1 Samuel

Chapter Introduction

How did David end up in such a predicament?  What had he done?  He was on the run, and he felt the need to resort to miserable and dishonoring means to preserve his life.  Are these actions sinful?  Do they show a lack of faith and trust in God?  Or do we find God’s provision in unorthodox ways?

1 Samuel 21:1-3

David was alone and wondering how in the world he ended up on the run from the king and his army.  It was a big world.  Where could he go to find safety and life?  Would it be this way for long?  This was a time for his faith to be tested and grow.  He learned to trust the Lord in those dark times. Life as a king would not always be victories and good times.

David’s first thought was to go to the priest at the House of the Lord.  Nob was a priestly compound just north of Jerusalem. After the destruction of Shiloh, it became the location of the Sanctuary.  Ahimelech became afraid when he saw David alone.  Something was amiss.  He knew nothing of the problems with Saul but sensed that David was a fugitive. 

David may have been a pitiful sight by then.  He responded to Ahimelech’s questions by fabricating a lie and then following up with other lies.  This may have been to protect him, but he is lying, right?  David lived to regret that day and the lies contained in it (1 Samuel 22:23). 

Isn’t the truth always the best approach?  Some might say that it was okay because he was at war.  But David didn’t lie to the enemy. He lied for his own benefit.  David lied to get food.  Are we free to decide when it’s okay to lie?

David determined that the truth was insufficient to gain the priest's assistance. He fabricated and embellished to convince Ahimelech to help him. His first priority was food.

1 Samuel 21:4-6

Ahimelech told David there wasn’t any food but the Showbread. The showbread was the symbolic and ceremonial bread on a table in the holy place before the veil. It was baked in preparation to be placed on the table every Sabbath. The old bread was traditionally eaten in the Lord's presence by the priests. It was sometimes called the bread of presence. 

To eat in fellowship with another was to form a bond of friendship.  Eating God’s provision of bread in this place was to enjoy His presence and hospitality.  While Leviticus 24:9 doesn’t necessarily restrict others from eating the bread, it was traditional for only priests to eat it.  Ahimelech saw the need and left tradition, but he didn’t depart from the sanctity of the bread.  He asked David if He was fit to eat the bread.  Were David and his men ritually clean?

In Matthew 12:1-8, we see that Jesus agreed with what was done.  The Pharisees attempted to chastise Him for plucking herds of grain to eat on the Sabbath.  Jesus pointed to David eating the Sanctuary bread as an example of mercy trumping the traditions. The ritual was made for men.  Men weren’t made for the rituals.  Mercy trumped ritual. 

David’s response in verse five is problematic.  It seems that David himself had been holy, and the young men were holy also.  The word vessel is a euphemistic word for genitalia.  The men had refrained from sexual relations or any association that could render them unclean.  The NIV conveys this understanding a little more clearly. 

⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!”

The NIV makes the men’s mission common rather than the bread.  They are holy, even on common missions. 

1 Samuel 21:7-9

A certain villainous man who was a servant of Saul was lingering around the temple that day.  He had been detained before the Lord for sin or a vow.  Why was this Edomite at the Tabernacle of the Jews?  He was probably fulfilling some commitment to the Tabernacle on behalf of Saul.  It may have been some official business rather than anything spiritual. 

The Edomites were perpetual enemies of Israel.  Saul went to war against them.  Doeg may have been a prisoner of war or a mercenary.  Interestingly, this foreigner is the shepherd for the royal sheep.  He is quite a contrast to the humble shepherd we’ve seen in David.  Regardless of why he was there, we can be sure he wanted to find favor with Saul.

We’ll see later that David sensed this guy was trouble.  Doeg witnessed David receiving food and a weapon from the priest. 

See Psalm 52.

The sword of Goliath had been dedicated to the Lord and displayed at the tabernacle.  The Ephod may have been either a commemorative Ephod on display or an idolatrous one captured and dedicated to God.

David commented that there was no sword like Goliath's.  It was unique in some way that impressed David.

1 Samuel 21:10-11

Wow, it’s hard to make sense of this.  Why would David go to the Philistines and feel he could find refuge there?  Does this reveal the intensity and pressure he felt as an enemy of Saul?  Imagine what the Philistines thought when their greatest enemy, about whom songs were written, a man carrying the sword of their hero, walked into town. 

What was this man of God doing running to the den of the enemy, or what he called, “Uncircumcised Philistines?”  Remember, he killed and desecrated 200 Philistines as a bride price for Michal, Saul’s daughter. 

When we are distressed, our enemy always offers us and tempts us with something that appears to be relief, comfort, or rest.  In reality, it is a trap, a path we start down that leads us away from the Lord.  We must recognize our error; stop!  Turn around!  And flee to the Lord.

1 Samuel 21:12-15

We read this and think he was nuts for going to Gath.  It wouldn’t be hard to convince them he was crazy. 

David quickly realized he was in trouble.  What a picture.  This humble shepherd, warrior, giant slayer, and man after God’s own heart had to resort to acting like a crazy man.  Fear makes us do strange things. It has its place – it keeps us doing things to hurt ourselves.  Tells us when to duck or run.  But when fear characterizes our lives, it pushes away faith and leads us to strange places. 

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare,

But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.  (Proverbs 29:25)

David was a remarkable man.  He wrote Psalm 34 so we might learn from this season of fear he went through.  While it was probably a time he would have much rather forgotten, he instead showed that he was weak and succumbed to fear, and the Lord delivered him and grew him through that season. 

See Psalm 34.

Other Psalms from the fugitive years: Psalms 7, 11–13, 16–17, 22, 25, 31, 34–35, 52–54, 56–59, 63–64, 142–143. Psalm 18.

The Big Idea

David struggled with being alone and on the run.  Who among us wouldn’t?  The conveniences of home were gone.  Access to family and friends.  No worship at the temple.  Even Gath seemed to be a more welcoming place at the time.  The fear of man was trying to sneak into his thoughts.  He was learning how to keep his eyes on the Lord in Dark times.

©2004 Doug Ford; Further Study and Revision 2015, 2024