You 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.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
What a virtuous action was that when David wished rather to spare the king his enemy, though he could have injured him! How useful, too, it was, for it helped him when he succeeded to the throne. For all learned to observe faith in their king and not to seize the kingdom but to fear and reverence him. Thus, what is virtuous was preferred to what was useful, and then usefulness followed from what was virtuous. But that he spared him was a small matter; he also grieved for him when slain in war and mourned for him with tears, saying, “You mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain fall upon you; you mountains of death, for there the shield of the mighty is cast away, the shield of Saul. It is not anointed with oil but with the blood of the wounded and the fat of the warriors. The bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and very dear, inseparable in life, and in death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, ...
Nature, therefore, by withholding its gifts from those places which were to be witnesses of a parricidal act and by its condemnation of innocent soil, makes clear to us the severity of the future punishments of the guilty. The very elements are, therefore, condemned because of the crime of people. Hence David condemned the mountains, in which Jonathan and his father were slain, to be punished with perpetual sterility, saying, “You mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain come upon you, mountains of death.” - "Cain and Abel 2.8.26"
Fruits, which may be offered to the Lord. Inanimate things could not offend, nor does David curse them in earnest. But (Tirinus) nothing could more strikingly express his distress and grief, than this imprecation. It is false that those mountains have since been barren. This canton is one of the most fruitful of the country. (Brochard.) (Calmet)
Job (iii.) speaks with the same animation, and curses his day. (Menochius)
Of Saul, or "Saul, the shield of his people, was cast away, as "Protestants, "as though he had not been anointed with oil. "(Haydock)
He is not reproached for throwing away his buckler, for nothing was deemed more shameful. The ancient Germans would not allow such a one to enter their temples or places of assembly. (Tacitus, mor. Germ)
A woman of Sparta told her son, when she delivered one to him, "Bring this back, or be brought upon it "dead. Impositu scuto referunt Pallanta frequentes. (Virgil, Æneid x.) (Sanctius) (Calmet)
As though. Hebrew seems to have sh, inst...
