2 Samuel 1:21

And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. 4 And David said unto him, How went the matter? And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:100%@v3-4

), the sacred oil, which signified his elevation to, and qualification for, the government. Whatever he was otherwise, the crown of the anointing oil of his God was upon him, as is said of the high priest ( Lev. xxi.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

, 27 ), and so the strength of the people is weakened. Public losses are most laid to heart by men of public spirit. David hoped God would make him instrumental to repair those losses and yet laments them.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Ye mountains of Gilboa,.... On which fell Saul and his sons, and many of the people of Israel, 2Sa 1:6, 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 (t) afterwards; which has been refuted by travellers, particularly Borchard (u), 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 Joe 1:13, 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 (w): 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 Isa 21:5; though Gersom gives a different tur […]

The curse seems still to lie upon them; for the mountains of Gilboa are naked and sterile. the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away--To cast away the shield was counted a national disgrace.

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. 2Sa 1:18, etc.: He bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow, קשת 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, etc., and this one here, Kadesh or The Bow, because it was occasioned by the Philistine archers. 1Sa 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,” 1Sa 20:36. […]