Verse 22:[1] (1 Chron. 14:13) And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
[And the Philistines added, etc.] Even in defeat they are not able to rest. And they return to the same place, where they had suffered such a slaughter; thus twice do they dash against the same stone (Martyr).
The Philistines came up again, doubtless with greater force, as those that saw their all lay at stake.
[In the valley of Rephaim] Not unsuitably. For, just as if they were born of the ancient stock of Giants, they brandished hostile arms against God Himself (Martyr).
Verse 23:[2] And when (2 Sam. 5:19) David enquired 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.
[David consulted the Lord] Whom he acknowledges as the author of victory. He attributes nothing to himself (Martyr).
[Ascend not] Understanding, now (Malvenda out of Pagnine); that is to say, wait for the present: or, not directly, that is, not from the front, but from the rear (Malvenda).
[Against them[3]] In the place of which it is found in 1 Chronicles 14:14, Go not up after them.[4] He is well said to go after the Philistines, who, aiming directly at the camp of the Philistines, advances by that way, upon which they also are wont to tread, when they are returned to their own after skirmishes or battle (Menochius).
Thou shalt not go up, to wit, directly against them, as the following words explain it.
[Fetch a compass behind them (thus Munster, similarly Montanus, Malvenda, Jonathan, Tigurinus)] Whence thou wouldest not at all be thought to be coming. A stratagem (Grotius). הָסֵב֙ אֶל־אַ֣חֲרֵיהֶ֔ם, turn back from them (Septuagint). Turn away from following them (Junius and Tremellius). Turn back from behind them (Syriac). Attack them from their rear (Arabic). Go around after them (Tigurinus).
[Opposite to the pear-trees, מִמּ֥וּל בְּכָאִֽים׃] Opposite to the mulberry trees (Pagnine, Montanus, Junius and Tremellius, Munster, Grotius, Mariana, Malvenda out of the Hebrews, Tigurinus). It has its name from weeping.[5] They observe that this tree produces berries full of juice, which, when squeezed, pour forth juice after the likeness of tears (Malvenda, similarly Mariana). Over against the trees (Jonathan); opposite to (or on the hills of [Arabic]) bochim, the weepers (Syriac, Arabic); πλησίον τοῦ κλαυθμῶνος, near the weeping (Septuagint). It is called the place of weeping, because here the Philistines wept over their defeat, and that of their idols (Hebrews in Lapide). It appears to be the place of weeping, concerning which Judges 2:5.[6] The Hebrews say that David rushed upon the camp of the Philistine in that place where their idols were, in which the Philistines were especially trusting (Lapide). Hesychius,[7] Βάκχον, κλαυθμὸν φοίνικες, Bacchon, a weeping, Phoenicians. Or hence, βάκχοι, bacchoi (Grotius).
Over against the mulberry trees, where they least expect thee. God’s purposes and promises do not exclude men’s just endeavours, but require them.
Verse 24:[8] And let it be, when thou (so 2 Kings 7:6) hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then (Judg. 4:14) shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.
[When thou hearest the sound of one going, etc., אֶת־ק֧וֹל צְעָדָ֛ה] The voice, or sound, of an advance (Pagnine, Montanus, Tigurinus, Syriac, Vatablus), or of a going, that is, my going, when thou hearest me going, etc. (Mariana). The noise of men going, as it were, upon the tops, etc. (Vatablus). The voice of shouting (Jonathan, thus Osiander), of one going; Hebrew, of a voice advancing (Osiander); the sound of commotion (Munster), the sound of leaves stirred by the wind (Osiander, similarly Mariana, Malvenda), because of which the Philistines were not able to perceive the noise of David’s approaching army (Malvenda). I understand sounds as of chariots, and of an advancing army, just as in 2 Kings 7:6. This is supported by the Septuagint, which has συγκλεισμοῦ, the voice of a siege; that is to say, of a hostile army, by which they were to be shut up so that they might not flee, and to be smitten. Others read συσσεισμοῦ, of shaking; that is, as of any army marching through a wood, and shaking it (Menochius). The sound of the hooves of horses upon the peak of the mountains of Bochim (Arabic). When thou hearest the woods moved spontaneously without the wind (Theodotion[9] in Nobilius). When thou seest that the trees are disturbed, and a certain noise in their peaks, to thee this will be the sign of my presence; know that Angels are arriving, who will fight, etc. (Munster).
The sound of a going; a noise as it were of persons walking upon the tops of them, which I shall cause; and by this sign, both thou shalt be assured that I am coming to help thee, and the Philistines shall be affrighted and amused, and not perceive the noise of thy army until thou art upon them.
[Then thou shalt initiate battle, אָ֣ז תֶּחֱרָ֑ץ [10]] Then thou shalt move thyself (Montanus, Pagnine, thus Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Munster, Mariana), and thy camp (Piscator); that is to say, then thou shalt rush upon the enemy (Mariana). Thou shalt reinforce, or fortify, thyself (certain interpreters in Vatablus). At that time diligently conduct the matter (Tigurinus). Then thou shalt cut into, cut off, contend, with the sword. Properly, then thou shalt sharpen, draw out, exert, thy strength (Malvenda).
Then thou shalt bestir thyself; do thou fall upon them.
[Then shall the Lord go forth, יְהוָה] God the Father speaks of God the Son (Osiander). Jehovah, through His angels (Piscator); the angel of the Lord shall go forth (Jonathan in Vatablus); going forth, he shall go before thee (Vatablus). God had promised in Leviticus 26:36, that He was going to bring it to pass, that the enemy would flee from the noise of a falling leaf (Martyr).
Verse 25:[11] And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba (1 Chron. 14:16, Gibeon) until thou come to (Josh. 16:10) Gazer.
[From Geba] Where the beginning of the fight happened (Sanchez, similarly Menochius). But in 1 Chronicles 14 it is Gibeon (Sanchez). Either, it is the same city (Lapide). Or, these places are close to one another (Lapide out of Sanchez). Or the field, where the fight happened, either was common to both, or was equally distant from each (Sanchez). Hebrew: גֶּבַע/Geba. This is that famous Geba of Saul,[12] in the lot of Benjamin, concerning which Joshua 18:24 (Malvenda).
[Until thou come to Gazer] Concerning this place see Joshua 10:33; 16:10 (Malvenda). It was a city in the tribe of Benjamin (Vatablus); or in the tribe of Ephraim (Menochius, Malvenda). At that time, the Philistines were occupying it (Vatablus, similarly Malvenda). Unto Gazer, which was a town situated on the border of both (Josephus in Montanus).
From Geba until thou come to Gazer: They followed their victory, and pursued them to their own borders, in which Gazer was, as Josephus relates.
[1] Hebrew: וַיֹּסִ֥פוּ ע֛וֹד פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים לַֽעֲל֑וֹת וַיִּנָּֽטְשׁ֖וּ בְּעֵ֥מֶק רְפָאִֽים׃
[2] Hebrew: וַיִּשְׁאַ֤ל דָּוִד֙ בַּֽיהוָ֔ה וַיֹּ֖אמֶר לֹ֣א תַעֲלֶ֑ה הָסֵב֙ אֶל־אַ֣חֲרֵיהֶ֔ם וּבָ֥אתָ לָהֶ֖ם מִמּ֥וּל בְּכָאִֽים׃
[3] Latin: Non ascendas contra eos, ascend not against them.
[4] Hebrew: לֹ֥א תַֽעֲלֶ֖ה אַֽחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם. Latin: Non ascendas post eos.
[5] בָּכָה/bachah signifies to weep.
[6] Judges 2:4, 5: “And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept (וַיִּבְכּוּ). And they called the name of that place Bochim (בֹּכִים): and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.”
[7] Hesychius of Alexandria (fifth century AD) composed a Greek lexicon of almost fifty-one thousand entries, filled with explanations of rare and obscure words and phrases.
[8] Hebrew: וִ֠יהִי בְּֽשָׁמְעֲךָ֞ אֶת־ק֧וֹל צְעָדָ֛ה בְּרָאשֵׁ֥י הַבְּכָאִ֖ים אָ֣ז תֶּחֱרָ֑ץ כִּ֣י אָ֗ז יָצָ֤א יְהוָה֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ לְהַכּ֖וֹת בְּמַחֲנֵ֥ה פְלִשְׁתִּֽים׃
[9] Theodotion was a linguist and convert to Judaism, who translated the Hebrew Scripture into Greek in the middle of the second century AD. His translation appears to be an attempt to bring the Septuagint into conformity with the Hebrew text.
[10] חָרַץ signifies to sharpen, to cut, or to decide or act with decision.
[11] Hebrew: ויַּ֤עַשׂ דָּוִד֙ כֵּ֔ן כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֖הוּ יְהוָ֑ה וַיַּךְ֙ אֶת־פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים מִגֶּ֖בַע עַד־בֹּאֲךָ֥ גָֽזֶר׃ פ
[12] See 1 Samuel 11:4; 15:34; 2 Samuel 21:6; Isaiah 10:29.
Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: '"When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself." 2 Samuel 5:24
The members of Christ's Church should be very prayerful, always seeking the unction of the Holy One to rest upon their hearts, that the kingdom of Christ may come, and that his "will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven;" [Matthew 6:10] but there are times when God seems especially to favour Zion, such seasons ought to be to them like "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." We ought then to be doubly prayerful, doubly earnest, wrestling more at the throne than we have…
Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: '"And David enquired of the Lord."—2 Samuel 5:23
When David made this enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as many have in other cases, "I shall be victorious again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord's hands?" Not so, David.…
Matthew Henry: 'The particular service for which David was raised up was to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, 2 Samuel 3:18. This therefore divine Providence, in the first place, gives him an opportunity of accomplishing. Two great victories obtained over the Philistines we have here an account of, by which David not only balanced the disgrace and retrieved the loss Israel had sustained in the battle wherein Saul was slain, but went far towards the total subduing of those vexatious neighbours, the last remains of the devoted nations.
I. In both these actions the Philistines were the aggressors, stirred first towards their own destruction, and pulled it on their own heads. 1. In the former they…
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