(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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2 Samuel 5:17–25, “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. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David enquired 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. And David came to Baalperazim, 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 Baalperazim. And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them. And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And when 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. 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. And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.”
The valley of Rephaim was north west of Jerusalem. The Philistines hated and feared king David because he had been their major tormentor during the time that Saul was king of Israel. They wanted to defeat David before he had time to establish himself and start building his army and defences. They tried to lure David away from the highlands and bring him down into the bed of a valley. Their plan was to trap him in this valley and wipe his armies out. David came to fight them but, before he headed out, David asked the Lord for wisdom and guidance. We don’t have a record of Saul seeking the Lord’s advice in this way until the Lord had rejected Saul as king. The Lord told David to go down and fight the Philistines in open battle. David obeyed the Lord and was successful against the Philistines. The Philistines were not yet ready to accept defeat so they mustered another army and came back to same place. They must have changed their tactics in the hope of trapping David and wiping out his armies. Even though David had been successful against the Philistines earlier, he didn’t assume that the Lord would automatically support him and he asked the Lord for direction and wisdom in the battle again. This time the Philistines had set the troops in a different way and the Lord told David to march around behind the Philistines and attack them from a different direction. They were hidden in a grove of trees and David went around the trees and attacked them from behind. This time David had an even greater victory than before.
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