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(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Chronicles 14:8–17, “And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them. And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David enquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand. So they came up to Baalperazim; and David smote them there. Then David said, God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters: therefore they called the name of that place Baalperazim. And when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire. And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley. Therefore David enquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer. And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.”
The Philistines had been Israel’s fiercest enemies since Israel took possession of the Promised Land. They had defeated the Saul, first king of United Israel, and were determined to defeat the second king. They wanted to maintain their own position as the major power in the Land rather than conceding to Israel. Further to this, David had defeated their great champion, Goliath of Gath, and had sought refuge in their territory when Saul tried to kill David. They came to a large valley to the south east of Jerusalem and established a strong base to fight a battle against David and his armies. David followed his regular practice and asked the Lord what he should do. The Lord told David to meet the Philistines in a head on battle. He followed the Lord’s advice and won a convincing victory. Wars don’t consist of just one battle and the Philistines came again to fight against the Israeli armies. They mustered their armies in the valley again and David asked the Lord what he should do this time. The Lord told David to set an ambush for the Philistine armies behind a copse of trees. When David heard the Philistine armies coming towards his position in the trees, he sprung the ambush and won another great victory to bring glory to the Lord’s Name. This time David followed up his victory and went into Philistine territory and defeated them there as well. Everyone in the entire region heard of these great victories and they were afraid of the Lord and His great power.
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