23 Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, "You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry 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.