1 [a]David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
This is a very strange story, not so much that a guy on the run stops at the church for something to eat, but because the Lord referenced this in the gospels as evidence that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. First, “why are you alone?” David’s answer, according to most expositors “is a lie”. If that is the case it makes the Lord’s reference to it even stranger. So I don’t think that is really an accurate exposition. I am reminded of a story called “The Whistleblower” about an executive in the cigarette companies who was fired and then testified about their crimes resulting in a massive judgement against the cigarette companies. He is called to testify in this trial in Mississippi yet a judge in Kentucky had issued a gag order on him because he had signed a non disclosure agreement with the company. The gag order does not apply in Mississippi but he can be arrested and imprisoned when he returns to Kentucky for contempt. What do you do? Who do you serve? The Lord said you cannot serve God and Mammon because if you do you will love the one and hate the other. This man realized if he served God he needed to speak the truth because these companies were knowingly killing people and lying about it. They knew full well that cigarettes acted as a drug that addicted people and they were working to enhance the effect of that drug. Since that was the case cigarettes should be regulated like other dangerous drugs, but they lied about it saying they didn’t know if it acted as a drug. So let’s go back to David. Saul did not send him on a special mission, that is true, but David’s word is only a lie if his reference to the “king” is a reference to Saul. David was anointed of God to be king by Samuel. If David realizes that it is God who is Lord and that it is God who has “sent him on this mission” then he is serving God and not mammon. I believe this is what Jesus is saying. He is Lord of the Sabbath, He sent David to the priest to get food and eat food that is not lawful for them to eat and He can do it because He is Lord of the Sabbath. If you want to become a king there will be a time where you must decide, who do you serve? You will be tested on this repeatedly until like David you realize your “fall from grace” and your “fleeing for your life” is actually the Lord sending you on a special mission, a secret mission, an urgent mission. If we were there at the time you might think David was delusional, but hindsight is 20/20, and the Lord’s word concerning this proves he truly was on a special mission.
7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.
We saw in the last chapter how Jonathan and David would speak in code in front of the boy fetching their arrows so you can be sure that David in front of Saul’s “chief shepherd” will do the same.
8 David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”
David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
David had fled by being let down from the window by his wife. As a result he had been unable to bring a sword or armor. I suspect this is the principle reason he had to go to the high priest. He needed bread, but what he really needed and couldn’t get anywhere else was a sword. This story reminds me of the experiences that Saul had where he met people going to worship that had sacred bread and that gave him some. David is not a beggar, he is not a thief, he is not a liar, he is a child of God. This is God’s house and as a child he has a standing to ask for something to eat and for the sword. If he is truly on a special mission for God, an urgent mission where he was sent out the window in haste by God, then surely God will provide. The fact that the priest gives him the bread and the sword is proof that this is true just as the people giving Saul some of the sacred bread was proof to him.
10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:
“‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15 Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”
Do you want to become a king? You need to deal with your ego. If you were a child and thinking like a child you would love this song. You are famous. But David clearly hates this song. In this chapter David takes on the appearance of a beggar, and not just any beggar but a beggar who is mad. It is the only explanation of why a man of his renown would be wandering around Gath that would not cause Gath to be worried. Jesus was the Lord and yet He took upon himself the form of a man who is lower than the angels. He ate with the sinners. David is taking upon himself the form of the lowest people in our society. These are the “deplorables”. When a king is corrupt and abusive there will be many people who suffer that abuse. They will be deemed “deplorable”. Ultimately the society will become divided between the ruling class of elites and “the unwashed masses”, the “deplorables”. David has become the leader of the “deplorables”.
2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
This is a very strange story, not so much that a guy on the run stops at the church for something to eat, but because the Lord referenced this in the gospels as evidence that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. First, “why are you alone?” David’s answer, according to most expositors “is a lie”. If that is the case it makes the Lord’s reference to it even stranger. So I don’t think that is really an accurate exposition. I am reminded of a story called “The Whistleblower” about an executive in the cigarette companies who was fired and then testified about their crimes resulting in a massive judgement against the cigarette companies. He is called to testify in this trial in Mississippi yet a judge in Kentucky had issued a gag order on him because he had signed a non disclosure agreement with the company. The gag order does not apply in Mississippi but he can be arrested and imprisoned when he returns to Kentucky for contempt. What do you do? Who do you serve? The Lord said you cannot serve God and Mammon because if you do you will love the one and hate the other. This man realized if he served God he needed to speak the truth because these companies were knowingly killing people and lying about it. They knew full well that cigarettes acted as a drug that addicted people and they were working to enhance the effect of that drug. Since that was the case cigarettes should be regulated like other dangerous drugs, but they lied about it saying they didn’t know if it acted as a drug. So let’s go back to David. Saul did not send him on a special mission, that is true, but David’s word is only a lie if his reference to the “king” is a reference to Saul. David was anointed of God to be king by Samuel. If David realizes that it is God who is Lord and that it is God who has “sent him on this mission” then he is serving God and not mammon. I believe this is what Jesus is saying. He is Lord of the Sabbath, He sent David to the priest to get food and eat food that is not lawful for them to eat and He can do it because He is Lord of the Sabbath. If you want to become a king there will be a time where you must decide, who do you serve? You will be tested on this repeatedly until like David you realize your “fall from grace” and your “fleeing for your life” is actually the Lord sending you on a special mission, a secret mission, an urgent mission. If we were there at the time you might think David was delusional, but hindsight is 20/20, and the Lord’s word concerning this proves he truly was on a special mission.
7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.
We saw in the last chapter how Jonathan and David would speak in code in front of the boy fetching their arrows so you can be sure that David in front of Saul’s “chief shepherd” will do the same.
8 David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”
David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
David had fled by being let down from the window by his wife. As a result he had been unable to bring a sword or armor. I suspect this is the principle reason he had to go to the high priest. He needed bread, but what he really needed and couldn’t get anywhere else was a sword. This story reminds me of the experiences that Saul had where he met people going to worship that had sacred bread and that gave him some. David is not a beggar, he is not a thief, he is not a liar, he is a child of God. This is God’s house and as a child he has a standing to ask for something to eat and for the sword. If he is truly on a special mission for God, an urgent mission where he was sent out the window in haste by God, then surely God will provide. The fact that the priest gives him the bread and the sword is proof that this is true just as the people giving Saul some of the sacred bread was proof to him.
10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:
“‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15 Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”
Do you want to become a king? You need to deal with your ego. If you were a child and thinking like a child you would love this song. You are famous. But David clearly hates this song. In this chapter David takes on the appearance of a beggar, and not just any beggar but a beggar who is mad. It is the only explanation of why a man of his renown would be wandering around Gath that would not cause Gath to be worried. Jesus was the Lord and yet He took upon himself the form of a man who is lower than the angels. He ate with the sinners. David is taking upon himself the form of the lowest people in our society. These are the “deplorables”. When a king is corrupt and abusive there will be many people who suffer that abuse. They will be deemed “deplorable”. Ultimately the society will become divided between the ruling class of elites and “the unwashed masses”, the “deplorables”. David has become the leader of the “deplorables”.