1 Samuel 21

David Takes Consecrated Bread

1 Then David came to ¹Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech ²came trembling to meet David and said to him, "Why are you alone and no one with you?"

2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, '³Let 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 to a certain * place.'

3 "Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found."

4 The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is ⁴consecrated bread; if only the young men have ⁵kept themselves from women."

5 David answered the priest and said to him, "⁶Surely * women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the ⁷vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much * more * then today will their vessels be holy?"

6 So ⁸the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the ⁹bread of the Presence which was removed from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

7 Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was ¹⁰Doeg the Edomite, the ¹¹chief of Saul's shepherds.

8 David said to Ahimelech, "Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand? For I brought neither * my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's matter was urgent."

9 Then the priest said, "¹²The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed ¹³in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here." And David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."

10 Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to ¹⁴Achish king of Gath.

11 But the ¹⁵servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? ¹⁶Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands '?"

12 David ¹⁷took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath.

13 So he ¹⁸disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard.

14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me?

15 "Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?"

1 Samuel 21 Commentary

Chapter 21

David with Ahimelech. (1-9) David at Gath feigns himself mad. (10-15)

Verses 1-9 David, in distress, fled to the tabernacle of God. It is great comfort in a day of trouble, that we have a God to go to, to whom we may open our cases, and from whom we may ask and expect direction. David told Ahimelech a gross untruth. What shall we say to this? The Scripture does not conceal it, and we dare not justify it; it was ill done, and proved of bad consequence; for it occasioned the death of the priests of the Lord. David thought upon it afterward with regret. David had great faith and courage, yet both failed him; he fell thus foully through fear and cowardice, and owing to the weakness of his faith. Had he trusted God aright, he would not have used such a sorry, sinful shift for his own preservation. It is written, not for us to do the like, no, not in the greatest straits, but for our warning. David asked of Ahimelech bread and a sword. Ahimelech supposed they might eat the shew-bread. The Son of David taught from it, that mercy is to be preferred to sacrifice; that ritual observances must give way to moral duties. Doeg set his foot as far within the tabernacle as David did. We little know with what hearts people come to the house of God, nor what use they will make of pretended devotion. If many come in simplicity of heart to serve their God, others come to observe their teachers and to prove accusers. Only God and the event can distinguish between a David and a Doeg, when both are in the tabernacle.

Verses 10-15 God's persecuted people have often found better usage from Philistines than from Israelites. David had reason to put confidence in Achish, yet he began to be afraid. His conduct was degrading, and discovered wavering in his faith and courage. The more simply we depend on God, and obey him, the more comfortably and surely we shall walk through this troublesome world.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 22:19; Nehemiah 11:32; Isaiah 10:32
• 2. 1 Samuel 16:4
• 3. Psalms 141:3
• 4. Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-9; Matthew 12:4
• 5. Exodus 19:15
• 6. Exodus 19:14, 15
• 7. 1 Thessalonians 4:4
• 8. Matthew 12:3, 4; Luke 6:3, 4
• 9. Leviticus 24:5-9
• 10. 1 Samuel 14:47; 1 Samuel 22:9; Ps 52: title
• 11. 1 Chronicles 27:29, 31
• 12. 1 Samuel 17:51, 54
• 13. 1 Samuel 17:2
• 14. Ps 34: title
• 15. Ps 56: title
• 16. 1 Samuel 18:7; 1 Samuel 29:5
• 17. Luke 2:19
• 18. Ps 34: title

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "is under your hand?"
• [b]. Lit "in my hand"
• [c]. Lit "under my hand"
• [d]. Lit "it" be holy "in the vessel"
• [e]. Lit "under your hand"
• [f]. Lit "in my hand"
• [g]. Lit "smote"
• [h]. Lit "in his"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 21

This chapter relates that David went to Nob, and pretending he was on secret business for the king, got shewbread, and the sword of Goliath, from Ahimelech the priest, 1Sa 21:1-9; and that passing from thence to Gath, where he was known, through fear feigned himself mad, and so escaped from thence, 1Sa 21:10-15.