2 Samuel 5:23

23 and David asketh of Jehovah, and He saith, `Thou dost not go up, turn round unto their rear, and thou hast come to them over-against the mulberries,

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 they forsake there their idols, and David and his men lift them up.

22 And the Philistines add again to come up, and are spread out in the valley of Rephaim,

23 and David asketh of Jehovah, and He saith, `Thou dost not go up, turn round unto their rear, and thou hast come to them over-against the mulberries,

24 and it cometh to pass, in thy hearing the sound of a stepping in the tops of the mulberries, then thou dost move sharply, for then hath Jehovah gone out before thee to smite in the camp of the Philistines.'

25 And David doth so, as Jehovah commanded him, and smiteth the Philistines from Geba unto thy coming to Gazer.