2 Samuel 5:23

23 And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up: [but] fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-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 And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

22 And the Philistines came yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

23 And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up: [but] fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-trees.

24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.

25 And David did so as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou comest to Gazer.