David Takes Consecrated Bread

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(1 Samuel 21:1) Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said to him, "Why are you alone and no man with you?"

Jonathan had warned David that Saul intended to kill him, and David had run away.  He came to Nob, a city of priests, where the tabernacle was at that time.  I imagine David felt safe in the tabernacle of the Lord where he might receive counsel of the Lord.  The high priest Ahimelech was afraid when he saw David alone.  He may have heard of the king's displeasure with him, but also as the king's son-in-law, he should have had attendants with him.  David coming alone did not seem right, and he sensed trouble.  He asked David why he had come alone.

(2) And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me some business and has said to me, 'Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send you and what I have commanded you,' and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place."

David then told the high priest a lie, telling him that the king had sent him on some business and had sworn him to secrecy, so he had sent his servants away.  As good a man as David was, living a life of integrity as he had proclaimed in the last post in Psalm 26, this is the second time that we read of David lying (1 Samuel 20:6).

(3) "Now therefore, what is under your hand? Give five loaves of bread in my hand or what there is present."

David asked the priest what he had on hand, with regard to bread or something to eat, as we may assume he had had nothing to eat on his journey.  He asked the priest to give him five loaves of bread or whatever he had on hand.

(4) And the priest answered David, and said, "No common bread under my hand, but there is hallowed bread, if the young men have kept themselves at least from women."

The priest told David that he had no common bread on hand, but there was hallowed bread that had been devoted for sacred use.  However, he seemed willing to give it to David and any of his men if they had abstained from women and were considered clean.

(5) And David answered the priest and said to him, "Of a truth, women kept from us about these three days since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel."

It seems as if David may have had some men with him that he had sent away when he came to Ahimelech, unless he was still lying.  He told the priest that they had not been with women for three days since he had left and been on this journey.  Whether or not it was true, that was the length of time the law required for sanctifying themselves after being with women.  David added that the vessels of his young men were holy, not having been defiled with any ceremonial uncleanness.  He also suggested that the bread was common at that time anyway as it had been removed from the showbread table, as may be assumed because the priest said he had it on hand, as bread taken off the showbread table was then lawful to be eaten by the priest and his family.  Supposedly, in case of necessity through hunger, the bread might be lawfully allowed to strangers.

(6) So the priest gave him hallowed bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread that was taken from before the Lord to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

The priest gave David the hallowed bread, that which had been taken off the showbread table before the Lord, in order to place fresh bread there.  It was lawful for the priests only to eat the showbread; but David and his companions were starving and no other bread could be had at the time.  Therefore he and his companions ate of it without sin, and this we know because Jesus referred to this incident in Mark 2:25-26, implying that because he had need and was hungry, his actions were not sinful, because strict legalistic adherence to laws to the detriment of people was not aligned with the spirit of the law.  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," said the Lord (Hosea 6:6), and it was repeated by Jesus (Matthew 12:7).  Jesus also spoke of the law of the Sabbath, saying it was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, once again meaning it should not be so legalistically adhered to so as to cause detriment to people.

(7) Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen of Saul.

There was a servant of Saul's named Doeg who was either at the tabernacle or in close proximity to it.  He was the chief of the herdsmen of Saul and so might be considered more loyal to Saul than just any herdsman.  He was detained before the Lord, probably just meaning he himself chose to stay, tarrying to worship the Lord.

(8) And David said to Ahimelech, "And is there not here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste."

David asked the priest if he had any weapons on hand because he had not brought any weapons with him because the king's business had required haste.  I suppose you could say that part of what David told the priest was true.  It was the king's business to kill him, and he indeed had to leave in haste.

(9) And the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold it wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is no other save that here." And David said, "None like that; give it to me."

The priest told David that the sword of Goliath, the giant David had killed, was there wrapped in a cloth behind the place where the priestly garment lay.  He told him he could take that if he wanted it, for there was nothing else there.  David said there was nothing like it, definitely because of its size, but David had been well able to use it to cut off Goliath's head (1 Samuel 17:51), and also because it would serve as a symbol of God's faithfulness in delivering him as He had previously done.

(10) And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.

David fled from there to Gath, to Achish, the king of Gath.  It seems strange that David would flee to an enemy king, but Saul's rage was so great and David's life in such danger, that perhaps he felt a little safety in the presence of a rival king to Saul.  "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," as the proverb goes.

(11) And the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands'? (12) And David laid up these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

However, the servants of Achish considered David to be the king or at least recognized him as the king elect of Israel as they remembered the women dancing and singing that while Saul had killed his thousands, David had killed his ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7).  Perhaps they even meant that David was the king of their land, as Goliath had proposed that if any man were to kill him, the Philistines would become subjects of Israel (1 Samuel 17:9), and maybe they thought David had come to overthrow Achish and take the crown.  Either way, David became afraid of what Achish might do to him when he knew that. 

(13) And he changed his behavior toward them and feigned himself mad in their hands and scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down on his beard.

David changed his behavior toward the servants of Achish and pretended to be mad "in their hands," which sounds as if they may have taken hold of David.  He scratched on the doors of the gate and drooled down his beard.

(14) Then Achish said to his servants, "Lo, you see the man is mad. Why have you brought him to me? (15) Have I need of mad men that you have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? Shall he come into my house?"

Achish's servants brought David to him, but because he saw him as mad, he demanded to know why his servants brought a mad man to him as if he needed a mad man in his house.  Although this psalm ends right here, we can assume that the king sent him away, as 1 Samuel 22 begins with the fact that David left.  However, my chronological study takes me to Psalms next.

David pretending to be mad when he wasn't is yet another example of his dishonesty.  I have often pondered whether or not every lie is a sin against God.  What makes me wonder that is that the commandment against lying actually says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."  Do not tell a lie about your neighbor.  Is that the same as telling a lie to an enemy of God to save one's life?  I suppose it could represent a lack of faith in God to deliver one out of danger when he believes he must do something to deliver himself.  Quoting Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "Justly are troubles called temptations, for many are by them drawn into sin."  By this, he suggests that because of his troubles, David was drawn into the sin of lying.  And surely, even if it was not an actual sin against God, everything we do has a chain reaction, whether good or bad.  And there is a slippery slope we find ourselves on when we start with little white lies as they make it easier to tell bigger lies.