This is a neat story from 2
Samuel 5:17-25 that I want to go through piece by piece about how David was
given divine help to conquer the Philistines after he was made king. There are some neat things to learn
from it.
17 ¶But
when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all
the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to
the hold.
When David was made
king, the Philistines must have thought it would be best to put David down
quickly, lest he get the advantage over them. David’s response was to go down into the hold, which was a
place of refuge or fortification.
David is a good model
to follow when opposition looms.
Fortify and seek refuge. We
know to whom we should go—Christ.
18 The
Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
The Philistines must
have been a fearsome sight, spread out in the vally of Rephaim. This sight had once terrified Saul, but
we hear nothing of any emotional response of David. His heart had been made firm by much previous affliction, so
it was nothing new to him.
19 And
David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou
deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up: for I will
doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
David inquired of the
Lord whether he should go fight the Philistines. He had spent much time on the run, and he could keep
running, or he could stay in his place of security, so while the answer seems
obvious to us that he should fight, it wasn’t obvious to him. The Lord told him to fight and assured
him of victory.
20 And
David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The Lord hath
broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he
called the name of that place Baal-perazim.
So David went and
fought and won. We don’t have any
record of the numbers he had versus the numbers the Philistines had, so we don’t
how assured the victory appeared
beforehand. However, we might get
a little sense of the nature of the victory from what David said about it. “The Lord hath broken forth upon mine
enemies before me, as the breach of waters.” And he calls the place Baal-perazim. The footnote for “breach” gives
“bursting-forth,” which to me gives the image of a dam breaking and waters
pouring out.
Perhaps if we imagine
the Philistines and Israelites pushing against each other, stabbing at each
other around their shields, grunting and heaving, trying to get through.. Then the Philistine line breaks in a
few places and Israelites push through, and the Philistines fall back and
flee..
Of course, this is my
imagination at work, but it helps me visualize why David would want to speak of
it the way he did, as a bursting forth, or a breach of waters.
Also, the ‘im’ at the
end of perazim is a plural form, so that makes me think it was multiple breaks
or breaches, not just one.
So when David gives
the Lord credit for those breakthroughs, I think we are to understand that the
Lord gave David’s army strength to stand firm for longer than the Philistines.
21 And
there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.
The Philistines left
idol images in their camp, so David and his men destroyed them so that they
wouldn’t become a snare to the Israelites. It is also a nice statement that the Philistine gods could
not save the Philistines, nor could those gods save themselves from
destruction.
22 ¶And
the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of
Rephaim.
Evidently the
Philistines could not let that Israelite victory stand, so they came back to
the very same place they were beaten before.
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.
David could have
taken it for granted that he should deal with the Philistines the same way he
did before, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he goes to the Lord again
for guidance. I think he is a good
example of humility. This makes me
think I need to be more prayerful and ask for guidance even if a situation
looks like the same thing will fix it against as was successful before.
Also, I can’t help
but notice David’s ability to get really specific revelation with important
details, like where to go, and a sign to look for that will indicate when to
attack.
The sign that is
given is “the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees,” which is
really odd. I don’t know quite
what that could be, whether it was a wind, or the sound of a moving army, or
what. However, David seems to have
known what it was, and he followed it and gained the victory. I suppose listening for a particular
sound would have required him and his army to watch and wait very quietly and
patiently, and then to move quickly with faith when the sign was given.
We still practice
this obedience today as we wait for revelation from the prophet, and we must
have the faith to act when the signal comes.
25 And
David did so, as the Lord had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from
Geba until thou come to Gazer.
Ultimately, David’s
prayerfulness and humility and faith enabled him to win both victories over the
Philistines.
Today, let’s approach our
difficulties with prayer and humility, even if it looks like we could just
easily do what we did before to conquer them. Let’s see what more we can learn about how God can help us.
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