23 And when David went for directions to the Lord, he said, You are not to go up against them in front; but make a circle round them from the back and come on them opposite the spice-trees.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Samuel 5:23

Commentary on 2 Samuel 5:17-25

(Read 2 Samuel 5:17-25)

The Philistines considered not that David had the presence of God with him, which Saul had forfeited and lost. The kingdom of the Messiah, as soon as it was set up in the world, was thus attacked by the powers of darkness. The heathen raged, and the kings of the earth set themselves to oppose it; but all in vain, Acts 2:2.