1 Samuel 21:1

DAVID FLEES FIRST TO NOB; THEN TO ACHISH

Critical commentators waste much of their energies questioning the chronological arrangement of the various episodes from the life of David that are recorded in First Samuel, overlooking the important fact that the inspired author of this Biblical document does not claim that he has set down all of these incidents in the chronological order of their occurrence. Bennett has a word of wisdom on this subject.

"It is likely that originally stories of single incidents of David's adventures circulated separately by oral tradition or otherwise, not forming a connected narrative."[1]

None of the critical scholars whose works we have studied has been able to propose any better arrangement of the text than that which has come down to us; and some of the attempted rearrangements of the various episodes are not only unconvincing, but sometimes even ridiculous.

For example, the International Critical Commentary rejects the arrangement in this chapter, affirming that, "David had ample time to furnish himself for flight, after Jonathan bade him farewell,"[2] supposing that this journey of David to Nob must have happened that night when Michal let him down through the window. Such is a worthless rearrangement. On that night with Michal, David had all night until the next morning to have prepared for such a journey; and presumably from his own home would have been able not only to carry his sword, but also any provisions he wished to take. Those could have been let down by Michal as easily as she let down David outside the city wall. Besides that, Jonathan had specifically warned David in the preceding chapter, "Hurry! Make haste; stay not." (1 Samuel 20:38). Therefore, it is just as logical to place the journey to Nob after 1 Samuel 20 as it is to place it after 1 Samuel 19.

The two episodes recorded in this chapter are quite logically arranged exactly where they occur in our text. When his life stood in jeopardy, David went (1) first to Samuel; (2) then to his beloved Jonathan the prince; when neither of these could provide safety for him, what could have been more logical than (3) his going to see the High Priest in the tabernacle of the Lord at Nob. That this is a true chronological arrangement is certainly as likely as anything that 19th century or 20th century critical scholars have concocted in place of it.

DAVID FLEES TO THE LORD'S HOUSE AT NOB

"Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you"? And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, `Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you. I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here." And the priest answered David, "I have no common bread at hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women." And David answered the priest, "Of a truth, women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy"? So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away."

"David came to Nob to Ahimelech" (1 Samuel 21:1). Eighty-five priests lived at Nob, serving the tabernacle which had been set up there following the Philistine's destruction of Shiloh. It is also possible that the ark of the covenant had been brought to Nob from Kiriath-jearim by Saul in the early part of his reign. Nob was but a village located a mile or two northeast of Jerusalem near Anathoth (Isaiah 10:32).

"Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub, either a brother of Ahijah, or Ahijah himself. Ahitub was a brother of Ichabod, making Ahimelech a great grandson of Eli."[3] "Ahimelech and Ahijah are probably equivalent names of the same person."[4]

Matthew Henry commented on the reason why David elected to go to Nob. "He went there to inquire of the Lord (1 Samuel 22:10), as he had done formerly (1 Samuel 5:15)."[5] The great prophet of the Lord Samuel as well as the prince had proved powerless to protect David. To whom else could he have gone, except to the Lord?

"The king has charged me with a matter" (1 Samuel 21:2). Much of what David said here was an outright falsehood. The Bible records it, but we dare not justify it. The only scrap of truth in what he said regarded the fact that he seems to have had a number of men with him; and even that is not evident from this account. Jesus Christ mentioned this event and also "the men that were with" David (Matthew 12:3-4).

"No common bread ... but there is holy bread" (1 Samuel 21:4). This is a reference to the Showbread, or the bread of the Presence as prescribed in the Mosaic Law (Exodus 24:5-9). The bread was a featured provision of the tabernacle and was replaced each week with hot bread. It was holy from the fact of its being used in the tabernacle and only the priests were eligible to eat it. David with his men did what was unlawful in taking and eating that bread (Matthew 12:3-4).

The High Priest here agreed to bend the rules in order to aid the king's son-in-law.

"If only the young men have kept themselves from women" (1 Samuel 21:5).

"Exodus 19:15 declares that one prerequisite for approaching holy things is to keep oneself from sexual intercourse. Ahimelech insisted on this regulation being observed, but ignored the one about only priests being able to eat that bread."[6]

David's reply here has an element of humor in it. He said (if we may paraphrase), "Well, not exactly; the women have been kept from the young men"! This reminds us of what happened once in a big tent revival. One of the town's leading sinners (then getting somewhat advanced in years) went up to be saved; and one of his neighbors said, "Jackson, you ain't quit your sins; your sins have quit you"!

Mark 2:26 speaks of Abiathar as the officiating priest in this episode; and two explanations are offered. (1) Keil supposed that, "The error was due to a lapse of memory in which Ahimelech was confounded with Abiathar."[7] (2) Young writes that, "It is possible that Ahimelech's son Abiathar might have acted as coadjutor to his father as did the sons of Eli (1 Samuel 4:4)."[8] This habit of turning things over to the sons was well established in Eli's family; and therefore we like Young's explanation as the better one.

"How much more today will their vessels be holy" (1 Samuel 21:5). This is a disputed text, but David may have meant here that, "Even if the bread were common bread, it would become consecrated by the consecrated vessel in which he proposed to carry it."[9]