22 David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.
3 Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
5 Now the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
6 When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered—now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him— 7 then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? 8 All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.”
9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11 So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. 12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!”
He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
13 Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?”
14 So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? 15 Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.”
16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!” 17 Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. 18 And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword.
20 Now one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord’s priests. 22 So David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23 Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.”
1 Samuel 22
Dear God, so whether or not David was alone when he visited Ahimelech in chapter 21, he has some people with him now. And these aren’t necessarily the best of the best. The honorable of the honorable. I guess one might put a label of “deplorables” on them. I checked four different translations (NKJV, NIV, NASB, and NLT) and all of them used the word “discontented.” I have to say, the idea of drawing the discontented to my side does not excite me. Sure, it might work for a week, but long-term, it’s a tough group to have as your allies because sooner or later they will be discontented with me.
Other things to notice in this chapter:
- David looked after his parents, but his brothers apparently joined his band of discontented men.
- There sure do seem to be a lot of prophets who get words from you. David was certainly ready to listen to the one in Gad and heed his counsel.
- When Saul commands his men, he plays on tribal loyalty. He reminds his men that they are of the same tribe and that David of Jesse (and Judah) will not treat them as favorably as he does.
- Saul spends a lot of time feeling sorry for himself in verse 8: 8 All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.” Oh, how there are times when I feel sorry for myself.
- Saul is paranoid and sees betrayal when it’s not there.
- Saul’s paranoia is ruthless as he kills everyone and everything. If only he had been that zealous for you a few chapters ago.
- Ahimelech (whose grandfather was Phinehas) and his family are living out the curse from 1 Samuel 2:30-33: 30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. I’m sorry, but this seems sad and unnecessary to me. Does it still work this way?
- Doeg was a special kind of awful to be able to kill 85 men in one day. I don’t care if they were bad guys, that is awful. But these were good priests. Was he that desperate for Saul’s approval? He had certainly thrown in his lot with Saul at that point. I’m kind of surprised we don’t hear from Doeg again after this story. I would think that he would have been more prominent in Saul’s regime at that point.
- A quick look at Abiathar through the rest of the story shows he stayed loyal to David even in the Absalom uprising.
Father, I think I want to focus on two main things with this lesson this week: Jonathan’s motivation and Saul’s motivation. There will be some other stuff in here, but for the most part I want to talk about Jonathan just being willing to live in the moment and discern what you are calling him to do in the moment vs. Saul being paranoid about the future. This whole story is driven by Saul’s paranoia, and it’s his paranoia that leads to his downfall. He wants his own greatness so badly that he’s willing to commit any sin to accomplish it. And the irony is that if hadn’t tried to kill David, David wouldn’t be on the run, the priests would have lived, and everyone could have just stayed in their places. But one king’s evil simply destroyed a lot of lives. Oh, please keep me from any evil that will destroy other lives.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 