_over against the mulberry trees_] Render, =along, parallel to=. The line of David’s attack is to be parallel to a line of mulberry trees (or to a ridge on which mulberry trees stood) situate probably at right angles to the line of the Philistine march. Thus David’s advance would be concealed from the Philistines until the very moment of the attack, which would fall on the flank of the Philistine march. _mulberry trees_] or, as margin, =balsam trees=. Some kind of tree or shrub from which gum exudes seems to be meant. ¹⁵And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. =15.= _the sound of marching_] the sound of the wind in the trees is to be taken as an omen from Jehovah, indicating the favourable moment for the assault. The Targum, characteristically, _has the sound of angels coming to thy help_. _thou shalt go out to battle_] Samuel has a more vivid phrase, _thou shalt bestir thyself_. ¹⁶And David did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon¹ even to Gezer. ¹⁷And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations. ¹ In 2 Samuel v. 25, _Geba_. =16.= _smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer_] This victory was decisive; the main army of the Philistines was routed. _Gezer_] compare vi. 67, note. CHAPTER XV. =1‒24.= DAVID’S PREPARATIONS FOR BRINGING THE ARK TO JERUSALEM. There is no parallel in Samuel to this section. In 2 Samuel vi. 12 the reason given for the renewal of David’s attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem is the report of the blessing which was said to have befallen Obed-edom, in whose house the Ark had been left. The Chronicler is not ignorant of this tradition since he refers to it incidentally in xiii. 14, but it would be very far from his sense of the fitness of things to adduce it as the motive for David’s action. On the contrary he declares in this section that David was prompted by a realisation that the ill-success of the first attempt was due to failure to observe the regulations of the Levitical Law. Full attention now being given to the prescribed ritual, David succeeds in his pious purpose. ¹And _David_ made him houses in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. =1.= _made him houses_] Compare 2 Samuel v. 9. _a tent_] a new tent, not the old tabernacle which the Chronicler believed to be at Gibeon (see xvi. 39). ²Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.