2 Samuel 5:25 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

From Geba... to Gazer. — In the parallel passage (1 Chronicles 14:16) it is “from Gibeon to Gazer.” One or the other is a slip of the scribe, and there can be little question that Gibeon is the true reading, since it lies about five and a half miles northwest of Jerusalem, while Geba (Gibeah) is about seven and a half miles north-east. The site of Gazer (or Gezer) has not been exactly identified, but it was certainly just on the edge of the Philistine plain. The distance of the pursuit from Gibeon was about twelve miles, and six miles more must already have been passed over before reaching Gibeon from the valley of Rephaim. The flight of the Philistines was determined in this north-westerly direction at first, from the fact that David had “fetched a compass,” and attacked them from the south. In 1 Chronicles 14:8-17, these battles are placed between the unsuccessful (2 Samuel 13:5-14) and the successful (2 Samuel 15) attempts to bring up the ark to Jerusalem. It is impossible now to determine the exact details of the chronology.