Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 14:15

"And 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." — 1 Chronicles 14:15 (ASV)

A sound of going. — Rather, the sound of marching. The sign may have been a natural one. David was to listen for the wind rustling in the tops of the bacas—a sound like that of walking on dead leaves—and then to make his attack. (But compare 2 Kings 7:6.) But we are reminded, in connection with this fragment of David’s history, that all ancient people attached a prophetic import to the motion and rustling of leaves.

Omens from trees are mentioned in the table of contents of the great Assyrian work on terrestrial omens, compiled by order of Sargon of Agadê or Accad (about 2200 B.C.). Compare also the speaking oaks of Dodona, the laurel of Delos (Virgil, Æneid 3:91), and that of Delphi (Hymn to Apollo, 393). The “oak of the diviners” (Judges 9:37), and perhaps Deborah’s palm-tree, and even the burning bush, must be referred to the same order of ideas.

The Arabs believe the thorny bushes of the gharqad capable of uttering prophetic words; and with them the samûra, or Egyptian thorn, is sacred. These analogies, however, do not militate against the reality or the miraculous character of the Biblical occurrence. Divine communications with man always assume the form best adapted for striking the mind amidst reigning ideas. Biblical visions, e.g., always have the color of the seer’s environment: those of Joseph are Egyptian; those of Ezekiel in the Exile, Assyrian. (See, further, Lenormant, La Divination en Chaldée.)

Then you shall go out to battle. — A paraphrase of the term used in Samuel.

For God is gone forth. — “Then” (Samuel), namely, “when you have heard the signal.”