Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 5:17 - 5:17
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
David gains two Victories over the Philistines (compare 1Ch 14:8-17). - Both these victories belong in all probability to the interval between the anointing of David at Hebron over all Israel and the conquest of the citadel of Zion. This is very evident, so far as the first is concerned, from the words, “When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel” (2Sa 5:17), not when David had conquered the citadel of Zion. Moreover, when the Philistines approached, David “went down to the hold,” or mountain fortress, by which we cannot possibly understand the citadel upon Zion, on account of the expression “went down.” If David had been living upon Zion at the time, he would hardly have left this fortification when the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim on the west of Jerusalem, but would rather have attacked and routed the enemy from the citadel itself. The second victory followed very soon after the first, and must therefore be assigned to the same period. The Philistines evidently resolved, as soon as the tidings reached them of the union of all the tribes under the sovereignty of David, that they would at once resist the growing power of Israel, and smite David before he had consolidated his government.
2Sa 5:17-18
“The Philistines went up to seek David,” i.e., to seek him out and smite him. The expression לְבַקֵּשׁ presupposes that David had not yet taken up his abode upon Zion. He had probably already left Hebron to make preparations for his attack upon the Jebusites. When he heard of the approach of the Philistines, he went down into the mountain fortress. “The hold” cannot be the citadel of Zion (as in 2Sa 5:7 and 2Sa 5:9), because this was so high that they had to go up to it on every side; and it is impossible to sustain the opinion advanced by Bertheau, that the verb יָרַד (to go down) is used for falling back into a fortification. הַמְּצוּדָה (the hold), with the definite article, is probably the mountain stronghold in the desert of Judah, into which David withdrew for a long time to defend himself from Saul (vid., 2Sa 23:14 and 1Ch 12:8). In 2Sa 5:18 the position of the Philistines is more minutely defined. The verse contains a circumstantial clause: “The Philistines had come and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim,” a valley on the west of Jerusalem, and only separated from the valley of Ben-hinnom by a narrow ridge of land (see at Jos 15:8). Instead of יִנָּטְשׁוּ the Chronicles have יִפְשְׁטוּ, they had invaded, which is perfectly equivalent so far as the sense is concerned.
2Sa 5:19-20
David inquired of the Lord by the Urim whether he should go out against the foe, and whether God would give them into his hand;
(Note: Through the express statement that David inquired of Jehovah (viz., by the Urim) in both these conflicts with the Philistines (2Sa 5:19 and 2Sa 5:23), Diestel's assertion, that after the death of Saul we do not read any more about the use of the holy lot, is completely overthrown, as well as the conclusion which he draws from it, namely, that “David probably employed it for the purpose of giving a certain definiteness to his command over his followers, over whom he had naturally but little authority (1Sa 22:2?), rather than because he looked upon it himself with any peculiar reverence.”)
and when he had received an answer in the affirmative to both these questions, he went to Baal-perazim (lit. into Baal-perazim), and smote them there, and said (2Sa 5:20), “Jehovah hath broken mine enemies before me like a water-breach,” i.e., has smitten them before me, and broken their power as a flood breaks through and carries away whatever opposes it. From these words of David, the place where the battle was fought received the name of Baal-perazim, i.e., “possessor of breaches” (equivalent to Bruch-hausen or Brechendorf, Breach-ham or Break-thorpe). The only other passage in which the place is mentioned is Isa 28:21, where this event is alluded to, but it cannot have been far from the valley of Rephaim.
2Sa 5:21
The Philistines left their idols behind them there. They had probably brought them to the war, as the Israelites once did their ark, as an auxiliary force. “And David took them away.” The Chronicles have “their gods” instead of “their idols,” and “they were burned with fire” instead of יִשָּׂאֵם, “he took them away,”
(Note: This is the marginal reading in the English version, though the text has “he burned them.” - Tr.)
took them as booty. The reading in the Chronicles gives the true explanation of the fact, as David would certainly dispose of the idols in the manner prescribed in the law (Deu 7:5, Deu 7:25). The same reading was also most probably to be found in the sources employed by our author, who omitted it merely as being self-evident. In this way David fully avenged the disgrace brought upon Israel by the Philistines, when they carried away the ark in the time of Eli.
2Sa 5:22-25
Although thoroughly beaten, the Philistines soon appeared again to repair the defeat which they had suffered. As David had not followed up the victory, possibly because he was not sufficiently prepared, the Philistines assembled again in the valley of Rephaim.
2Sa 5:23
David inquired once more of the Lord what he was to do, and received this answer: “Thou shalt not go up (i.e., advance to meet the foe, and attack them in front); turn round behind them, and come upon them (attack them) opposite to the Baca-shrubs.” בְּכָאִים, a word which only occurs here and in the parallel passage in 1Ch 14:14, is rendered ἀπίους, pear-trees, by the lxx, and mulberry-trees by the Rabbins. But these are both of them uncertain conjectures. Baca, according to Abulfadl, is the name given in Arabic to a shrub which grows at Mecca and resembles the balsam, except that it has longer leaves and larger and rounder fruit, and from which, if a leaf be broken off, there flows a white pungent sap, like a white tear, which is all probability gave rise to the name בָּכָא = בָּכָה, to weep (vid., Celsii, Hierob. i. pp. 338ff., and Gesenius, Thes. p. 205).
2Sa 5:24
“And when thou hearest the rush of a going in the tops of the baca-shrubs, then bestir thyself,” or hasten; “for Jehovah has gone out before thee, to smite the army of the Philistines.” “The sound of a going,” i.e., of the advance of an army, was a significant sign of the approach of an army of God, which would smite the enemies of Jehovah and of His servant David; like the visions of Jacob (Gen 32:2-3) and Elisha (2Ki 6:17). “Then thou shalt bestir thyself,” lit. be sharp, i.e., active, quick: this is paraphrased in the Chronicles by “then thou shalt go out to battle.”
2Sa 5:25
David did this, and smote the Philistines from Geba to the neighbourhood of Gezer. In the Chronicles we find “from Gibeon” instead of from Geba. The former is unquestionably the true reading, and Geba an error of the pen: for Geba, the present Jeba, was to the north of Jerusalem, and on the east of Ramah (see at Jos 18:24); so that it is quite unsuitable here. But that is not the case with Gibeon, the present el Jib, on the north-west of Jerusalem (see at Jos 9:3); for this was on the way to Gezer, which was four Roman miles to the north of Amws, and is probably to be sought for on the site of the present el Kubab (see at Jos 10:33).
(Note: There is no force in the objection brought by Bertheau against this view, viz., that “it is a priori improbable that the Philistines who were fighting against David and his forces, whose base of operations was Jerusalem, should have taken possession of the whole line from Gibeon to Gezer,” as the improbability is by no means apparent, and has not been pointed out by Bertheau, whilst the assumption that Jerusalem was David's base of operations has no foundation whatever. Moreover, Bertheau's opinion, that Geba was the same as Gibeah in the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:57), is decidedly erroneous: for this Gibeah is not to be identified with the present village of Jeba on the south side of the Wady Musurr, half-way between Shocoh and Jerusalem, but was situated towards the desert of Judah (see at Jos 15:57); and besides, it is impossible to see how the Philistines, who had invaded the plain of Rephaim, could have been beaten from this Gibeah as far as to Gezer.)