1 Samuel 22 Study Notes

22:11-13 Saul’s question assumed that Ahimelech was guilty of conspiracy. The king made no attempt to investigate the matter thoroughly.

22:14 Ahimelech’s rhetorical question to the king implied no one was as faithful as David, a suggestion Saul already had heard from Jonathan (19:4-5) and did not want to hear again.

22:15 David regularly inquired of God through his prophets and priests, while Saul did not. Ahimelech claimed he didn’t have any idea about David’s alleged conspiracy against the king (21:1-2,8). David withheld from Ahimelech the real purpose of his visit so the priest could claim ignorance.

22:16 Saul ignored Ahimelech’s words and passed the death sentence on the priest’s entire household, a decree that further revealed his obsession to kill David.

22:17 Even the king’s servants—probably his most trusted soldiers—would not . . . execute the priests because it was unclear if they were guilty of anything worthy of death.

22:18-19 Though Saul disobeyed God’s command to put the Amalekites under the ban (15:9), he effectively puts the Israelite priests at Nob under the ban. The sentence is carried out by a non-Israelite, Doeg the Edomite. Eighty-five priests died, along with every other living thing in Nob, because of Saul’s misguided wrath.

22:20 Abiathar may have caught up with David at Keilah (23:6). He would later serve as priest before David (2Sm 20:25), though he did support Adonijah, David’s oldest son, when Adonijah tried to take the throne without David’s blessing (1Kg 1:7; 2:26-27).

22:21-22 David suspected that Doeg would report to Saul about David’s visit to Nob, but he had failed to deal with Doeg when he had the opportunity.

22:23 David suggested that he and Abiathar could trust each other because they had a common enemy (Saul) from whom they needed to protect themselves. Thus David aligned himself with the priests of the Lord, even as Saul further alienated himself from God.