2 Samuel 5

2 Samuel 5

Clarke noted the remarkable guidance of God in David’s life and asked a good question. “How is it that such supernatural directions and assistances are not communicated now? Because they are not asked for; and they are not asked for because they are not expected; and they are not expected because men have not faith; and they have not faith because they are under a refined spirit of atheism, and have no spiritual intercourse with their Maker.” Spurgeon on sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees - “As the Rabbis have it, and it is a very pretty conceit if it be true, the footsteps of angels walking along the tops of the mulberry trees make them rustle; that was the sign for them to fight, when God’s cherubim were going with them, when they should come, who can walk through the clouds and fly through the air, led by the great Captain himself, walking along the mulberry trees, and so make a rustle by their celestial footsteps.” Then - This time phrase always begs the question "When?" Sometimes the answer is very obvious as in this passage, but it is still worth pausing to ponder. The answer is when you hear the supernatural sound. You shall act promptly - When God gives this sign to move out, you need to move out immediately! Guzik on act promptly - At the signal that the LORD was at work, David and his troops rushed forward to victory. This principle is true in our every-day walk with God. When we sense that the Lord is at work, we must advance quickly, and we will see a great victory won. “We must also, in the spiritual warfare, observe and obey the motions of the Spirit, when He setteth up His standard; for those are the sounds of God’s goings, the footsteps of his anointed.” (Trapp) There is something wonderful about the King James Version translation of 2 Samuel 5:24: When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself. When you hear the work of God happening, bestir thyself–advance quickly. Spurgeon liked to point out that it said bestir thyself– often we think we must stir others up. That often just becomes hype and emotionalism. Instead, stir yourself.. When we see the work of God happening around us, it is like the sound in the mulberry trees – the rustling sound should awaken us to prayer and devotion. A time of crisis or tragedy is also like the sound in the mulberry trees – the rustling sound should awaken us to confession and repentance. “Now, what should I do? The first thing I will do is, I will bestir myself. But how shall I do it? Why, I will go home this day, and I will wrestle in prayer more earnestly than I have been wont to do that God will bless the minister, and multiply the church.” (Spurgeon) for then (term of explanation - explaining why you need to move fast) the LORD will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines - Will have gone out is past tense (ESV = "has gone out"), so sure is His going out to strike the enemy. So the tops of the balsam trees may have been marching, but ultimately it was Yahweh Himself Who led the strike against the Philistines! THOUGHT - Note the juxtaposition of God's part (in this verse) and man's part (described in the next verse). This pattern is repeated throughout the Scripture and describes God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. It is not the aberrant teaching in the popular phrase "Let go, let God," but is more accurately (as David discovered), "Let God, let's go!" Yes, the battle is the Lord's, but He calls His people to fight. No passive soldiers in the LORD'S army! Dale Ralph Davis on the LORD gone out (yasa/yatsa) - The verb ‘to go out/forth’ (yāṣā’) is a very common one but frequently refers to going into or leading into battle (see 2Sa 5:2). (Preuss, TDOT, 6:229, claims it is used more than 120 times in this sense.) For example, when Deborah ordered Barak into battle against Sisera’s hordes she exclaimed, ‘Has not Yahweh gone out (yāṣā’) before you?’ (Jdg 4:14). That is, the divine captain had entered combat and his people had only to follow. So here in verse 24 Yahweh styles Himself as the Warrior Who plunges into battle and knocks off the Philistines. Note what vigorous images the text gives us of Yahweh’s power: the Leveler and the Warrior. Contemporary Christians must not tone these down, for the text means to impress us with the fact that we do not have a namby-pamby godlet who is house-broken in line with our canon of conceivability. (People abandon gods like that, and they’re carried off to the landfill, v. 21). No, Yahweh’s people have a God who is a smasher and a fighter, a God ‘mighty in battle’ (Ps. 24:8), who can therefore defend his sheep and restrain and conquer all his and our enemies. Hence 2 Samuel 5 leads us straight into eschatology, that is, last things, for if this is our God who protects his kingdom under David, then his people never need fear, for this God is more than able to always lead us in triumph (cf. 2 Cor. 2:14) and to impose his kingdom at the last in all its power and glory. There can be no doubt. After all, he is the Leveler and Warrior. (Ibid)