1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
8 Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither 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 you struck down 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 none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
David was now officially on the run from Saul and he had not had the time to make provision. He arrived at Nob. Little is known about the history of the tabernacle after the capture of the ark in 1104 B.C. The ark itself was in Kiriath Jearim since then (1 Sam 7:2; 2 Sam 6:3-4). Here it is hinted that the tabernacle is in Nob. David approached Ahimelech the priest for food. Ahimelech trembled at the irregularity of David’s visit and probed him for the reason he was alone. David answered that the king had sent him on a special mission that no one was to know about. Did David lie or was it a shrewd use of language referring to God as king (1 Sam 8:7; Ps 5:2; 29:10) in order to satisfy the inquiry without revealing too much? While lying is wrong, it is not necessary to tell everyone the complete truth about every situation. If David was lying to protect himself, the Bible is merely presenting what happened, not specifically endorsing David’s course of action.
Ahimelech didn’t have ordinary bread on hand. All he had was the consecrated bread (Ex 25:30) that had been removed from the Lord’s presence when replaced with warm bread. Though removed from the Lord’s presence, the bread was still meant to be eaten by the priests who were consecrated (Lev 24:9). As the priest, Ahimelech had the authority to apply Torah principles circumstantially with some latitude. Because David and his men were without food, the holiness of life would trump the holiness of bread. While men on a military mission couldn’t be expected to keep all the holiness laws (e.g. keep away from corpses) they could be expected to keep ritually clean with regards to sexual conduct. David’s answer showed that he believed that Israelite warfare was to be conducted by consecrated servants of the law and he required that those serving under him be in a proper relationship with the Lord. The priest gave David and his men the bread to eat.
David also asked Ahimelech for a weapon of some sort because he had left in such haste he had no weapon with him. All the priest had was the sword of Goliath which David had previously dedicated which David took with him.
While David was there he was spotted by Doeg and Edomite who was detained at Nob for some reason. He would soon serve as a spy for Saul (1 Sam 22:9).
From there David fled to Gath, the hometown of Goliath. There he was recognised as the king of Israel. The people of Gath had heard of the songs sung about David and mistakenly presumed he was king. Having been recognised, David pretended to be insane. His performance would have convinced them he was not a threat. In the ancient world, it was believed that insanity was a sign of divine affliction so he would have been left alone for fear of provoking the gods.
Jesus used this story as an example when teaching that the law wasn’t its own end (Math 12:1-8). Second only to love for God, we are called to love one another. Might you be guilty of putting any rule or religiosity ahead of showing the genuine love of Christ to a fellow image-bearer (Gen 1:27; Jas 3:9)?
Major Stories of the Bible Reading Plan
Jesus Forgives and Heals: Luke 5-6