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1 Samuel Chapter 21
David and the Holy Bread
- 1Samuel 21:1 Then
came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was
afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou
alone, and no man with thee?
- 2 And David said
unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a
business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of
the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded
thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a
place.
David lied here and lying is wrong and
if God was with him he wouldn't have had to lie but I guess David
was weak and hungry at this point and was concerned about the men
that were with him but not present at this first meeting with
Ahimelech the priest. Perhaps David had them in hiding because of
Doeg the Edomite who was a servant of Saul. Doeg proves to be
trouble later. Ahimelech was troubled that David was alone, so David
lied perhaps to protect others.
- 1Samuel 21:3 Now
therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread
in mine hand, or what there is present.
- 4 And the priest
answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine
hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept
themselves at least from women.
Holy bread was for the priests of the
Lord and during this feast was a time of holy consetration and was
not to consumption for regular meals. To eat this bread, they must
be living apart from their wives during this feast.
- 1 Samuel 21:5 And
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, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the
vessel.
In this David did not lie because they had
been running from Saul and had no time to be at home with their
wives.
- 1Samuel 21:6 So 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.
Jesus mentions this in Matthew 12.
- Matthew 12:1 At
that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and
his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of
corn, and to eat.
- 2 But when the
Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do
that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
- 3 But he said
unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an
hungred, and they that were with him;
- 4 How he entered
into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not
lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but
only for the priests?
5 Or
have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the
priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
- 6 But I say unto
you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
- 7 But if ye had
known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice,
ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
- 8 For the Son of
man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
The Lord seems to excuse the breaking
of the law in this case of emergencies, saying He was Lord of the
Sabbath day. Jesus puts mercy above sacrifice. No excuse is given
for lying but I wonder why the lying part was not mentioned by
Jesus. I do know that David must have gotten right before God for
his sins before he died because in the New Testament there is no
mention of any of David's sins only the good that he did. David
looked forward to the time when one would die for sins and the way
of eternal life and salvation was to be bought and paid for. So in
the New Testament we do not see any sin of David's mentioned. Once
God forgives and puts away our sins, they are not held against us or
mentioned.
- 1Samuel 21:7 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 herdmen that belonged to Saul.
- 8 And David said
unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or
sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with
me, because the king's business required haste.
- 9 And the priest
said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in
the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind
the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no
other save that here. And David said, There is none like that;
give it me.
David took the sword that he had killed
Goliah with. Evidently it was kept by the priests to commemorate
that time when they all were delivered from the Philistines.
Doeg whose name means "fearful" was not
a good man. David wrote a Psalm during this time. So he must have
written it while he and his men were taking a rest to eat and be
refreshed.
- Psalm 52:1 To the
chief Musician, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite
came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the
house of Ahimelech. Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O
mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
- 2 Thy tongue deviseth
mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- 3 Thou lovest evil
more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness.
Selah.
- 4 Thou lovest all
devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
- 5 God shall likewise
destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee
out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the
living. Selah.
- 6 The righteous also
shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
- 7 Lo, this is the man
that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of
his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
- 8 But I am like a
green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of
God for ever and ever.
- 9 I will praise thee
for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy
name; for it is good before thy saints.
David Flees to Gath
- 1Samuel 21:10 And
David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to
Achish the king of Gath.
- 11 And 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
hath 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.
- 13 And 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.
- 14 Then said Achish
unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then
have ye brought him to me?
- 15 Have I need of
mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in
my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
I can just speculate why David would go
to the Philistines for refuge. Perhaps he was in such despair that
he felt he would rather die by their hand rather than Saul's. Then
again perhaps he knew Saul would never dream he would go there. He
had to avoid his own family because that would be the first place
Saul would look. Anywhere in Israel was under Saul's reign and there
is always one who would betray him. Another reason might be that he
was so heartbroken that nothing seemed to matter. He pretended to be
insane to save his own life there so this part seems to be puzzling.
Saul would not ever dream of looking there though. DC
1 Samuel Chapter 22
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