I Samuel 21:1-9

Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?

And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread, if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest, and said unto him, of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul .And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, there is none like that; give it me. (KJV)

As I study these verses I go to Matthew 12:3,4 “But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?” which were the verses that Jesus used to defend his disciples plucking grain to eat on the Sabbath, since they were hunger. I believe Jesus used this example for two reasons: one to illustrate how Jesus was like David at this time the rejected king and second how it was merciful to take care of the needs of those around you more than some simple religious regulations. Here in Matthew Jesus affirm that Ahimelech did the right thing in giving David the bread.

These verses reveals how the whole kingdom at this time knew that David was now considered an enemy of Saul. Even the priest for the nation was afraid at David’s presence. In the last two chapters of I Samuel David has been on the run and hiding from Saul. The prophet Samuel could not offer protection for David, but only offer him time to escape. Jonathan the king’s son could not intercedes for David, but only proved that there was no longer a chance for David’s return And now at last the high priest of the nation could not offer protection to David. David now was on the run and had to leave everything behind.

David only made three request from Ahimelech in these verses: to let no man know of his visit, five loaves of bread, and a weapon (it was the sword of Goliath the only weapon there). By keeping the matter secret it will cost Ahimelech and his family their life. The five loaves of bread given to David probably reveal that David only had a few of his servants with him. And the need of a weapon reveals that David realized that there was now a price on his head and he needed to protect himself and those around him.

In these verses Doeg the Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen that belong to Saul was here detained of the Lord. In I Samuel 20:26 one of the reasons that Saul believed that David was not presence for the feast of the new moon was that he was unclean. This was probably the reason that Doeg was detained here before the priest was because he was uncleaned and was making a sacrifice as prescribe by the law. As part of Saul’s staff he was probably an Edomite that had proselyted to the Jewish religion to obtain this position. Later on in the next chapter Doeg’s true nature will be shown as he is the one that slays the priest and his family.

This marks the beginning of David’s final exit from the presence of Saul. David is leaving behind his wife, his career as Saul’s chief warrior; and everything else that he had achieved since serving Saul. Starting over is not easy; however, starting over while leaving everything behind and running for your life is a different story. We often have to start over in life from a broken relationship or a lost career, but this does not compare to what David had to face. However, there are some in life that might face some of the experiences of the type of separation that David experienced. The psalms are a great place to turn for those facing life changing events in their life. By studying the psalms, a person can learn how a man facing these issues by self-examination become a person after God’s own heart.