Context No. 2377 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 5:20-25: in context

20David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “The LORD has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. 21They left their images there, and David and his men took them away. 22The Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23When David inquired of the LORD, he said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them in front of the mulberry trees. 24When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” 25David did so, as the LORD commanded him, and struck the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

Second Samuel gives two Philistine battles back to back. In the first, David inquires, is told to go up, and wins, declaring that the LORD broke through his enemies like a flood of water. Then the Philistines return to the same valley. David could reasonably assume the same plan will work again. Instead he inquires a second time, and this time God says something different: do not go up. Circle behind them, and wait for the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees.

The enemy is the same, the ground is the same, but the command changes. Had David simply repeated yesterday's winning move, he would have marched out ahead of God instead of behind him. The instruction is to wait for a signal, the sound in the treetops that means the LORD has already gone out before him. Victory here depends not on remembering the last method but on asking again and listening for the go-ahead. Even a proven strategy is no substitute for fresh inquiry.

Where am I running yesterday's successful plan without stopping to ask God what he wants this time?

Sources

2 Samuel 5:20: The LORD has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.
2 Samuel 5:23: You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them in front of the mulberry trees.
2 Samuel 5:24: When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.