1 Samuel 22
-David departs after having acted like a lunatic before
Achish, king of Gath, of the Philistines and escapes now to hide in the cave of
Adullam, which was southwest of Jerusalem in the hill country. His brothers and
all his father’s household heard of where he had gone and came down there to
him. In fact, “Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and
everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over
them.” There were about 400 men who joined forces with David at this time (1 Samuel
22:1-2).
-From there in Adullam he ventured eastward to Mizpah of
Moab. He asked the king of Moab to allow his father and mother to stay in their
land until he knew what God would do for him. Apparently the king allowed for
this as they stayed in security with this people in Moab as David returned to a
stronghold position. When there, a prophet came to him by the name of Gad. He
warned them to depart from the stronghold and go into the land of Judah, which
David and his men did arriving in the forest of Hereth. Not too much later, Saul
discovered the whereabouts of his enemy, David, as he was sitting under the
tamarisk tree on the height of Gibeah, his hometown, with his spear of war in
his hand. All his servants were standing around him and he proclaimed, “Hear
now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all you fields and
vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of
hundreds? 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 (1 Samuel
22:3-8).”
-However, Doeg the Edomite now disclosed that he had seen
David in Nob coming to Ahimelech to inquire of the LORD for him and give him
provisions including bread and Goliath’s sword (1 Samuel 21:1-9). Upon hearing
this news, Saul sent someone to summon Ahimelech the priest and all his
father’s household who the priests in Nob, and they came before the king. The
angry Saul accused them vigorously. But, Ahimelech defended the righteous David
just as vigorously as a faithful man to the king as his son-in-law who was the
captain over his guard and an honored man in his house. He also maintained his
own innocence as to knowledge of this whole affair of which he was being
accused, which was 100% accurate. But the enraged king said, “You shall surely
die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” Saul commanded the guards
around him to put to death these priests of the LORD for siding with David and
not revealing this information to the sovereign king. But the servants were not
willing to go this far against the commands of the LORD. So Saul turned to
Doeg, the Edomite villain in this scenario, and told him to attack the priests.
Doeg did it, killing 85 priests of the LORD who wore the linen ephod. Not only
that, he struck the city of Nob with the edge of the sword, both men, women,
children, and infants along with their oxen, donkeys, and sheep. Only one son
of Ahimelech, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. He told David all
that had transpired in the killing of the priests of the LORD. David had
discernment and knew that Doeg was trouble. He knew on the day that the Edomite
was there with Ahimelech that he would surely tell King Saul. On so it
happened. David sorrowfully acknowledged that he had brought about the death of
every person in Abiathar’s father’s household. He asked him to stay with them
and be unafraid. Those that sought his life also sought David’s life, but they
would surely be safe together (1 Samuel 22:9-23).
-*Application* Saul was an angry and vindictive man. Don’t
let anger get the best of us. It certainly does not produce the righteousness
of God (James 1:20). Self-control and letting the LORD do our fighting is a
much better approach. From this event in history we can also see the sorrow
that deception can bring to a situation. The men of God paid a horrific price
for David’s lies and dishonesty. Another application here is to listen to the
prophetic. David listened to Gad and left a stronghold position because he
received the word of God from a person. Who knows what would have happened if
he would have rejected this word. One final application that we can draw from
here is that we must follow the commands of God over the commands of man (Acts
5:29). The servants of Saul rightfully did not attack the priests because they
feared God over man, even when he was a king.
Verse to Memorize:
1 Samuel 22:2
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