - in monumentum tanti mali, as a monument of this disastrous accident: the ground being clad in black as in mourning. Adrichomius and others say that these mountains of Gilboa are to this day rocky, dry, and barren: like unto which was Hesiod’ s country Ascra: and St David’ s in Wales is said to be a place neither pleasant, fertile, nor safe: for, as Giraldus Cambrensis reporteth of it, it is neither furnished with woods, watered with rivers, beautified with meadows, nor enriched with any kind of fruitful soil. Is vilely cast away.] As either useless or cumbersome. As though he had not, &c.] But either a usurper, or a common soldier. So it is a baleful business when God seemeth to cast off his people, as if they were nothing to him; not "holy," or "partakers of the heavenly calling."

(21) Nor fields of offerings.—This somewhat obscure expression seems to mean, “Let there not be upon you those fruitful fields from which may be gathered the offerings of first-fruits.” Of course, this malediction upon the mountains of Gilboa is to be understood as it was meant, only in a poetical sense. Vilely cast away.—Another sense of this word is defiled. The ancient versions, as well as modern commentators, adopt some one, and some the other meaning, either of which is appropriate. As though he had not been anointed.—This translation follows the Vulg., and makes a good sense = as though Saul had not been a king; but it is more than doubtful if the original can bear this construction. There is no pronoun in the Hebrew, and the word “anointed” refers to the shield, “the shield of Saul not anointed with oil.” It was customary to oil metal shields, as well as those of wood and leather, for their preservation, and the idea here is that Saul’s shield was thrown away uncared for.

Verse 21. As though he had not been] In stead of בלי beli, NOT, I read כלי keley, INSTRUMENTS. Anointed with oil.] See the observations at the end. 2 Samuel 1:18, c.: He bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow, kasheth. The word kasheth is to be understood of the title of the song which immediately follows, and not of the use of the bow, as our translation intimates. Many of David's Psalms have titles prefixed to them some are termed Shosannim, some Maschil, Nehiloth, Neginoth, c., and this one here, Kadesh or The Bow, because it was occasioned by the Philistine archers. 1 Samuel 31:3: "And the archers hit him." But especially respecting the bow of Jonathan, "which returned not back from the blood of the slain," as the song itself expresses. And David could not but remember the bow of Jonathan, out of which "the arrow was shot beyond the lad," 1 Samuel 20:36. It was the time when that covenant was made, and that affection expressed between them "which was greater than the love of women." On these accounts the song was entitled Kasheth, or The song of the Bow, and David commanded the chief musicians, Ethan, Heman, and Jeduthun, to teach the children of Judah to sing it. "It is written in the book of Jasher." Sept., επιβιβλιουτουευθους, "in the book of the upright." ספרא דאוריתא siphra deoraitha, "The book of the Law." - Jonathan. The Arabic says, "Behold it is written in the book of Ashee this is the book of Samuel;" the interpretation of which is, "book of songs or canticles." This lamentation is justly admired as a picture of distress the most tender and the most striking; unequally divided by grief into longer and shorter breaks, as nature could pour them forth from a mind interrupted by the alternate recurrence of the most lively images of love and greatness. His reverence for Saul and his love for Jonathan have their strongest colourings; but their greatness and bravery come full upon him, and are expressed with peculiar energy. Being himself a warrior, it is in that character he sees their greatest excellence; and though his imagination hurries from one point of recollection to another, yet we hear him - at first, at last, everywhere - lamenting, How are the mighty fallen! It is almost impossible to read the noble original without finding every word swollen with a sigh or broken with a sob. A heart pregnant with distress, and striving to utter expressions descriptive of its feelings, which are repeatedly interrupted by an excess of grief, is most sensibly painted throughout the whole. Even an English reader may be convinced of this, from the following specimen in European characters: - 19. Hatstsebi Yishrael al bamotheycha chalal; Eych naphelu gibborim; 20. Al taggidu begath, Al tebasseru bechutsoth Ashkelon; Pen tismachnah benoth Pelishtim, Pen taalozenah benoth haarelim. 21. Harey baggilboa al tal, Veal matar aleychem usedey terumoth; Ki sham nigal magen Gibborim. Magen Shaul keley Mashiach bashshamen! 22.

21. let there be no dew, &c.] The language is poetical. Nature is as it were summoned to share in the mourning. The scene of such a terrible disaster should be unvisited by fertilizing dew and rain, and lie smitten with eternal barrenness. For the thought that nature can sympathize with man compare Ezekiel 31:15. nor fields of offerings] An expansion of the preceding thought. Gilboa should no longer possess fruitful fields, to produce tithes and offerings for Jehovah. The greatest curse which can befall it is to be cut off from rendering service to Jehovah. Compare the description of extreme famine in Joe 1:9. is vilely cast away] This rendering seems to be an attempt to combine two possible meanings of the Heb. word, (a) was cast away, (b) was defiled with blood and dust, of which the latter is probably right. as though he had not been anointed with oil] The original, which might be rendered exactly the shield of Saul unanointed with oil, leaves it uncertain whether the epithet anointed belongs to the shield or to Saul. (a) Most commentators understand it to refer to the shield, left upon the battle-field, uncared for, uncleansed from the stains of the combat. Shields made of metal were oiled to polish them; those made of wood and leather, to preserve them, and make missiles glide off easily. Cp. Isaiah 21:5; and Verg. Aen. VII. 626: “Pars leves clypeos et spicula lucida terguntArvina pingui.”“With unctuous lard their shields they clean,And make their javelins bright and sheen.”(b) On the other hand this term anointed is everywhere else applied to persons—in the books of Samuel always to the King—and not to things, and it is certainly grammatically possible to connect it with Saul, as is done by the E. V. The sense thus gained is much more forcible. ‘There the shield of mighty heroes was defiled—yea even the shield of Saul, whose consecrated person shared the common fate as though he had never been set apart as the Anointed of Jehovah.’

Let there be no dew ... - For a similar passionate form of poetical malediction, compare Job 3:3-10; Jeremiah 20:14-18.

21. Mountains in Gilboa — “Even nature is to join in the mourning.