2 Samuel 5:23
in 2 Samuel 5So David inquired of the LORD, who answered, “Do not march straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when David inquired of Jehovah, he said, Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-trees.
KJV
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.
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This verse in 2 Samuel 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The mulberry trees - Rather, the Bacah-tree, and found abundantly near Mecca. It is very like the balsam-tree, and probably derives its name from the exudation of the sap in drops like tears when a leaf is torn off. Some think the valley of Baca Psa 84:6 was so called from this plant growing there.
This site's exposition
came up yet again
on 2 Samuel 5:22-25
The Philistines come up a second time to the same valley, and David enquires again, but the Lord gives a different plan for a second victory, not a straight advance but a flanking march, fetch a compass behind them, and wait for a sign, the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees. Older writers read that sound as the marching of an unseen host sent ahead of David, a signal rather than a weapon, and the point either way is the same: he waits for the sound rather than acting on his own timing. Two victories in one chapter come from two different battle plans, and what carries across both is not the tactic but the enquiry that precedes it.
This site's exposition
circle around behind them
The balsam trees translate the Hebrew baca, a tree Barnes likens to the balsam, named for sap that drips like tears. He links it to the Valley of Baca in Psalm 84:6. Clarke reads the order to circle around behind the Philistines as the LORD using human means.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
Go up - Directly against them, as the following words explain it. Behind - Where they least expect thee; God's purposes and promises do not exclude men's endeavours.
God appoints him to draw back, as Israel stood still to see the salvation of the Lord. He promised him to charge the enemy himself, by an invisible host of angels,
Here we have only the heads of their address, containing the grounds they went upon in making David king. Their relation to him was some inducement: " We are thy bone and thy flesh (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Shall I have a commission from heaven to engage them?" One would think he needed not doubt this; what was he made king for, but to fight the battles of the Lord and Israel? But a good man loves to see God going before him in every step he takes. "Shall I go up now? " It is to be done, but is it to be done at this time?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
And when David inquired of the Lord,.... For though he had success before, and got the victory, he would not engage again with them without having the mind and will of God, on whom he knew victory alone depended: he said, thou shalt not go up; that is, directly, and in a straight line: but fetch a compass behind them; and get to the rear of them, instead of falling upon them in the front: and come upon them over against the mulberry trees: which grew in the valley of Rephaim, and near where the Philistines had pitched.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Fetch a compass behind them - When they may be had, God will not work without using human means. By this he taught David caution, prudence, and dependence on the Divine strength.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁאַ֤ל | vaiyishal | and he enquired | H7592 → | 171 times |
| דָּוִד֙ | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| בַּֽיהוָ֔ה | bayahweh | by Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וַיֹּ֖אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַעֲלֶ֑ה | taaleh | you must go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| הָסֵב֙ | hasev | go around | H5437 → | 161 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַ֣חֲרֵיהֶ֔ם | ʾachareihem | behind them | H310 → | 715 times |
| וּבָ֥אתָ | uvata | and you will go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | to <the> them | ||
| מִמּ֥וּל | mimul | from in front of | H4136 → | |
| בְּכָאִֽים׃ | bekhaim | [the] balsam trees | H1057 → |
וַיִּשְׁאַ֤לand he enquired
vaiyishalH7592 →171 times
דָּוִד֙David
davidH1732 →999 times
בַּֽיהוָ֔הby Yahweh
bayahwehH3068 →6520 times
וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תַעֲלֶ֑הyou must go up
taalehH5927 →890 times
הָסֵב֙go around
hasevH5437 →161 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אַ֣חֲרֵיהֶ֔םbehind them
ʾachareihemH310 →715 times
וּבָ֥אתָand you will go
uvataH935 →2568 times
לָהֶ֖םto <the> them
lahem
מִמּ֥וּלfrom in front of
mimulH4136 →
בְּכָאִֽים׃[the] balsam trees
bekhaimH1057 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 8:2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 20:14
But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
- 2 Chronicles 20:22
The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.
- Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Joshua 6:21
At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
- Joshua 8:7
you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
- Deuteronomy 20:14
Through
1 Chronicles 14:14So David again inquired of God, who answered him, “Do not march up after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
it leads to
- Psalms 27:4
One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the…
- John 9:6–7
When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.
- 1 Chronicles 14:10
So David inquired of God, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” “Go,” replied the LORD, “for I will deliver them into your hand.”
- Psalms 27:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 2 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.