1 Samuel 21
21
1David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech was trembling in fear when he met him, and he asked, “Why are you here alone? Why isn't there anybody with you?”
2“The king has given me an assignment,” David replied. “He told me ‘Nobody must know anything about the assignment I have sent you to do.’ As for my men, I've told them where to meet me. 3So what do you have on hand to eat? Let me have five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4“There's no ordinary bread,” the priest told David, “but there's some holy bread, as long as your men have not slept with any women lately.”
5“We have not slept with any women,” David answered. “In fact that's the rule when I lead the troops on mission. They keep themselves pure even during ordinary missions, and all the more so right now.”
6So the priest gave him the holy bread as they didn't have any other bread there except this “Bread of the Presence,” which had been removed from the presence of the Lord#21:6. In other words removed from the Tent of Meeting. that day and replaced with fresh bread.
7One of Saul's servants happened to be there that day, trying to make himself right#21:7. “Make himself right”: literally “detained.” It appears Doeg was offering a sacrifice for some sin he had committed and that the priest Ahimelech was aware of. This seems to be one reason Doeg informed on David (22:9) and executed Saul's command to kill Ahimelech and the other priests. with the Lord. He was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief shepherd.
8“Have you got a spear or sword here?” David asked Ahimelech. “I didn't bring my sword or any of my weapons with me, because what the king needed me to do was urgent.”
9The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine is here—the one you killed in the Valley of Elah. It's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. You can take it if you want. It's the only one here.”
“It's better than any other sword! Please give it to me,” David replied.
10David ran away from Saul that day and went to Achish, king of Gath.#21:10. Gath was a Philistine town.
11But Achish's officials asked the king, “Isn't this David, the king of that country? Didn't they sing about him in their dances, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
12David listened carefully to what they said and this made him very afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. 13So he changed the way he acted toward them and pretended to be crazy. He scratched marks on the town gates and let his spit run down his beard. 14Achish told his officials, “Look, you can see the man is completely mad! Why did you bring him to me? 15Is it because I need more mad people that you've brought this man to go crazy right in front of me? Do you think I'm going to let him come into my house?”
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1 Samuel 21: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
1 Samuel 21
21
David Flees from Saul
1 #
Mt 12.3,4; Mk 2.25,26; Lk 6.3 David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Why did you come here all by yourself?”
2“I am here on the king's business,” David answered. “He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3Now, then, what supplies do you have? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4The priest said, “I don't have any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven't had sexual relations recently.”
5“Of course they haven't,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!”
6 #
Lv 24.5-9
So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.
( 7Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)
8David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword you can give me? The king's orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get my sword or any other weapon.”
9 #
1 S 17.51
Ahimelech answered, “I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in Elah Valley; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it—it's the only weapon here.”
“Give it to me,” David said. “There is not a better sword anywhere!”
10So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath. 11#1 S 18.7; 29.5 The king's officials said to Achish, “Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’”
12 #
Ps 56 Title Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish. 13#Ps 34 Title So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city#21.13: city; or palace. gates and let spit drool down his beard. 14So Achish said to his officials, “Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me? 15Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?”
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