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 6:12

6:12 David was told, ⁴  “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

2 Samuel 7:27

7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ⁵  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ⁶  That is why your servant has had the courage ⁷  to pray this prayer to you.

2 Samuel 13:28

13:28 Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk ⁸  and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” ⁹ 

2 Samuel 17:14

17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided ¹⁰  to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

2 Samuel 20:15

20:15 So Joab’s men ¹¹  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ¹²  the wall so that it would collapse,

2 Samuel 23:16

23:16 So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord

[1:21]  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”).

[1:21]  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.

[1:21]  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.

[6:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it was told to David, saying.”

[7:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

[7:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

[7:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

[13:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “when good is the heart of Amnon with wine.”

[13:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “and become sons of valor.”

[17:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “commanded.”

[20:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.

[20:15]  ¹² tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).