2 Samuel 1:21

1:21 O mountains of Gilboa,

may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! ¹ 

For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; ² 

the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil. ³ 

2 Samuel 9:7

9:7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.” ⁴ 

2 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. ⁵  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

2 Samuel 20:12

20:12 Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa ⁶  stopped, the man ⁷  pulled him ⁸  away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.

2 Samuel 21:10

21:10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, ⁹  she did not allow the birds of the air to feed ¹⁰  on them by day, nor the wild animals ¹¹  by night.

¹ tc Instead of the MT’s “fields of grain offerings” the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “your high places are mountains of death.” Cf. the Old Latin montes mortis (“mountains of death”).

² tn This is the only biblical occurrence of the Niphal of the verb גָּעַל (ga’al). This verb usually has the sense of “to abhor” or “loathe.” But here it seems to refer to the now dirty and unprotected condition of a previously well-maintained instrument of battle.

³ tc It is preferable to read here Hebrew מָשׁוּחַ (mashuakh) with many Hebrew mss, rather than מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh) of the MT. Although the Syriac Peshitta understands the statement to pertain to Saul, the point here is not that Saul is not anointed. Rather, it is the shield of Saul that lies discarded and is no longer anointed. In ancient Near Eastern practice a warrior’s shield that was in normal use would have to be anointed regularly in order to ensure that the leather did not become dry and brittle. Like other warriors of his day Saul would have carefully maintained his tools of trade. But now that he is dead, the once-cared-for shield of the mighty warrior lies sadly discarded and woefully neglected, a silent but eloquent commentary on how different things are now compared to the way they were during Saul’s lifetime.

⁴ tn Heb “and you will eat food over my table continually.”

⁷ tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.

¹³ tn Heb “until water was poured on them from the sky.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “rest.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”