1 Samuel 21 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

1 Samuel 21

David and the Holy Bread

21:1 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.”

David Flees to Gath

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?”

Footnotes

[1] 21:1 Ch 21:2 in Hebrew

Commentary

v1-6: David went to Abimelech the priest, at Nob. He did not specifically seek the mind of he Lord, but he did receive the provision of bread, which was not wrong (Matt 12.3-4, 7; Mark 2.25-26). However, he did obtain a sword, and he also lied to Abimelech; he was not on the king's business.

v7-9: The conversation between Abimelech and David was overheard by Doeg, one of Saul's servants. He reported this to Saul (22.9-10), which Saul took to be a sign that Abimelech was scheming against him (22.13).

David received Goliath's sword. Truly, "there is none like it", but it proved useless to Goliath, and it would be little help to David. In the battle against Goliath, David had trusted in God, here he resorts to human strength.

It is easy to criticise David at this point, but he doubtless felt alone, pursued by Saul, unable to go to Jonathan or Samuel. He even fled to the Philistines, Israel's enemies.

v10: It is sad that the servant of God could find no place of safety amongst God's people.

v11-13: David's reputation amongst the Philistines was strong. Like Samson, he had multiplied their dead. He must have feared for his life. His response was to feign madness before them, hoping they would think him harmless. Achish even described David as “the king of the land,” indicating his evident authority, certainly in battle.

v14-15: Achish was not impressed, but he preserved David's life.

Through this sad situation, David learned lessons; it was at this time that he wrote Psalm 34. He learned to seek the Lord (Ps 34.4); he learned to fear the Lord (Ps 34.9); he taught others to fear Him (Ps 34.11); and he learned the necessity of a broken heart and a contrite spirit (Ps 34.18). Sometimes we have to be brought low to learn lessons from God.

God had delivered David's life (Ps 34.19), but at this time he had no earthly home. He wandered; to Ramah (20.1), to Nob (21.1), to Gath (21.10), to Adullam (22.1), to Mizpah (22.3), to Hereth (22.5).