1 Samuel 21-22: “David’s Faith
By
Jim Bomkamp
1. INTRO:
1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapters 19 and 20 of the book
and we saw that these chapters make the transition into the period of David’s
wanderings, and that it was during this time of David’s wanderings that the
Lord began to work into his heart the character traits that would make him the
king over God’s people that the Lord intended.
1.1.1. King Saul told his son
Jonathan and his servants to put David to death. Then, his son Jonathan determined to
intercede with his father on David’s behalf, and he talked his father into
vowing not to kill David. However,
before long Saul again became jealous of David as he saw the Lord’s hand on
David’s life when David had a great victory over the Philistines. After this victory, Saul again attempted to
kill David with the spear as David was playing the harp for him. Next, David’s wife Michal, Saul’s daughter,
told David of a plot by Saul to kill him and she helped David to escape from
his assassins out of a window during the night.
Finally, David came to Jonathan to find out why his father was trying to
kill him. David told Jonathan a plan he
wanted him to follow to determine whether or not Saul is now planning to kill
David. The plan involved having David
missing during the monthly feast of the New Moon and Jonathan telling Saul that
David had asked permission from him to go and to be with his family. If Saul got angry about David’s being missing
from the feast then David would know that Saul intended to kill David. Jonathan told David that when he found out if
Saul intended to kill David that he would come to a certain valley and if Saul
was planning to kill David that Jonathan would shoot his arrows beyond the lad
carrying his equipment. However, if it
was safe for David to return to the palace because his father isn’t planning to
kill David, then Jonathan would shoot the arrows beside the lad.
1.1.2. The carrying out of this
plan revealed that Saul did in fact intend to kill David, and so David and
Jonathan met up and said there goodbyes, and then David left to begin the
period of his wanderings as he would now for the next 10 years flee from Saul
like a hunted animal.
1.1.3. We saw that it is during
this time of David’s wanderings that the Lord began to kick out from under
David every single prop that he might rely upon for protection and help. The Lord was teaching David that his reliance
needs to be upon the Lord and Him alone, and that David was to walk by faith in
the promises of God for his life, and not take matters into his own hands and
plot and scheme to bring about God’s plans and purposes.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to study chapters
21 and 22 as David now is in his period of his wanderings and fleeing from king
Saul who is chasing him like an animal hoping to murder him at the soonest
opportunity.
1.2.1. We saw previously that this
period of David’s wanderings which these chapters transition us into occupy a
period of at least 10 years. During this
time of wanderings, David is forced to constantly flee for his life from King
Saul who is always hunting him like an animal.
David is forced during this time to roam about the country side, live in
caves and the forest, and protect and provide for himself.
1.2.2. As was mentioned previously
also, sometimes during this period of David’s wanderings we see David living by
faith and trusting in the Lord, but as is the habit really with all of God’s
people, at other times David’s faith wavers and he does go and take matters
into his own hands.
1.2.3. God had more to work into
David’s life in preparing him to be king.
Whenever the Lord leads us to wait upon Him there is a very important
reason for Him causing this in our life.
God’s work in our lives is to make us into a master piece of His grace
not something that is sort of thrown together or half completed, therefore
there are many trials, temptations, and delays that we as God’s children must
experience in order to become what He has for our lives and as we fulfill the
callings that He has for us.
1.2.4. The thing that must have
confused and perplexed David most during this time was that everything that he
was experiencing during his wanderings seemed to go completely contrary to
everything that Samuel had told him about his future and calling as God’s king
over God’s people. He must have
constantly asked the Lord, “Why are these things happening to me?” “And where is the blessing I was promised?”
1.2.4.1. I believe that if we
Christians are to think about our own lives for a moment that we might see that
our experiences often parallel what David was experiencing here at this point
in time, for we too seem so often to experience circumstances contrary to what
we believe that the Lord has promised to us as His children. The Lord too is testing our faith during
these times, as He is also molding our character in order to prepare us for the
things He has called us to do.
1.2.5. During this period of
David’s wanderings he was always writing prayers and songs of worship to the
Lord, many of which are included in the book of Psalms. We will see that David wrote at least four
Psalms during this period of his wanderings that we will study today.
1.2.6. During this period of time
we will study today, we will see that David’s faith gives way to fear as he
begins to look for help in man rather than in the Lord alone, and as he plots
and schemes in order to get himself out of situations.
1.2.7. Alan Redpath once wrote
about how that Christian growth essentially involves faith in the Lord and His
word replacing fear in our lives, “Fear is always the enemy of faith; this is the battleground of Christian
experience. A man grows and triumphs as
his faith overcomes his fear. To believe
God, to rest in the Word of God, to enjoy the promises of God is to conquer our
fear. But to doubt God and to question
His motives causes our faith to shrink until literally we cease to be
believers—we are believers in name, but not in practice or in action.”
1.2.8. David first flees to Nob
where the priests resided and asks for food and weapons from the high
priest.
1.2.8.1. David lies to the priest
about his mission and we will see that this lie has grave consequences for it
ends up later causing all of the priests at Nob to be slaughtered at the hand
of Saul.
1.2.9. Next, David flees to
1.2.9.1. We will observe David acting
in a foolish way fleeing to the city of the giant he had previously slain, and
taking with him the very sword that had belonged to Goliath.
1.2.9.2. In order to save his life
David will feign insanity after the king discovers who he is. Then, the king will send David away.
1.2.10.
David then flees to the
2. VS 21:1-6 - “1 Then
David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet
David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” 2 David
said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and
has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am
sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the
young men to a certain place.’ 3 “Now therefore, what do you have on
hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” 4 The
priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there
is consecrated bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5
David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept
from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were
holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their
vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him consecrated bread;
for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed
from before the Lord, in order to
put hot bread in its place when it was taken away. 7 Now one of the servants of Saul
was there that day, detained before the Lord;
and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds. 8 David
said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand? For I brought
neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.”
9 Then the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom
you killed in the
2.1.
When David comes to the priest at Nob, the priest
senses that there is something that is not right because David, one of the
royal family itself and the most famous warrior in the land, has come to him
without a royal guard.
2.2.
Somewhere along the line since his parting from
Jonathan of the last chapter, David has had a rendezvous with some men who now
have united in cause with him. This is
the first unit of the company of misfits that we will read about him assembling
in chapter 22.
2.3.
David lies to the priest here by telling him that he
is on official business which the king has not allowed him to discuss.
2.4.
What we see happening in these chapters that we are
studying today is that David has begun to give into his fear at this point in
his life. Rather than trust his life
completely to the Lord to take care of him and protect him, he instead resorts
to lying and scheming.
2.5.
David’s coming to the priest here will result in the
next chapter in grave consequences for Saul will have put to death all of the
priests in Nob along with their women, children, and animals. David is also going to feel guilty for having
brought this upon the people because of lying to Ahimelech.
2.6.
As David is talking with the priest, he notices
Doeg, an Edomite man of the descendants of Esau, present there and he knows
that this man will let king Saul know that he (David) has been there, and that
this will not turn out to be good. Doeg
was probably there with the priests to pay some vow of his own to the Lord.
2.7.
Doeg is called here the “chief” of Saul’s shepherds,
however this Hebrew word for “chief” means “strong man,” and evidently Doeg was
the main thug among Saul’s shepherds who would exact revenge if any stole or
injured Saul’s livestock.
2.8.
It turns out that the only bread on hand with the
priests at this time was the sacred bread that was to be eaten only by the
priests themselves. By the letter of the
law this bread should not have been eaten by David and his men since they were
not of the priesthood. We read in the
gospels that Jesus used this story to justify His disciples before the
Pharisees who condemned them for working on the Sabbath because His disciples
were eating the heads of grain as they walked through the grain fields. It was OK according to Jesus then for David
and his men on this occasion to eat of this grain at this time since the men
were genuinely hungry and desperate for food.
The lesson to learn here is that God’s ceremonial laws are pre-empted by
real human need.
2.8.1. Matthew 12:1-8, “1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry , he and his companions , 4 how he entered the house of God , and they ate the consecrated bread , which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 “ Or have you not read in the Law , that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent ? 6 “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here . 7 “But if you had known what this means , ‘ I desire compassion , and not a sacrifice ,’ you would not have condemned the innocent . 8 “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
2.9. When David asks the priest
if there are any weapons on hand, the priest tells him that the only weapon
they have is the sword of Goliah, whom David slew, and that David may take that
sword if he pleases. David tells the
priest that he will take this sword since there is no other sword like it.
2.9.1. It is ironic that though
once as a mere young lad that David could trust the Lord to give him victory
over the Lord’s enemies using just a sling, and in doing so he had slain
Goliath, a mighty giant much greater in size than any in Israel, and yet now
David is finding security by taking the sword which could not protect the
mighty giant.
3. VS 21:10-15 - “10 Then
David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of
3.1.
David’s rationale is very questionable in these
verses as it is obvious that rather than trust in the Lord and look to Him at
this point in time that he is responding instead to his fear.
3.1.1. David is acting here just
like all of us Christians when we begin to walk in the flesh instead of the
power of the Holy Spirit. Our decision
making process also in those times becomes very irrational and we do many
foolish things.
3.2.
Think about what David is doing here for a
moment. David is going not only over to
the area of Philistia, the enemies of Israel who could and should recognize him
as being the Israelite warrior who conquered their mighty warrior Goliath and
brought about the ensuing great slaughter of their people, but he is actually
going to the home town of Goliath and carrying with him the very sword of
Goliath. Is he crazy? What in the world is he thinking? David acts with impulsiveness and
impetuousness in fleeing on this day to
3.2.1. Before we Christians
criticize David too much, we ought first to ask ourselves:
3.2.1.1. During those times when we
are fleshing out, so to speak, as Christians does not our thinking also become
irrational?
3.2.1.2. Is it not true also of us
that sometimes when we are in our greatest periods of spiritual oppression that
we have sought out the comfort of the world, or unsaved friends that wouldn’t
judge us, etc.?
3.2.1.2.1.
This is just what David is doing, however he is also
risking his life and putting the Lord to the test in doing so.
3.3.
When David realizes that he has been recognized as
some of the Philistine king’s servants are saying that he is the king of the
land of Israel, the one of whom it is said that he had slain his ten thousands,
whereas Saul had slain only thousands, David decides to act like a madman to
save himself. David begins to scribble
on the doors of the gate and to let his saliva run down his beard. How pathetic it is to see our mighty man of
faith, the mighty warrior, the man who is after God’s own heart, being so
controlled by his fear that he is acting like he is insane.
3.4.
We know because of the margins in our Bibles before
each of the Psalms that David wrote Psalms 34 and 56 about this bizarre
experience of his coming to the king of the Philistines at
3.4.1. Psalm 56 is David’s prayer
for help during this time, “1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon
me; Fighting all day long he oppresses me. 2 My foes have trampled
upon me all day long, For they are many who fight proudly against me. 3 When
I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. 4 In God, whose word I
praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man
do to me? 5 All day long they distort my words; All their thoughts
are against me for evil. 6 They attack, they lurk, They watch my
steps, As they have waited to take my life. 7 Because of
wickedness, cast them forth, In anger put down the peoples, O God! 8 You
have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not
in Your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I
call; This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word
I praise, In the Lord, whose word
I praise, 11 In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What
can man do to me? 12 Your vows are binding upon me, O
God; I will render thank offerings to You. 13 For You have delivered
my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before
God In the light of the living.”
3.4.2. Psalm 34 is David’s hymn of
praise for deliverance at this time, “1 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall
continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and
rejoice. 3 O magnify the Lord
with me, And let us exalt His name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered
me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were
radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. 6 This poor man
cried, and the Lord heard him And
saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in
Him! 9 O fear the Lord,
you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. 10 The
young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good
thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the
fear of the Lord. 12 Who
is the man who desires life And loves length of days that he may see
good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking
deceit. 14 Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. 15
The eyes of the Lord are
toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. 16 The
face of the Lord is against
evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 The
righteous cry, and the Lord
hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And
saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, But the Lord
delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones, Not one of
them is broken. 21 Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate
the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who
take refuge in Him will be condemned.”
4. VS 22:1-2 - “1 So
David departed from there and escaped to the
4.1.
According to Warren Wiersbe this
4.2.
Here in the
4.3.
This time of obscurity, darkness, and humility is
just what David needed at this point in his life in order for him to be molded
into the king that the Lord wanted him to be when he would reign over Israel.
4.3.1. It is the Lord’s desire to
bring each of us who are His children to the place where we desire no life
apart from living for Him, where we hate sin and love righteousness, and where
we have no desire to live one moment that is not lived in service and
dedication to our Lord.
4.3.2. Obscurity, darkness, and
humility is a good place for God’s servants to be when He is molding them into
the person He wants them to be.
4.4.
This group of misfits in time will be made into the greatest
force of fighting men in
4.5.
As David serves as a type of Christ, this time of
obscurity, darkness, and humility which David experienced in the cave of
Adullam parallel the experiences of Christ during the period of His incarnation
when he was growing up as a child and then as an adult just working the job of
a common carpenter and biding His time living in humility until that moment
when in God’s perfect timing He would step forth and begin His ministry and
ultimately then fulfill His great goal of going to the cross of Calvary as our
sin bearer.
4.6.
It has been pointed out that just as David serves as
a type of Christ that this group of 400 men that congregate to him represent
the church. Amongst this group are all
in Israel who are misfits for one reason or another, and from Paul’s writing 1
Cor. 1:26-28 we can see that we in the church relate well with these men, “26 For consider your calling,
brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to
shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the
world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may
nullify the things that are.” These 400
men that congregated to David consisted of:
4.6.1. Everyone who was in
‘distress.’
4.6.1.1. The Hebrew word ‘matsoke’
which is translated ‘distress’ here means ‘in dire straits’ or ‘in
distress.’ All of us who have come to
Christ for salvation came as desperate sinners who were under the curse of the
law, at enmity with God, and awaiting the wrath of God. Coming to the Lord though we encountered
mercy and the wondrous grace of God which is beyond description. We were all “prodigal sons” who had spent our
inheritance in riotous living but then we came to our senses only after
realizing that we were living with pigs and even eating their food. Then, we returned to our heavenly Father only
to find Him with arms open wide to receive us.
4.6.2. Everyone who was in ‘debt.’
4.6.2.1. We who know the Lord are
those who had a great debt of sin, one that was too great for us to ever have
been able to pay. However, in coming to
Christ we realized that He interposed and paid that debt which we owed upon the
cross of
4.6.3. Everyone who was
‘discontented.’
4.6.3.1. This Hebrew word ‘marah’
that is translated ‘discontented’ means ‘in bitterness’ or ‘angry’ or
‘discontented. All of us who have come
to Christ for salvation came to the Lord after failing to find fulfillment and
lasting happiness in our life in the world as we were living to fulfill the
lusts of our own flesh. The pleasures of
sin only lasted for a short while and what they left in return was a huge
emptiness in our hearts, an emptiness that could only be filled by the Lord
Himself.
4.7.
From the margins in our Bibles we see that Psalm 57
and 142 were written by David about his experiences while in the
4.7.1. Psalm 57, “1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by. 2 I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. 3 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me.Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth. 4 My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it.Selah. 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. 9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. 10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds. 11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.”
4.7.2. Psalm 142, “1 I cry
aloud with my voice to the Lord; I
make supplication with my voice to the Lord.
2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before
Him. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path.
In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me. 4 Look to
the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for
me; No one cares for my soul. 5 I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, “You are my refuge, My
portion in the land of the living. 6 “Give heed to my cry, For I am
brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for
me. 7 “Bring my soul out of prison, So that I may give thanks to
Your name; The righteous will surround me, For You will deal bountifully with
me.””
5. VS 22:3-5 - “3 And
David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please
let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God
will do for me.” 4 Then he left them with the king of
5.1.
This may seem a little strange that David goes to
one of Israel’s perennial enemies in the king of Moab, and asks such a question
of him, however we must remember that David’s grandmother was Ruth, the
Moabitess, and David must somehow have kept favor with the king of Moab on
account of his grandmother.
5.2.
We see here the prophet Gad appear on the
scene. He tells David that he must leave
‘the stronghold’ right away in
5.2.1. The prophet Gad will play an
important role in the life of David and
6. VS 22:6-10 - “6 Then
Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now
Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height with his
spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. 7 Saul
said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the
son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all
commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8 “For all of
you have conspired against me so that there is no one who discloses to me when
my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you
who is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant
against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.” 9 Then Doeg
the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, said, “I saw the son of
Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 “He inquired
of the Lord for him, gave him
provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”” - Saul gives a speech to all of his servants in
order to get one of them to come forward and tell him where he can find David,
so that he can kill David
6.1.
Saul was truly a tyrant and a dictator over his
people. He ruled his people by fear,
intimidation, and bribery.
6.2.
We have already mentioned that Saul was no longer
building God’s kingdom, he was building his own kingdom. Saul hated David simply because God’s hand
had left him and was upon David and because he knew that David would be the
next king over
6.3.
In Saul’s speech to his subjects notice how he has
become a master of psychology and manipulation as a tyrant dictator:
6.3.1. Saul first tells them that
if David is made king over them that David isn’t going to give them (fields and
vineyards and make them commanders) nice things and do nice things for
them. The only nice things that Saul had
done he had done as bribery to win over support from people.
6.3.2. Saul then accuses all of the
people of conspiracy for not disclosing to him when his son Jonathan had made a
covenant with David.
6.3.3. Saul tries to gain his
subjects’ sympathies when he tells them that there was no one who felt sorry
for him.
6.3.4. Finally, Saul reveals his
paranoia as he accuses David of plotting an ambush against him and accuses the
people of not informing him of this fact.
6.4.
We see here now that Doeg, the Edomite, again
appears. We saw him at Nob with the
priests in the previous chapter. He was
the strongman or chief of Saul’s shepherds.
Doeg determines that he wants to gain the king’s approval and advance
himself in the king’s eyes, so he tells the king of seeing David there with the
priests at Nob.
6.5.
Doeg has an agenda of being the hero before Saul:
6.5.1. Doeg stretches the truth
when he says that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David. Ahimelech gave David the consecrated bread and
the sword of Goliath, but he didn’t inquire of God for David.
6.5.2. Doeg didn’t mention to Saul
the fact that Ahimelech was totally innocent of any conspiracy as he did not
know that David was now fleeing from the king.
7. VS 22:11-15 - “11 Then
the king sent someone to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and
all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob; and all of them came
to the king. 12 Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered,
“Here I am, my lord.” 13 Saul then said to him, “Why have you and
the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a
sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he would rise up against me by
lying in ambush as it is this day?” 14 Then Ahimelech
answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as
David, even the king’s son-in-law, who is captain over your guard, and is
honored in your house? 15 “Did I just begin to inquire of God
for him today? Far be it from me! Do not let the king impute anything to his
servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows
nothing at all of this whole affair.”” - King Saul summons Ahimelech the priest to
come to him from Nob and he accuses the priest of conspiracy against him
7.1.
When Saul confronts Ahimelech, Ahimelech
inadvertently begins to commend David and speak of David’s popular acclaim and
faithfulness to King Saul. This in
itself induces the king’s anger against him.
7.2.
Ahimelech avows himself innocent of any conspiracy
saying he ‘knows nothing of this whole affair,’ as he asks the king to not
impute anything against him or his household as a result of his helping David.
8. VS 22:16-19
- “16 But the king said, “You shall
surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” 17 And
the king said to the guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the
priests of the Lord to death,
because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing
and did not reveal it to me.” But the servants of the king were not willing to
put forth their hands to attack the priests of the Lord. 18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn
around and attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and attacked
the priests, and he killed that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19
And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword,
both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he
struck with the edge of the sword.” - King Saul pronounces a death sentence upon
Ahimelech and all of his father’s household and commands his servants to slay
them, however they refuse, finally the king asks Doeg to slay them, and Doeg is
more than happy to do this knowing that doing so he will advance further in the
king’s estimation
8.1.
Everything about this trial of Ahimelech by Saul is
a farce and illegal under the laws of Moses.
Under the law of Moses in Deut. 24:16, no person was to be put to death
for the sin of a family member or anyone else, “16 “Fathers shall not be put to
death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers;
everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.”
8.2.
We see here that when commanded Saul’s guards feared
God too much to put to death all of the priests, their families, and
enemies. We have seen that previously in
the book of 1 Samuel that Saul’s guards had been unwilling to put to death
Jonathan, the son of Saul, when Saul had commanded it.
8.3.
However, Saul knew that Doeg had wanted to advance
himself in Saul’s sight and that he would be willing to do this horrible
deed. So, Saul asked Doeg to kill the
priests, their families, and all of their livestock, and he was more than
willing to do this and killed them all, including 85 priests who wore the
ephod.
9. VS 22:20-23 - “20 But
one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after
David. 21 Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of
the Lord. 22 Then David
said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he
would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person
in your father’s household. 23 “Stay with me; do not be afraid, for
he who seeks my life seeks your life, for you are safe with me.”” - Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, alone escaped
the slaughter of the priests at Nob, and he came and reported to David what
Doeg the Edomite had done
9.1.
Abiathar had escaped the slaughter of all of the
priests and all they possessed at Nob, and now we see that David offered to him
asylum to live among David and his army of 400 men. Ahitub would be handy to have around for
David would need a priest to inquire of God for him with the ephod.
9.2.
We see here that David feels guilty for the
slaughter of the priests at Nob. If
David had not come to the priests and deceived Ahimelech about the business
that he (David) had come for, then David felt that Saul would not have ordered
the priests and all that they possessed to be destroyed.
9.2.1. We Christians need to
consider that there are consequences for our lives whenever we choose to not
walk by faith and obedience to the Lord but give in to our fears. People’s lives around us will be affected and
many times people will stumble in their faith and we will not be able to repair
the damage that has been done. This
happens a lot. I have seen so many times
the hurt that has occurred in a Christian parent’s life when his/her son or a
daughter has stumbled in his/her faith in the Lord as a result of the
backslidings of their parent.
10.
CONCLUSIONS:
10.1.
Today, as we consider the life of David in these two
chapters we see him fleeing from King Saul who was hunting him like an animal,
and we see that David got his eyes on his circumstances and thus listened to
his fears rather than trusted in the Lord.
David lied and schemed to protect himself and foolishly acted like a
madman who was insane before the king of the Philistines, and, all this all
happened because David had given into his fears. Had David taken his eyes off of his
circumstances and placed his eyes upon the Lord and His promises, as he did on
that day when he conquered Goliath the giant, then he would have seen and known
that He could trust in the Lord and his fear would have given way to faith,
and, he would have walked in obedience to the Lord.
10.1.1.
Have you taken your eyes off of the Lord and placed
your eyes on your circumstances and thus given into fear in any area of your
life?
10.1.2.
Have you found yourself compromising your Christian
testimony and maybe scheming to protect yourself from your circumstances,
rather than just trusting the Lord with everything in your life?
10.1.3.
I ask you today to doubt your fears and trust in the
Lord and vow that by faith you will choose to view your circumstances only
through eyes that are kept upon the Lord and His abilities and provisions for
your life.