Chapter 5 of Shmuel B is the turning point in David's reign: a kingdom over a single tribe in Chevron becomes a kingdom over all Israel, Jerusalem is conquered and becomes the City of David, the king of Tyre forms a covenant with him, and the Philistines go out to war in order to nullify the new kingdom and fall before him. We will study the chapter according to the order of the pesukim, primarily following the approach of the Malbim, and along with it the words of the Radak, Chazal and the Midrashim.
וַיָּבֹאוּ כָּל־שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־דָּוִד חֶבְרוֹנָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֵאמֹר הִנְנוּ עַצְמְךָ וּבְשָׂרְךָ אֲנָחְנוּ׃ - And all the tribes of Israel came to David at Chevron, and they spoke, saying: Behold, we are your own bone and flesh.
All the tribes of Israel come to David at Chevron. As we recall, David's reign in Chevron lasted seven years, while Ish Boshet's reign over Israel lasted two years, and the commentators disagree about what happened during the remaining five years. The Radak's view is that it was a "vacant kingship," meaning there was no king at all over Israel: Ish Boshet reigned for two years, and for five years the people did not know what to do with themselves, until they came to David at Chevron and accepted his reign. The Malbim explains differently: the two years counted for Ish Boshet are not the entire duration of his rule, but rather the time during which he ruled with absolute authority, without limits. From that point on his rule began to crumble, and therefore Scripture does not count this as full rule but as a period in which there is no rule.
And when all the tribes of Israel come to David, they open by saying: "Behold, we are your own bone and flesh." Their intent is to tell him: Do not mistakenly think that only the tribe of Yehuda, your own tribe, is your bone and flesh, in the language of "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." We too are part of you, and it is not only Yehuda who are your tribe.
גַּם־אֶתְמוֹל גַּם־שִׁלְשׁוֹם בִּהְיוֹת שָׁאוּל מֶלֶךְ עָלֵינוּ אַתָּה הָיִיתָ הַמּוֹצִיא וְהַמֵּבִי אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה לְךָ אַתָּה תִרְעֶה אֶת־עַמִּי אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאַתָּה תִּהְיֶה לְנָגִיד עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - In times past, when Shaul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and brought them in; and Hashem said to you: You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be a ruler over Israel.
If David should ask: Why did you rouse yourselves only now, seven years after Yehuda? To this they respond: Do not think that they have an advantage over us in that they were the first to crown you, for we accepted you upon ourselves even in the days of Shaul. Already back then you were conducting his wars and commanding his army, "it was you who led Israel out and brought them in," and already from that time we saw in you the emissary, the redeemer and the deliverer. True, not as a king, for at that time David was not yet king, but in our hearts we had already accepted you.
And they further add: "And Hashem said to you: You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be a ruler over Israel." Note that they say "My people Israel" and not "Yehuda": you are king over all of them and not over Yehuda alone. And there are two expressions here, and two covenants: "You shall shepherd My people" - that you will have a covenant with the entire people; "and you shall be a ruler over Israel" - a term denoting governance, that the rule will be with the consent of the elders and the Sanhedrin. And therefore in the second stage the elders come to David.
וַיָּבֹאוּ כָּל־זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ חֶבְרוֹנָה וַיִּכְרֹת לָהֶם הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד בְּרִית בְּחֶבְרוֹן לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה וַיִּמְשְׁחוּ אֶת־דָּוִד לְמֶלֶךְ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And all the elders of Israel came to the king at Chevron, and King David made a covenant with them at Chevron before Hashem, and they anointed David as king over Israel.
As we explained: at first all of Israel came, and now the elders come, make a covenant with him, and anoint him as king over Israel. And if you should ask: Shmuel already anointed David, why do they anoint him a second time? The answer is that the anointing was meant to show everyone that he is the king. And so the Gemara states, that David's second anointing was because of the dispute of Ish Boshet: as long as Ish Boshet reigned, David's kingship was not entirely clear, and therefore they come and anoint him in order to renew the kingship, as a kind of coronation ceremony in which everyone accepts him as king.
And we already find this with Shaul, the first king. At first, after they anointed him, there were scoundrels who said "How can this one save us?" - I know him, he is one who hides himself among the vessels, what is there in him. But when he fought against Nachash the Ammonite and everyone saw his greatness, Shmuel said: Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there. That is, now that everyone recognizes that the Creator's choice was a correct choice and that he is worthy of kingship, the kingship must be renewed, to show that we accept his reign upon ourselves once again, and this time with a full heart and a willing soul.
There is another point to examine: "And King David made a covenant with them in Chevron before Hashem" - what does "before Hashem" mean? The Radak offers two explanations. First, that in a place where all of Israel or most of them gather, the Shechinah rests there, and therefore it is called "before Hashem." Second, that Hashem would be a witness between them and would testify to the agreement.
בֶּן־שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה דָּוִד בְּמָלְכוֹ אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה מָלָךְ׃ - David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
בְּחֶבְרוֹן מָלַךְ עַל־יְהוּדָה שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וְשִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁים וּבִירוּשָׁלַיִם מָלַךְ שְׁלֹשִׁים וְשָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנָה עַל כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וִיהוּדָה׃ - In Chevron he reigned over Yehudah seven years and six months, and in Yerushalayim he reigned thirty three years over all of Israel and Yehudah.
David began to reign in practice at the age of thirty, and he reigned for forty years. His rule in Chevron was over Yehudah alone, seven years and six months, and in Yerushalayim he reigned another thirty three years, and this was already over all of Israel and Yehudah. According to this calculation, the episode of Golyat took place around David's age of twenty two or twenty three. And in passing: even Yehoshua was over sixty years old when it was said of him "and Yehoshua son of Nun, a youth, would not depart from within the tent," for "youth" (na'ar) has two meanings: from the term "young," or from the term "attendant," as in "Elisha his attendant" and "Geichazi his attendant."
וַיֵּלֶךְ הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲנָשָׁיו יְרוּשָׁלַיִם אֶל־הַיְבֻסִי יוֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ וַיֹּאמֶר לְדָוִד לֵאמֹר לֹא־תָבוֹא הֵנָּה כִּי אִם־הֱסִירְךָ הַעִוְרִים וְהַפִּסְחִים לֵאמֹר לֹא־יָבוֹא דָוִד הֵנָּה׃ - And the king and his men went to Yerushalayim to the Yevusi who dwelt in the land, and he said to David, saying: You shall not come here unless you remove the blind and the lame, meaning: David shall not come here.
וַיִּלְכֹּד דָּוִד אֵת מְצֻדַת צִיּוֹן הִיא עִיר דָּוִד׃ - And David captured the stronghold of Tzion, which is the City of David.
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כָּל־מַכֵּה יְבֻסִי וְיִגַּע בַּצִּנּוֹר וְאֶת־הַפִּסְחִים וְאֶת־הַעִוְרִים שְׂנוּאֵי נֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד עַל־כֵּן יֹאמְרוּ עִוֵּר וּפִסֵּחַ לֹא יָבוֹא אֶל־הַבָּיִת׃ - And David said on that day: Whoever strikes the Yevusi and reaches the water shaft, and the lame and the blind who are hated by David's soul; therefore they say, the blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
These pesukim are very obscure: it is not clear what the blind and the lame are, it is not clear what "whoever strikes the Yevusi and reaches the water shaft" means, and it is not clear why in the first pasuk the blind are placed before the lame while in the second pasuk the lame are placed before the blind. The Malbim, as we saw at length above, prefaces that the beginning of the conquest of Yerushalayim had already taken place earlier. Yerushalayim was divided into two, part of it belonging to Binyamin and part of it to Yehudah, and the part of Yehudah had already been conquered, and it is said there "and the Yevusi dwelt there." Now David goes to dispossess the Yevusi from Binyamin's portion, and there the conquest was not easy, for there was a fortified place surrounded by a wall.
The Malbim explains the interpretation of the pesukim according to the Ralbag, and says: "According to the plain meaning, the words of the Ralbag are sweet to me." At the entrance to the city were stationed idols, a kind of large statues, which did not allow entry into the city. The idols were made in two forms, forms of blind men and forms of lame men, and they would swing large poles and spin rapidly, and anyone who wished to enter would be struck by them. And how did the idols swing the poles? By the force of flowing water, a special mechanism that creates the operation of forces, in the way that water operates a millstone.
On the other side of the city was the stronghold, a kind of large fortified palace, from which too it was impossible to enter. And between the stronghold and the idols, at the two ends of the city and at its two entrances, the garrison was stationed: if they came from this side, the garrison would come out from within and attack them, and if they came from the side of the idols, the garrison would go and attack them from that side. Therefore the Yevusim said to David: "You shall not come here unless you remove the blind and the lame" - unless you remove these idols that prevent entry into the city.
The Malbim adds further that it is quite possible that they attributed divine powers to the idols. The priests of idolatry were great scholars, and they would do all sorts of things through their knowledge of the forces of nature, and since the common people did not recognize these operations, they believed that there was a divine power here. So, for example, with the idols that Yeravam made: it is brought that there they operated the idols in such a way that every onlooker was certain there was a divine power in them. What did they do? They placed a magnet above and a magnet below, and inside the idol was metal, and the magnets were calibrated with great precision so that the attractive force of both would be identical, and the calf stood in the air between the two magnets. The people did not recognize the force called a magnet, and they saw and said: this is surely a god, how does it stand in the air?
In other ways too they used to deceive the people. They would tell them that the gods were angry with them, and as a sign of this, tomorrow the sun would hide its light, and the next day the sun would indeed hide its light. How? An eclipse of the sun. The priest possessed the calendar and the almanac, he knew when a solar eclipse was coming, while the people, who had no calendar and no such knowledge, were certain that the gods were angry with them. Here too they operated the idols by the power of water, by hydraulic force, and the people did not know how it worked, and therefore were certain there was some divine power in it.
And why did they make the idols specifically in the form of the blind and the lame? Who among the holy forefathers was blind? Yitzchak. And who was lame? Yaakov, who limped on his thigh. They came to hint: neither the merit of Yitzchak nor the merit of Yaakov will help you to enter. And why did they carry their claim that far? Because the first king of the Yevusi was Avimelech, and he had an oath with Avraham and Yitzchak that they would not harm him, "if you deal falsely with me and with my offspring and with my posterity." And why did David come specifically now? Because now the oath had expired, for the generation of "with me and with my offspring and with my posterity" was already finished, and now David could attack them. And they wanted to show, as it were, that he could not come even by their own merit, or to argue that there was an oath of "the blind and the lame," of Yitzchak and of Yaakov, preventing him from entering there.
And how did David capture the place? "And David captured the stronghold of Tzion." David decided not to come from the direction of the idols, from the side of the blind and the lame, but to outflank them and come from the direction of the stronghold, and he captured the stronghold of Tzion, and following the capture it was called "the City of David." And now his declaration becomes clear: "Whoever smites the Yevusi and reaches the water shaft." The idols operated by the power of water, and if one comes from the front there is no way to stop them, for the idols stand opposite. But the shaft that supplies the water comes from behind, and therefore when David came from the direction of the stronghold, from the other side of the city, the first thing he encountered as he approached the idols was the shaft. Therefore one must first strike the shaft, for through this the flow of water is cut off and the operation of those idols ceases, like a revolving sword.
And why does David here put the lame before the blind, whereas in the previous verse the blind were put first? The Malbim says: from the outside the order of the idols was the blind and after them the lame, and therefore they told him "unless you remove the blind and the lame" - first remove the blind and then the lame, and then you may enter. But David outflanked and came from the other side, and consequently the lame came first and the blind last, and therefore "and reaches the water shaft, and the lame and the blind."
"Therefore they say, the blind and the lame shall not come into the house" - "therefore" means as a result of this. Why must they be struck down? Because then they said "the blind and the lame shall not come into the house," meaning: David will not come into the house because of the blind and the lame, he will not be able to enter within to us. Therefore David said that they must be struck down, so that we will have direct entry into the city without fear of the obstruction of the blind and the lame. And the Radak explains differently: from that day onward they said that no blind or lame person shall come into the house, meaning the stronghold of Tzion, and this was in order to disgrace the blind and the lame that the Yevusim had placed there to prevent entry. To disgrace them they said: never shall a blind or lame person enter the stronghold of Tzion, and this would be a remembrance for the generations that David succeeded in capturing the stronghold in a miraculous way.
And the Malbim gives an additional explanation: it is quite possible that part of the operation of those idols was carried out by blind and lame men, who maintained them and operated them, and for this reason they were called "the blind and the lame." And there is a further point to note: here David says "whoever smites the Yevusi and reaches the water shaft," but what will he receive? It is not stated. Yet in Divrei HaYamim it is made explicit that whoever smites the Yevusi and reaches the water shaft, meaning the water as we explained, will become a chief and an officer, that is, he will receive a distinguished appointment.
And who was this? The Midrash expounds: "whoever smites the Yevusi and reaches the water shaft" - anyone who smote a Yevusi had to reach the shaft, for they could not conquer them unless they reached through the shaft. And the Radak interprets it in a different way, that the shaft is a high place in the tower, while we have explained according to our way based on the Malbim. And I have already said once: whoever studies all the commentators and then studies the Malbim sets them all aside and studies the Malbim. His interpretation is so true to the language of the verses, and the fit of the matters is a wonder of wonders, and the great ones of Israel testified about him that he composed with the holy spirit. We do not reject any interpretation, but in the way of the straight understanding of the verses we study with the Malbim. Rashi on the Prophets is a very brief commentary, and the depth of the matters comes mainly through the Radak and the Malbim, and therefore we study mainly with both of them. Metzudat David, by contrast, is a lighter and more compiled commentary, which is not among the Rishonim, and its main purpose is to explain the words and the matter in a simple way.
And the Midrash tells how Yoav captured the stronghold: he went and brought a fresh cypress tree and set it up beside the wall, and planted it and bent down its top, for the cypress is soft at its upper part. David bent the cypress, and Yoav jumped onto David's head to reach the cypress and clung to it. When David released the cypress, Yoav was flung like a spring, and this flight carried him into the city. And this is what David said, "Let the righteous smite me in kindness... let not my head refuse the finest oil," and he said "by my God I leap over a wall" - with heavenly help we leaped over the wall. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He shortened the wall so that David went up after him. Yoav needed all sorts of techniques, but David did not need them: "by my God I leap over a wall," I do not leap over a wall with cypresses, the Holy One, blessed be He, lowered the wall for him and he passed over, and thus the stronghold was captured.
וַיֵּשֶׁב דָּוִד בַּמְּצֻדָה וַיִּקְרָא־לָהּ עִיר דָּוִד וַיִּבֶן דָּוִד סָבִיב מִן־הַמִּלּוֹא וָבָיְתָה׃ - And David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the City of David, and David built around it from the Millo and inward.
David dwells in the stronghold and calls it the City of David, and builds around "from the Millo and inward." The Millo was outside the stronghold, a place where the people would gather, and David built from there inward, but from the Millo outward he did not build. And who built from the Millo outward? Shlomo, and for the sake of the daughter of Pharaoh, for whom he made a palace there. And who rebuked him for this? Yeravam ben Nevat, "who lifted his hand against the king." He said to him: your father left the Millo empty, and why? So that the pilgrims coming up for the festivals would come and have a place to stand and settle and rest and pitch their tents there. And what have you done? You built up the place for the sake of the daughter of Pharaoh. And the daughter of Pharaoh was no great tzadeket, in double quotation marks, for the entire decline of Shlomo began with her.
If so, there was here a true and correct rebuke, and it is written that on account of this Yeravam merited kingship. Why then was he punished? Because he rebuked him in public, and that was not proper. To rebuke the king was necessary, that is true, but not to disgrace him in public, rather privately between the two of them. And as a result of this he fled, as we will learn, God willing, further on.
וַיֵּלֶךְ דָּוִד הָלוֹךְ וְגָדוֹל וַיהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת עִמּוֹ׃ - And David grew ever greater, and the Lord, God of Hosts, was with him.
Two things are stated here: "growing ever greater" in success, and "the Lord, God of Hosts, was with him" in Divine assistance. The Malbim defines this as inner happiness: he had inner happiness, for the Holy One, blessed be He, was with him and aided him in all that he did.
וַיִּשְׁלַח חִירָם מֶלֶךְ־צֹר מַלְאָכִים אֶל־דָּוִד וַעֲצֵי אֲרָזִים וְחָרָשֵׁי עֵץ וְחָרָשֵׁי אֶבֶן קִיר וַיִּבְנוּ־בַיִת לְדָוִד׃ - And Chiram king of Tzor sent messengers to David, and cedar wood, and carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a house for David.
After his kingdom over all Israel had been established, for all Israel came to accept his kingship, and after he conquered the Yevusi, which is Jerusalem, whose original name was Yevus, and the city was joined together as one, both the portion of Binyamin and the portion of Yehudah, all becoming one city, the Holy One, blessed be He, came and showed him that even a nation that did not know him would serve him. The Holy One, blessed be He, sends Chiram king of Tzor to assist David, to make a covenant with him and to build him a house. Later we will see that this connection of David with Chiram king of Tzor was of great benefit to his son Shlomo in the building of the Beit HaMikdash.
וַיֵּדַע דָּוִד כִּי־הֱכִינוֹ יְהֹוָה לְמֶלֶךְ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכִי נִשֵּׂא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ בַּעֲבוּר עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
On the one hand, David knew that Hashem had established his kingdom in Jerusalem, and in this he saw that Hashem was establishing him as king over Israel. On the other hand, from the fact that kings were already bringing him gifts and Chiram was sending men to help him, he understood that the Holy One, blessed be He, had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel: not through my own merit, but rather that whatever Hashem sends me from the nations to assist me and to make a covenant with me, all of it is for the sake of My people Israel.
וַיִּקַּח דָּוִד עוֹד פִּלַגְשִׁים וְנָשִׁים מִירוּשָׁלַיִם אַחֲרֵי בֹּאוֹ מֵחֶבְרוֹן וַיִּוָּלְדוּ עוֹד לְדָוִד בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת׃ - And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Chevron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.
Regarding concubines we explained previously that there is a dispute whether a concubine is one taken with kiddushin but without a ketubah, or without kiddushin and without a ketubah. And we explained that "pilegesh" is from the expression "peleg shem," half a name: when a man marries a woman, his yud and her heh together form Yah, and with the ketubah, which is vav and heh, the name Yud-Heh Vav-Heh is completed. But with a concubine, who has no ketubah, there is no vav-heh but only yud-heh, and the name is split, and therefore she is called peleg shem, half a name.
וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הַיִּלֹּדִים לוֹ בִּירוּשָׁלָיִם שַׁמּוּעַ וְשׁוֹבָב וְנָתָן וּשְׁלֹמֹה׃ - And these are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shovav, and Natan, and Shlomo.
וְיִבְחָר וֶאֱלִישׁוּעַ וְנֶפֶג וְיָפִיעַ׃ - And Yivchar, and Elishua, and Nefeg, and Yafia.
וֶאֱלִישָׁמָע וְאֶלְיָדָע וֶאֱלִיפָלֶט׃ - And Elishama, and Elyada, and Eliphelet.
Shamua, Shovav, Natan and Shlomo: all of these were sons of Bat Sheva. The Metzudos points out that the listing here is not in order of birth, since Shlomo is counted first. The names appear with slight variation in Divrei Hayamim: there Elishama appears, and in another place in Divrei Hayamim the first is also called Elishua, and the matter is not entirely clear. Elyada appears in Divrei Hayamim as "Ba'alyada," and Eliphelet is mentioned there twice, for there were two Eliphelets. Also mentioned there is the name Nogah, which is not mentioned here, and it is quite possible that they died in their childhood. Incidentally, today people do not name a child Nogah, because the books of Kabbalah speak a great deal about "kelipas nogah," and Nogah is the name of a kelipah, so it is preferable not to use it.
וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים כִּי־מָשְׁחוּ אֶת־דָּוִד לְמֶלֶךְ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּעֲלוּ כָל־פְּלִשְׁתִּים לְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת־דָּוִד וַיִּשְׁמַע דָּוִד וַיֵּרֶד אֶל־הַמְּצוּדָה׃ - And the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, and all the Philistines went up to seek David, and David heard and went down to the stronghold.
David had an extensive and ongoing history with the Philistines. When he fled from Shaul, who was pursuing him, he hid among the Philistines, with Achish king of Gat, and they had an illusion: David is with us, he is a rebel against Shaul, there is no chance he will make peace with him, and as far as we are concerned this is excellent, for I have set Israel against Israel. Then suddenly they see that Israel accepts David as king over them, an absolute king, with no other. Now they know that Israel will not submit to them and will not pay them tribute, for they themselves fear David and know that he is the one who killed Golyat and that he will fight the wars of Israel and is not one who submits. Therefore they come to attack Israel in order to nullify David's kingship, and about this David composed the psalm "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain, the kings of the earth stand up" and so on. "And he went down to the stronghold": the stronghold was a strong tower in a place lower than Jerusalem, and therefore it says "and he went down."
וּפְלִשְׁתִּים בָּאוּ וַיִּנָּטְשׁוּ בְּעֵמֶק רְפָאִים׃ - And the Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
The Philistines saw that David was close to them, since he had gone down to the stronghold. And some say that this stronghold is the very same stronghold to which David fled from Shaul. When they saw that David was drawing near to them, they came and "spread out in the Valley of Rephaim," that is, they deployed their forces in the Valley of Rephaim, a place near Jerusalem.
וַיִּשְׁאַל דָּוִד בַּיהֹוָה לֵאמֹר הַאֶעֱלֶה אֶל־פְּלִשְׁתִּים הֲתִתְּנֵם בְּיָדִי וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־דָּוִד עֲלֵה כִּי־נָתֹן אֶתֵּן אֶת־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּים בְּיָדֶךָ׃ - And David inquired of Hashem, saying: Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand? And Hashem said to David: Go up, for I will surely give the Philistines into your hand.
Since the stronghold was in a low place, in order to reach the Philistines he had to go up, and therefore he asks "Shall I go up against the Philistines?" And Hashem answers him: Go up, for I will surely give the Philistines into your hand.
וַיָּבֹא דָוִד בְּבַעַל־פְּרָצִים וַיַּכֵּם שָׁם דָּוִד וַיֹּאמֶר פָּרַץ יְהֹוָה אֶת־אֹיְבַי לְפָנַי כְּפֶרֶץ מָיִם עַל־כֵּן קָרָא שֵׁם־הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא בַּעַל פְּרָצִים׃ - And David came to Baal Peratzim, and David struck them down there, and he said: Hashem has broken through my enemies before me like a bursting of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Peratzim.
David comes to Baal Peratzim and strikes the Philistines there, and he says: Like a flood of water, so has Hashem broken through my enemies before me, and following this he calls the place Baal Peratzim. The Radak explains that this recognition came to him from the fact that with a small number of men he succeeded in striking down so many Philistines, and if so it is certainly not from his own power, but rather it must be from Hashem, for by natural means there was no chance of succeeding against them.
וַיַּעַזְבוּ שָׁם אֶת־עֲצַבֵּיהֶם וַיִּשָּׂאֵם דָּוִד וַאֲנָשָׁיו׃ - And they left their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
The Philistines abandoned their idols there, meaning their objects of idolatry. And why is idolatry called "atzabim" (grievers)? The Gemara says: because it grieves its worshippers. A person cries out and cries out and cries out, and there is no voice, no answer, no attention, and from this he falls into depression, and therefore they are called atzabim. And the Ben Ish Chai explains the verse "their idols are silver and gold" in a different way: what causes a person all his grief? The silver and the gold. A person who has no silver and gold is at ease, he is not troubled and not worried, but a person who has money and property, you see him under pressure all the time. "Their idols are silver and gold."
Now here it says "and David and his men carried them off," while in Divrei HaYamim it says "and they burned them." There is one opinion that even what is said here, "and he carried them off," means that he burned them, and there is another opinion that he carried them and took them with him. And this is doubly difficult: if he took them with him, they are idolatry, and it is forbidden to derive benefit from them. If a person saw an idol or a cross, could he go and sell it to a shop in Nazareth and benefit from the money? That is deriving benefit from idolatry. And there is a further question: why carry them at all? Burn them on the spot, is there no way to make a bonfire there? On the contrary, one should demonstrate, so that all may see, that the moment idolatry comes into my hand I do not take it for myself but burn it immediately.
Chazal resolve both difficulties: at first they wanted to burn them and had already prepared a bonfire, and then Ittai the Gittite arrived, who was one of David's companions and friends, and his origin was from Gat, and at this stage he was still a gentile. And we have a halacha that if a Jew nullifies the idolatry of a gentile, it is not nullified, but if a gentile nullifies idolatry, it is nullified. And what is the logic? That when a gentile nullifies it, he in effect says: I no longer worship this, and it no longer has the status of idolatry. And the Gemara brings several examples of nullification, and even if it is not his own: since a gentile came from among those to whom the idolatry was entrusted, from that nation, and nullified it, it is nullified, and it does not specifically require its owner. But if a Jew comes and nullifies it, what will that accomplish? The gentiles still believe in it, and therefore it must be nullified by them. Ittai the Gittite came and nullified the idolatry, and then they carried them off with them.
And note the precise wording: in Divrei HaYamim it is written "their gods," while here it is written "their idols." And the difference: there it was before the nullification, and therefore they wanted to burn them; and here, after they had nullified it, it calls them "their idols," and therefore they were able to carry them and take them with them.
וַיֹּסִפוּ עוֹד פְּלִשְׁתִּים לַעֲלוֹת וַיִּנָּטְשׁוּ בְּעֵמֶק רְפָאִים׃ - And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the Valley of Refaim.
The Philistines then are like the Philistines today, you cannot get rid of them. Just like the Palestinians today, you do not get rid of them; however much you strike them, they come back again and again, like a fly. They took a blow, they already threw away their gods, and they come again and spread themselves in the Valley of Refaim.
וַיִּשְׁאַל דָּוִד בַּיהֹוָה וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא תַעֲלֶה הָסֵב אֶל־אַחֲרֵיהֶם וּבָאתָ לָהֶם מִמּוּל בְּכָאִים׃ - And David inquired of Hashem, and He said: You shall not go up; circle around behind them and come upon them opposite the baca trees.
In Divrei HaYamim the wording of the verse is "do not go up after them, circle away from them." And the Malbim explains: the first time, when he asked "Shall I go up against the Philistines?" and was answered "Go up, for I will surely give them into your hand," David came at them from behind, and the element of surprise decided the battle. But this time Hashem tells him: do not come at them from behind again, for they are already prepared at the rear and with strong forces, expecting you to flank them. Therefore "and come upon them opposite the baca trees" - fall upon the side of the camp, attack them from the side, and the side is the soft underbelly of the army, and through this you will be able to defeat them.
But in order to attack from the side one needs an element of surprise, and how will he reach the side without their noticing him? On this the Holy One, Blessed be He, teaches him how to do it.
וִיהִי כְּשָׁמְעֲךָ אֶת־קוֹל צְעָדָה בְּרָאשֵׁי הַבְּכָאִים אָז תֶּחֱרָץ כִּי אָז יָצָא יְהֹוָה לְפָנֶיךָ לְהַכּוֹת בְּמַחֲנֵה פְלִשְׁתִּים׃ - And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the baca trees, then you shall act decisively, for then Hashem has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.
The baca trees are trees, and there was a grove there. Hashem tells him: hide within this grove, and when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the baca trees, meaning the sound of the wind swaying the tops of the trees, which sounds like the sound of marching, then you will know that the time has come to attack, and attack at that moment and you will succeed. And the Malbim adds that there was something further here beyond the wind in the trees: an army of angels, for Hashem went out to strike the enemy camp and made the sound of marching heard, so that miracle and nature were as one.
Here was one of David's most difficult tests, among those in which Shaul failed and David stood firm. Our Sages relate that when David stood there among the trees and the army began to pass by, his men said to him: David, strike them! Now Hashem has delivered them into your hand, and if we attack now we will succeed, but if not, perhaps they will discover us or pass by and the attack will fail. David said to them: absolutely not. They said to him: this is a matter of mortal danger! He said to them: I received an instruction from the Creator of the world, that only when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the bacha trees should you go forth.
This is precisely the test in which Shaul failed. Shmuel told him right after anointing him: wait seven days in the war against the Pelishtim, I will come on the seventh day and we will offer the burnt offering and then you will go out to war. But Shaul saw that the people were beginning to scatter from him, and he said: bring the burnt offering to me. And since he offered it, Shmuel immediately arrived and said to him: you have acted foolishly, why did you not wait? Had you waited, Hashem would have established your kingdom forever. Here David stands the test: he too is under pressure, strong and great pressure from those around him, "let us attack," but Hashem told me no, and so David stands and waits and looks forward until Hashem gives him the instruction, and indeed the instruction came through the rustling of the trees.
And why specifically the rustling of trees? The rustling of the trees was meant to magnify the force of the attack. For when David surprises them and at that moment a noise is heard among the trees, they cannot distinguish between one and the other, and they think that David has come upon them with a vast army, and they are certain that the rustling of the trees is the mighty noise of David's army. Thus Hashem performed a miracle that served as an aid to David's action, so that he would succeed in attacking them, and as a result the Pelishtim would not try to fight them again.
וַיַּעַשׂ דָּוִד כֵּן כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּהוּ יְהֹוָה וַיַּךְ אֶת־פְּלִשְׁתִּים מִגֶּבַע עַד־בֹּאֲךָ גָזֶר׃ - And David did so, as Hashem commanded him, and he struck the Pelishtim from Geva until you come to Gezer.
David does as the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded him and strikes the Pelishtim "from Geva until you come to Gezer," two names of places that were known in their time. The Midrash expounds: "then you shall bestir yourself (techrats)" - it is a decisive matter (charuts), as in "our days are decreed (charutzim)." And why did He give them a sign from the tops of the bacha trees and not from behind them? Rabbi Berechiah said: because it is all arrows, for this bacha tree is full of arrows. That is, the aim was to conquer them by way of the forest full of arrows and thorns, so that when they entered it they would become entangled there, and therefore specifically in the valley of the bacha trees. And why is it called bacha? From the word for weeping, to teach you that as long as Israel dwells in distress, it is as if distress is before Him, as it is said "I am with him in distress": as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, says I am together with you, I weep with you, I am with you within the distress.
In this chapter David's kingship is completed: all the tribes come and say "we are your bone and your flesh," the elders make a covenant and anoint him a second time in order to renew the kingship before the eyes of all, David conquers the fortress of Zion through cunning and through a miracle - through the water shaft and from the side, by Yoav's cypress and by the wall that the Holy One, blessed be He, lowered for him - and he builds the City of David. Chiram king of Tzor builds him a house, and David understands that the greatness is not to his own credit but "for the sake of His people Israel." And in the two wars with the Pelishtim the secret of his greatness is revealed: Shaul did not wait for Shmuel and lost his kingship, while David waits within the thicket, in mortal danger and under the pressure of his men, until he hears the sound of marching in the tops of the bacha trees. This is a kingship that inquires of Hashem and acts only according to the word of Hashem, and therefore it is an everlasting kingship.
And from the bacha trees we also learned a moral for all generations: "I am with him in distress," that the Holy One, blessed be He, is with Israel within their distress, and from the very place of weeping salvation goes forth.