Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, &c.— Dr. Delaney renders this verse thus: Mountains of Gilboa, nor dew nor rain upon you, nor fields of waved offerings; for there the shield of the brave was cast away; the shield of Saul, the weapons of the anointed with oil: and Houbigant thus: Mountains of Gilboa, let no dew descend upon you, nor rain upon you, O ye fertile fields: [such as afford in abundance first-fruits to be offered to God:] For there the shield of the brave was thrown away, the shield of Saul: nor is the anointed of the Lord any more upon thee. Throwing away the shield, was matter of the highest reproach in all the accounts of antiquity; and this, in the practice of so brave a prince as Saul, was an example of terrible consequence, and therefore must not go unreproved, especially in a song which soldiers were to learn. David could not censure Saul. He was his prince and his enemy; the infamy, however, must fall somewhere. Be then the place it happened in, accursed. Poetry justifies this; and I do not scruple to say, that it is the most masterly stroke the art will admit. Here I cannot but observe, with what inimitable address David has conducted this reproach; for at the same time that the mountains are cursed for it, he has contrived to turn it into praise upon Saul: there the shield of the mighty was cast away: no hint by whom. Dr. Delaney, instead of בלי beli, which we render by the periphrasis as though he had not been, reads כלי keli, weapons, as in the last verse; which appears a very ingenious and excellent criticism.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 1:21
2 Samuel 1:21
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.