1 Sam 21.1-5 tells us that David fled to Nob where the Mishkan was and Ahimelech the high priest. This is about 12 miles from Jerusalem. The Mishkan and the Ark were there and David met with the high priest. Nob is in the territory of Benjamin, the tribe of Saul. This was the custom. It was in Shiloh in Ephraim, the tribe of Joshua, and later it would be in Judah with David.
The name of the priest, as we have mentioned, is Ahimelech (“my brother is king”) and he was afraid to meet with David, and said, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?” Ahimelech thought it was strange that an important man like David was alone. And David said, “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 (warriors) to a certain place.’ Now, therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” The bread he is referring to is the twelve loaves of “showbread” called the Lechem Ha Pannim (“bread of the faces”) which was meant for the priests. It was meant to be eaten before the “faces” of the Lord in the Mishkan. Ahimelech only asked that the ones eating it would be ritually clean because they had kept themselves from women (Lev 15).
David told Ahimelech a lie to protect himself, and David goes on to put words into Saul’s mouth to make it look like he was on a secret mission. David’s reasons for lying was clear from all that has happened to him. David doesn’t want to tell Ahimelech anything so that it can’t get back to Saul, but we will find out later that it will. Evidently, David doesn’t know Ahimelech well enough to trust him, so he tries to keep Ahimelech and the other priests out of danger from Saul. Before we come down on David, we would have probably done the same thing, but David will come to regret this lie (1 Sam 22.22). Why didn’t David just tell Ahimelech the truth? He could have told him that Saul was trying to kill him, and he knows that he would not understand all the drama, but he needed help. His lie will have serious consequences.
So David asks for bread, and this was no ordinary bread. It was the bread that was reserved for the priests, but the Torah never says that “only” the priests can eat it. That would be adding to God’s word. This may have been a Sabbath when the old bread is exchanged for the new bread (Lev 24.5-9). These loaves of bread were huge and five of these loaves would feed David and his men. They were hungry and in need, so the high priest inquired of the Lord (22.10) and the Lord gave him permission to give David the consecrated bread (21.6). We are going to talk about a very important concept here.
Yeshua refers to this incident in Matt 12.1-8 and approved of what Ahimelech did. Yeshua was going through some grain fields on the Sabbath and his talmidim were hungry, and they began to pick the heads of the grain and ate them. This act itself was permitted in Deut 23.25. But when the Pharisees, probably from the House of Shammai, saw what they were doing they said that it was unlawful to pick the grain on the Sabbath because it was considered work. And Yeshua asked them if they had ever heard about what David did when he and his men became hungry. He told how he entered the house of God (the Mishkan at Nob) and they ate consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him. But again, Lev 24.5-9 never says that “only” the priests can eat it. That would have been different.
He then makes another statement about how the priests work on the Sabbath to meet the needs of the Temple, and that “something greater than the Temple is here.” He tells them they had not learned the lesson of Matt 9.13 because if they did, they would have known that compassion is greater than sacrifice and they would not have condemned the innocent. He also said that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. Yeshua is making a comparison here. David and his men were men in need, and they were good men. The high priest asked God if it was allowable to let David eat the bread, and the Lord said it was allowed. Yeshua and the talmidim were like David and his men, and they were good men in need, and they had permission to pick the grain and eat it because Yeshua the high priest allowed it. Here is what Yeshua is saying.
If the needs of the Temple outweigh the Sabbath (priests working), what about the needs of man? The answer is “Yes” according to Mark 2.27. Within the framework of the Torah there is a concept called the “Hierarchy of Principles.” Certain needs take precedence. Yeshua is the Temple (John 2.19-21) and if they knew and understood he was the Messiah, they would have no cause to criticize those who did any work serving the one who is greater than the Temple. He is the Lord of the Sabbath and that means he instituted it and he is the one that can permit what is done. Just like David went to the high priest, and the high priest inquired of the Lord, and gave David permission, in the same way, Yeshua is the high priest and what the talmidim were doing was allowed by the Lord of the Sabbath. Man’s “traditions” should never take precedence over the Word of God.
However, one of Saul’s servants was there named Doeg (“fearing”) the Edomite (“red”), the chief shepherd of Saul. He was not an Israelite and what exactly he was doing at the Mishkan is unclear. He may have been fulfilling a ceremonial requirement and was probably a non-Jew who followed Yehovah and the Torah, but he will inform Saul that David was there, and will kill eighty-five “men who wore the linen ephod” (priests). He is a type of the false shepherds and religious men who had a heart opposed to the Messiah and his people (Luke 16.15).
David asks if there are any spears or swords on hand because “I brought neither my sword or my weapons with me because the king’s matter was urgent.” In this David was not lying. The king’s matter was to kill David, and Saul was very urgent about that. Ahimelech then gave David the sword of Goliath because they were priests and they did not have spears or swords, and certainly did not have one like that sword. Was David exchanging the weapon of faith (his sling) for a weapon of the Philistines? So David took it and went to Goliath’s home town, to King Achish (“I will terrify”) in Gath (“wine press”) of the Philistines! That is not a good idea.
Of course the Philistines were very suspicious of David. They said, “Is this not David the king of the land?” This meant that David had the authority of a king in the land and more honor and esteem than Saul. So David acted like he was insane because he feared Achish, and Achish wanted to know why they brought him because he is a madman. He said, “Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?” David knew this was not going to work. He can’t walk into the home of Goliath with the sword he used to cut his head off and think this was a good plan. So David will soon depart from there in 1 Sam 22.1 and wrote Psalm 34 because God will deliver him and his heart was full of gratitude. The Lord got him out of a huge problem.
David is not “walking in the Spirit” and was not aware of the Lord’s guidance, but Yehovah was guiding him nonetheless (Psa 37.23). He has tried to protect himself with lies and even went to the ungodly enemies of Israel for protection, but the Lord did not abandon him. David’s “departure” started in Nob and ended in Gath because he repented of what he was doing (see Psa 56). That is the difference between Saul and David. Both were on slippery slopes, but Saul kept sliding and David turned around. David isn’t afraid anymore, but he has more trouble on the way.
We will pick up here in Part 18.
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