After the death of King Saul, David went to Hebron where he was anointed king by the tribe of Judah (2 Samuel 2:1-4, 2 Samuel 2:11, 2 Samuel 5:5, 1 Kings 2:11, 1 Chronicles 3:4, 1 Chronicles 11:1-3). He was thirty years old at that time and fully understood who his master was and whom he served.
The Philistines made war with David and were defeated (2 Sam. 5:17, 2 Sam. 5:25). Both times, King David made inquiry of the Lord and both times the Lord told him what He wanted him to do. The second time readers get a glimpse of what happened, but nobody was able to see what the Lord actually did.
2 Sam. 5:23-25—And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. 24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. 25 And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.
The sound in the mulberry trees was a sign to David that God’s angels were on the way into the battle. God’s hand was hidden concerning what his angels did a little later, as they fought for Israel in the actual battle.
1 Chr. 14:14-17—Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. 15 And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. 16 David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer. 17 And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.
Notice how precisely David followed the Lord’s commands in each case. Notice also just how the Lord kept his promise to fight David’s battles for him.
Another example of how God hid his hand is in David’s bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem after the Philistines had returned it to Israel.
King David assembled thirty-thousand men to escort the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem with music and thanksgiving, but this did not go as planned (2 Sam. 6:1-5). When God struck Uzzah dead for touching the ark, David knew the priests had failed to follow God’s direction, but he didn’t know what directions the Priests had not followed (2 Sam. 6:6-11; 1 Sam. 6:19; 1 Chro. 13:1-14). David was afraid of the Lord and left the ark at the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. 6:9-11).
For more information, Numbers 4:5-6 directed how the Ark should be prepared for conveyance. The Kohathites were in charge of carrying the ark and were directed on how was it to be carried (Num. 4:4; Num. 3:30-31; Num. 4:4; Num. 4:15; Deu. 10:8; 1 Chr. 15:2; 1 Chr. 15:15). Priests were to carry it on special occasions such as crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 3:6; Joshua 3:14).
Only after three months, was David able to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem with dancing and great joy (2 Sam. 6:12-16). David must have searched the scriptures to find what they had done wrong and reminded them that God made a breach on them because they did not seek God ‘after the due order’ (1 Chr. 15:13).
The second time he and the others went to bring the ark back to Jerusalem, they followed the Lord’s direction on how to carry it.
–Beth Johnson