This mountain in the Valley of Jezreel (Emek Yizra’el) is where King Saul and his son Yonatan were slain in battle by the Philistines, leading a mournful David to lament “how the mighty have fallen” and to pronounce a curse that “no dew nor rain should descend upon the hills of Gilboa” (Shmuel II 1:19-21).

The mountain itself indeed remains bare, but not far away is a village and some kibbutzim whose prosperity accentuates the impact of David’s historical curse on Gilboa.

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