“It’s a Miracle: the Sound of Marching in the Trees”
II Samuel 5:24
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
In an article entitled, “Six cartoonishly simple battle plans that worked,” author Xavier Jackson tells what some soldiers have done to try to win a war. As he wrote: “How else can you surprise the enemy, but by doing something so stupid, they’d never expect it?”
Take, for example, when the Allies tried to free prisoners from Japanese prison camps in the last year of World War II. “How do you penetrate a camp surrounded by an open field without being seen?” they asked.
The answer? Create a distraction in the air, so the guards won’t notice as you belly crawl your way into camp.
So on January 30, 1945, that’s just what they did. Captain Ken Schrieber and First Lieutenant Bonnie Rucks flew their P-61 low over the Philippines, backfiring and barrel rolling the aircraft for twenty minutes, as every Japanese guard stood and watched. Meanwhile, several hundred U.S. soldiers sneaked up to the camp walls, completely unnoticed and unstopped. Within minutes, they freed all five hundred prisoners of war, simply because Japanese guards couldn’t help but watch an airplane show just like the rest of us.
Or what do you do about IED’s in Iraq? They could be hiding anywhere. The shrapnel alone can kill dozens.
That’s when someone had an idea. Why not stand a safe distance away and send in a remote control toy car instead? So that’s what they did. And, strangely enough, it worked! And because it worked, soldiers’ lives were saved by something any kid could buy from his local toy store down the street.
If that’s not enough, how about this--why not strap bombs onto the backs of bats? (President Roosevelt thought it was a good idea back in World War II). Or why not control a missile with pigeons? If you could just get them to peck in the center of the screen, it was bound to fly straight--right where they wanted it to go. They called it, “Project Orcon,” for “organic control.”
Strange, weird battle plans that actually worked.
So it was in the book of II Samuel chapter 5. As the Lord said: “When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the Philistine army.”
Don’t go out until you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees? Now that is some strange battle plan, proposed by none other than the Lord Himself.
Let’s step back for a moment to see what’s going on.
If you didn’t already know it, the Philistines were Israel’s rabble-rousing, God-hating, pain-in-the-neck, enemy number one. The word “Philistine” appears nearly three hundred times in the Bible, and it’s always used to refer to a people that lived to the northwest of Israel. They were rich, strong, and powerful. And they were a constant source of pain and problem to the people of Israel.
But worst of all, they worshipped Baal and Asherah and Dagon, and cared nothing for the true God, the God of Israel.
And Israel was constantly at war with them—first, there was the Battle of Shephelah, then the Battle of Eben-Ezer, the Battle of Aphek (when the Philistines captured the Ark), and the Battle of Elah (when David killed Goliath). The wars and the fighting never seemed to end.
Now, here they were, once again at the Battle of Rephaim.
Now David had already fought against them and won. It was such a great victory, he praised God and said, “The Lord has broken forth upon mine enemies before me as the breach of waters.” In other words, the Philistines were strong, but our God was stronger. And with Him on our side, we’ve won a great and resounding victory.
But David’s problems didn’t go away for long, for this time, the Philistines returned in force, with reinforcements. Their numbers, the Bible says, filled the whole valley. Like it or not, the Philistine army was back to slaughter every Israelite man, woman and child and take over the whole land. Now what?
Now, as David was about to face them again, he could have simply said, “Well, we conquered them once. Come on, boys! Let’s do it again!”
But he didn’t. He knew that, before he even took one step forward, he better ask the Lord first. He better seek guidance from His divine, wise, heavenly Friend.
And there we find a first lesson to learn from this text. Don’t ever go out on your own, not even one step, not until you know God is ready and leading the way. Always ask Him first. And when you do, He will bless.
That’s what Isaiah wrote in his 55th chapter: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near…Return to the Lord, and He will have compassion.” And the prophet Jeremiah wrote: “Call to me and I will answer and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Then when David came to the Lord to ask for help, what did He say? Listen to the words of II Samuel 5: “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the Philistine army.”
The sound of marching in the tops of the trees? What does that mean?
It means that this battle which David was about to undertake was more, much more, than simply Israel vs. Philistines. This was a battle against Satan himself.
So it is for us, for whether we realize it or not, there’s a war going on that we know nothing about.
Remember the words of Ephesians chapter 6? Paul wrote: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
And he wrote: “Put on the full armor of God—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
And what happened as David went out to meet the Philistines? The Bible says: “David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.”
Is it any wonder that God would win a battle in such a strange and miraculous way, with the sound of marching in the tops of the trees? It shouldn’t be. When the people of Israel escaped from Egypt, God first overwhelmed them with frogs and gnats and locusts and darkness, then He drowned their army in the midst of the Red Sea. When Joshua marched around the city of Jericho, priests blew trumpets and walls came tumbling down. When Gideon defeated the Midianites, he did it with pots and torches and three hundred men. And to Jehoshaphat, God’s prophet, Jahaziel once said: “Do not be afraid and do not be discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
In an article published just this past January, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the world is three minutes to doomsday. Considering the source, I suppose we should listen to what they have to say.
Apparently, back in 1945, when scientists first discovered atomic energy, they said it was 11:53 p.m., seven minutes to midnight. Then in December of 1991, when the world’s superpowers agreed to disarm, they pushed it all the way back to 11:43. But as of this last January, they moved it back again to 11:57 p.m., three minutes to midnight.
The reason they moved the clock forward, they said, was because of the world’s ongoing addiction to oil and a surplus of nuclear arms. Executive Director Kennette Benedict said, “We’re not saying it’s too late to take action, but the window for action is closing rapidly.” And he said, “We move the clock hand today to inspire action.”
Whether or not we’re “three minutes to midnight,” we certainly can’t say. But what we do know is that there’s a war going on and our God is in control. And if you have the ears to hear, listen close and you just might hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees. It’s the tramp of angels. It’s the footsteps of God. And He calls us to hope and to rest in the power and grace of God.
You know there was one other great victory the Lord once won through a tree. It wasn’t a balsam tree. Nor was it against some Philistine army. This battle was against sin, and it was accomplished by our Savior. It was a battle He fought on the tree of the cross.
For it was on that cross, as Jesus suffered and died, that the price was paid, Satan was defeated, and the victory was won.
As one author put it: “He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.”
It was 1861, and poet and hymnwriter Julia Ward Howe went to visit Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. And as she visited him and the Union troops and went to bed that night, she was inspired to write a hymn.
This is what she said: “He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet; our God is marching on.”
What a wonder and mystery, dear Father, to hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees. Help us to know that as You are with us, we are safe. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen