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WHEN the Philistines understood that David was made king of the Hebrews,
they made war against him at Jerusalem; and when they had seized upon that
valley which is called
The Valley of the Giants, and is a place
not far from the city, they pitched their camp therein; but the king of
the Jews, who never permitted himself to do any thing without prophecy,
1 and the
command of God and without depending on him as a security for the time
to come, bade the high priest to foretell to him what was the will of God,
and what would be the event of this battle. And when he foretold that he
should gain the victory and the dominion, he led out his army against the
Philistines; and when the battle was joined, he came himself behind, and
fell upon the enemy on the sudden, and slew some of them, and put the rest
to flight. And let no one suppose that it was a small army of the Philistines
that came against the Hebrews, as guessing so from the suddenness of their
defeat, and from their having performed no great action, or that was worth
recording, from the slowness of their march, and want of courage; but let
him know that all Syria and Phoenicia, with many other nations besides
them, and those warlike nations also, came to their assistance, and had
a share in this war, which thing was the only cause why, when they had
been so often conquered, and had lost so many ten thousands of their men,
they still came upon the Hebrews with greater armies; nay, indeed, when
they had so often failed of their purpose in these battles, they came upon
David with an army three times as numerous as before, and pitched their
camp on the same spot of ground as before. The king of Israel therefore
inquired of God again concerning the event of the battle; and the high
priest prophesied to him, that he should keep his army in the groves, called
the
Groves of Weeping, which were not far from the enemy's camp,
and that he should not move, nor begin to fight, till the trees of the
grove should be in motion without the wind's blowing; but as soon as these
trees moved, and the time foretold to him by God was come, he should, without
delay, go out to gain what was an already prepared and evident victory;
for the several ranks of the enemy's army did not sustain him, but retreated
at the first onset, whom he closely followed, and slew them as he went
along, and pursued them to the city Gaza (which is the limit of their country):
after this he spoiled their camp, in which he found great riches; and he
destroyed their gods.