1 Samuel

{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}

1 Samuel 21:1-2

David was a fugitive; he'd been alone before and lived in the wild but he'd never been so alone.  This is a time for his faith to be tested and grown.  David's first thought was to come to the priest at the House of the Lord.  In doing so, Ahimelech is concerned.  He apparently doesn't know anything of the problems with Saul and can't figure out why David was alone.  We can imagine that David may have been a pitiful sight by now. 

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

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. 

1 Samuel 21:3-6

David was obviously hungry and seeking out some food.  Ahimelech told David there wasn't anything but the Showbread.  The showbread was the symbolic and ceremonial bread that was in the holy place before the veil and a table.  This bread was to be replaced daily so it was always fresh.  The old bread was to be eaten in the presence of the Lord.  It is sometimes called presence-bread.  The eat in the fellowship with another was to form the bond of friendship.  Eating God's provision of bread in this place was to enjoy His presence and hospitality; eating and having fellowship with Him.

While Leviticus 24:9 doesn't necessarily restrict others from eating the bread it was traditional that only the priests ate it.  Ahimelech sees the need and leaves tradition; but he doesn't depart from the sanctity of the bread.  He asks David if He was fit to eat the bread. 

We see Jesus agree with what was done in Matthew 12:1-8.

1 Samuel 21:7-9

Doeg is lingering around the temple; it's interesting to wonder why he was there.  He's not even an Israelite but a Edomite.  He was probably fulfilling some commitment to the Tabernacle on behalf of Saul; maybe some official business rather than anything spiritual.  We'll see later that David had a sense that this guy was trouble.  Doeg witnesses David receive a food and now a weapon from the priest. 

1 Samuel 21:10-11

Wow, it's hard to make sense of this.  Why would David go to the Philistines and feel like he could find refuge there?  Does this reveal the level of 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?  When we are in distress 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 that 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

What a picture this is; the one we know of as the man after God's own heart acting like a crazy man because he was overcome by fear.  Fear is not our friend and leads us to strange places.  Proverbs 29:25 says:

David was a special 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.  Verse 4 of this Psalm says:

          ⁴     I sought the Lord, and He heard me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

©2015 Doug Ford