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This is perhaps self-evident, and either my player or I am not getting it, but we've had a disagreement on the wording and intent of Spiritual Weapon (and this would likely affect the arcane version, Mage's Sword).
The weapon always strikes from your direction.
I read that as something similar to Interposing Hand. The caster designates a target, and the weapon will place itself between the caster and the target, striking the target "from the caster's direction". Allowances are made if there are other allies/enemies/obstacles in a particular square, but the intent is that it will strike from whatever direction the caster happens to be.
My player, who also DMs on alternating weeks, doesn't agree. He wanted to place the spiritual weapon BEHIND the target (as it related to his actual direction). Which would essentially have the spiritual weapon strike TOWARD the caster's direction, rather than FROM the caster's direction. When arguing his side, he seemed to think that by disallowing his desired placement, that negated the allowance of the Range of the spell (Medium range). I disagreed, as it allows you to direct the weapon to any target within medium range. Just that...it should be placed in a square between the caster and the target.
I suppose the intent could be more in the line of "at your direction", where direction isn't so much a mapped ordinal direction (north, south, etc), but more in the line of it acts as you direct it. If you don't direct it, it doesn't choose a new target for itself, so you must do it yourself. But, to me, that would be "at your direction", not "from your direction".