I Samuel Chapter 21

Please read:  I Samuel 21 –

David, the man who had been told that God was going to put him on the throne of Israel to be the next king, was running for his life.  David was now a fugitive.  King Saul did not want to give up his throne; he wanted David dead.  Saul had already attempted to kill him by throwing his spear at him.  Saul had sent men to David’s house where he lived with his wife, the daughter of Saul, but David escaped.  Saul tried to enlist the help of his son Jonathan, David’s best friend, in taking his life.  And he had sent men to a small town where David had fled to with Samuel the spiritual leader and judge of Israel.  God intervened and Saul’s men were not permitted to capture David nor was Saul himself.

In this chapter David was all alone, tired, dirty, exhausted and hungry when he came to the tabernacle at Nob.  It seemed odd to the priest that David was travelling alone.  David trying to protect his own life made up a lie.  We cannot excuse this on David’s behalf; a lie is a lie.  And we will see in the next chapter that he greatly regretted telling this lie.  David needed food and he knew there would be food at the tabernacle, or at least bread since showbread was always kept on display.  The bread was meant for consumption by the priests; this was their tradition.  God had not said that only the priests could eat the bread.  Ahimelech did the right thing in putting a man’s need over tradition.  Jesus himself referred to this very example when his disciples ate grain from the fields on the Sabbath. 

David asked for a weapon, and the priest offered to him the very sword that he had killed Goliath with.  I think it was in handling this weapon that David was gently reminded about how God had worked on his behalf because of his faith.  He was beginning to see that he couldn’t allow his own fear to take control. 

David quickly learned that the Philistines were not going to trust him, so he pretended to act as a madman at Gath.  David had fled to Gath thinking he might be safe with the Philistines if they saw that he was a fugitive of Israel.  This was just the beginning of many instances where David would need to trust God for his very life.