Shmuel Bais 5:23

23 And when Dovid inquired of Hashem, He said, Thou shalt not go up; but circle around behind them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees.

Shmuel Bais 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.

Shmuel Bais 5:23 In-Context

21 And there they left their atzabim, and Dovid and his anashim burned them.

22 And the Pelishtim came up yet again, and spread themselves out in the Emek Repha’im.

23 And when Dovid inquired of Hashem, He said, Thou shalt not go up; but circle around behind them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees.

24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself; for then shall Hashem go out before thee, to strike the machaneh of the Pelishtim.

25 And Dovid did so, as Hashem had commanded him; and struck the Pelishtim from Geva until thou come to Gazer.