2 Samuel 5:23

23 When ¹David inquired of the LORD, He said, "You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

2 Samuel 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 5:23

And when David inquired of the Lord
For though he had success before, and got the victory, he would not engage again with them without having the mind and will of God, on whom he knew victory alone depended:

he said, thou shalt not go up;
that is, directly, and in a straight line:

[but] fetch a compass behind them;
and get to the rear of them, instead of falling upon them in the front:

and come upon them over against the mulberry trees:
which grew in the valley of Rephaim, and near where the Philistines had pitched.

2 Samuel 5:23 In-Context

21 They abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

22 Now the Philistines came up once again and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim.

23 When David inquired of the LORD , He said, "You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

24 "It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the LORD will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines."

25 Then David did so, just as the LORD had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 5:19

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "baka-shrubs"