1 Samuel 21
21
1Then David departed on his way, while Jonathan went back into the city.
The Holy Bread. 2David went to Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who came trembling to meet him. He asked, “Why are you alone? Is there no one with you?”#Ahimelech realizes that he risks incurring Saul’s anger if David has come to Nob as a fugitive. #1 Sm 16:4; Is 10:32; Mk 2:26. 3David answered the priest: “The king gave me a commission and told me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I have sent you or the commission I have given you.’ For that reason I have arranged a particular meeting place with my men. 4#Lv 24:5, 9. Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can find.” 5#According to Lv 24:5–9, the showbread consisted of twelve loaves that were replaced each sabbath. Since the old bread was to be consumed by the priests, Ahimelech questions David regarding the ritual purity of his men (see 2 Sm 11:11). David’s answer supposes the discipline of a military campaign under the conditions of “holy war” (Dt 23:10–15). But the priest replied to David, “I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that.” 6David answered the priest: “We have indeed stayed away from women. In the past whenever I went out on a campaign, all the young men were consecrated—even for an ordinary campaign. All the more so are they consecrated with their weapons today!” 7So the priest gave him holy bread, for no other bread was on hand except the showbread which had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by fresh bread when it was taken away.#Lv 24:5–9; Mt 12:3–4; Mk 2:26; Lk 6:3–5. 8One of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord;#Detained before the Lord: perhaps to fulfill a ritual obligation. David’s arrival at Nob seems to coincide with a festival day, since the showbread has recently been replaced with fresh bread. Shepherds: i.e., Saul’s palace guard. Cf. 22:9–10, where Doeg has easy access to Saul. his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.#1 Sm 22:9.
The Sword of Goliath. 9David then asked Ahimelech: “Do you have a spear or a sword on hand? I brought along neither my sword nor my weapons, because the king’s business was urgent.” 10The priest replied: “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a garment behind an ephod.#Ephod: here an object or image large enough to conceal Goliath’s sword. Cf. Gideon’s ephod in Jgs 8:27. If you wish to take it, do so; there is no sword here except that one.” “There is none like it,” David cried, “give it to me!”#1 Sm 17:51, 54.
David a Fugitive. 11That same day David fled from Saul, going to Achish, king of Gath.#1 Sm 27:2; 29:5. 12But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Is it not for him that during their dances they sing out,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
David his tens of thousands’?”#1 Sm 18:7; 29:5.
13David took note of these remarks and became very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath.#Gath: a Philistine city (see note on 5:1–12), the home of Goliath. 14So, he feigned insanity in front of them and acted like a madman in their custody, drumming on the doors of the gate and drooling onto his beard. 15Finally Achish said to his servants: “You see the man is mad. Why did you bring him to me? 16Do I not have enough madmen, that you bring this one to rant in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?”
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1 Samuel 21: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
1 Samuel 21
21
1 # 21.1 Ch 21.2 in Heb Then came David 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?” 2And 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. 3Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread at hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5And David answered the priest, “Of a truth 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 a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6So 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.
7Now 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.
8And David said to Ahimelech, “And 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.” 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 none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
10And David rose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11#1 Sam 18.7; 29.5. 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 slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12And David took these words to heart, and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13So he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and made marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. 14Then said Achish to his servants, “Lo, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? 15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America