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1 Samuel Chapter 22
David at the Cave of Adullam
- 1Samuel 22:1 David
therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and
when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went
down thither to him.
- 2 And every one that
was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one
that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he
became a captain over them: and there were with him about four
hundred men.
Seems like word of mouth was the way of
communication in that day. People have always loved to talk and
communicate news. Someone must have went to David's family and let
them know what was going on. David also began to accumulate an army
of those who would help him against Saul. These were those that had
their own troubles that they must have blamed the king for. Then too
there might have been those that took his side because of his
integrity and good reputation the went before him.
- 1Samuel 22:3 And
David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king
of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth,
and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.
- 4 And he brought
them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the
while that David was in the hold.
David wanted his family to be safe from
the vengeance of Saul so the king of Moab allowed David's family to
dwell among them. This shows me that David didn't ask for anyone to
help him, some just came. I wonder why his brothers didn't volunteer
to stay with David. Perhaps David didn't allow that because they
would become a target and they were well known by Saul and would
have recognized them since they use to serve in Saul's army. My
speculation here.
-
1Samuel 22:5 And the
prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold; depart, and
get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came
into the forest of Hareth.
David's place where he was in hiding
must not have been in Judah but outside of it. This prophet named
Gad must have heard from the Lord and advised David to return to
Judah. So David went south of Jerusalem to a forest.
Saul Kills the Priests at Nob
- 1Samuel 22:6 When
Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with
him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his
spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about
him;)
- 7 Then Saul said
unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites;
will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and
vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains
of hundreds;
- 8 That all of you
have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me
that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there
is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my
son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at
this day?
His jealousy and fear of David has
gotten to the point of rage. He was ready to kill even his own son
if necessary. We can read history and see that many other leaders
were not happy people but jealous and full of fear. Fear would then
cause the suffering and deaths of many others. Hitler, Stalin,
Pharoah of Egypt, Nero, and many others in the past ruled with
jealousy and fear stalking them. So many innocent people suffer from
a troubled leader full of fear and hate ready to push the botton
that destroys and kills.
It seems here that Saul was trying to
stir up greed in his men to go against David because of what Saul
could provide them if they do as he says. There are two methods evil
people try to control people. One is bribes and one is threats
against their lives or the lives of their families.
- 1Samuel 22:9 Then
answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of
Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to
Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
- 10 And he enquired
of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the
sword of Goliath the Philistine.
Here is one, Doeg the Edomite that
heard Saul gladly and couldn't wait to tell what he saw and heard
but sadly it caused the death of the priests of the Lord who was
innocent of any conspiracy. They just wanted to help David in his
destress not knowing he was running from Saul. Eighty five priests
would about to die by this man's hand.
- 1Samuel 22:11 Then
the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub,
and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and
they came all of them to the king.
- 12 And Saul said,
Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my
lord.
- 13 And Saul said
unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of
Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast
enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie
in wait, as at this day?
- 14 Then Ahimelech
answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all
thy servants as David, which is the king's son in law, and goeth
at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?
- 15 Did I then begin
to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king
impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my
father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.
This is true. Ahimelech had no
knowledge of anything wrong between David and Saul. They thought
they were helping the son in law to the king. This story is really
sad. We don't know whether they would have helped David if they did
know but to slay so many men shows us that God was totally justified
in removing Saul and replacing him with David. Saul did this to
himself and no one else was to blame. David did all he could to be
reconciled to Saul but Saul's demonic jealousy was out of hand.
- 1Samuel 22:16 And
the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all
thy father's house.
- 17 And the king said
unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the
priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and
because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But
the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall
upon the priests of the LORD.
The servants did right. They were not
tempted by the promise of any gain. They refused to kill any priests
of the Lord. The fear of God rather than Saul was greater in them
but sadly not in Doeg the Edomite.
-
1 Samuel 22:18 And the king
said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the
Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that
day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
Eighty five of the Lord's priests
perished at this time by Doeg the Edomite. Those priests probably
had helped Doeg previously which is why he might have been there to
begin with and happen to see David.
- 1Samuel 22:19 And
Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the
sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and
asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
- 20 And one of the
sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped,
and fled after David.
- 21 And Abiathar
shewed David that Saul had slain the LORD'S priests.
- 22 And David said
unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was
there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the
death of all the persons of thy father's house.
- 23 Abide thou with
me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but
with me thou shalt be in safeguard.
Saul even killed the whole city out of rage.
Men, women, children and animals were killed by Saul and Doeg. One
of Ahimelech's son escaped and found David to tell him of these
events. David gave him shelter and refuge but he probably blamed
himself for the death of all these people. We will see though that
no one gets by with anything. Saul will have his end. DC
1 Samuel Chapter 23
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