CHAPTER 21

(1062 B.C.)

DAVID FLEES FROM SAUL

¹Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the Priest (High Priest): and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why are you alone, and no man with you? (It seemed strange to Ahimelech that David was traveling in this manner, considering that he was the kings son-in-law.)

THE SHEWBREAD

²And David said unto Ahimelech the Priest, The king has commanded me a business (which was a lie), and has said unto 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. (All of this teaches the bitter lesson that departure from the path of Faith not only means loss of all personal dignity, but it involves injury to others as well! Thus, as Abraham, when he left the path of Faith, became the occasion of sickness and disease to the Egyptians [Gen. 12:17], so Davids conduct caused the death of the High Priest and 85 of his fellow Priests, together with their wives and children [22:18-19].)

³Now therefore what is under your hand? give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or what there is present.

⁴And the Priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is hallowed bread (these were the twelve loaves of the Shewbread, which were baked fresh every week and placed on the Table of Shewbread; at the end of the week, they were then eaten by the Priests in the Holy Place [Lev. 24:8-9], with fresh loaves then replacing that which had been eaten); if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. (As Ahimelech could not venture to refuse Davids request, he asked if his attendants are at least ceremonially clean, as in that case the urgency of the kings business might excuse the breach of the letter of the Commandment. Our Lord in Matthew 12:3 cites this a case in which the inward spirit of the Law was kept, and the violation of its literal precept thereby justified Smith.)

⁵And David answered the Priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been 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, yes, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel (the whole Chapter sets David before us in a very humiliating light).

⁶So the Priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

⁷Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD (shut up in close seclusion within the precincts of the Tabernacle, either for some vow, or for purification); and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.

DAVID TAKES GOLIATHS SWORD

⁸And David said unto 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 kings business required haste.

⁹And the Priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here 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, There is none like that; give it me (the sword of Goliath did not save the giant; neither could it save David).

DAVID FLEES TO GATH

¹⁰And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath (in effect, David was going over to the enemies of God; so much of the wrongdoing that comes by the Child of God is caused by fear).

¹¹And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not 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? (To be sure, they were nonplussed at David appearing among them.)

¹²And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

¹³And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard (as is obvious, this is an extremely low point in Davids life; however, it portrays what even the greatest will do, even as David, when we depart from the path of faith).

¹⁴Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, you see the man is mad: wherefore then have you brought him to me?

¹⁵Have I need of mad men, that you have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house? (Evidently, Davids ploy worked, with the Philistines thinking that he was crazy and, thereby, letting him go his way. He should never have been there to begin with.)