1 Samuel 22
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1 Samuel 22:9-16 . DOEG ACCUSES AHIMELECH.
9. Doeg . . . set over the servants--Septuagint, "the mules of Saul."
10. he inquired of the Lord for him--Some suppose that this was a malicious fiction of Doeg to curry favor with the king, but Ahimelech seems to acknowledge the fact. The poor simple-minded high priest knew nothing of the existing family feud between Saul and David. The informer, if he knew it, said nothing of the cunning artifice by which David obtained the aid of Ahimelech. The facts looked against him, and the whole priesthood along with him were declared abettors of conspiracy [ 1 Samuel 22:16 1 Samuel 22:17 ].
1 Samuel 22:17-19 . SAUL COMMANDS TO KILL THE PRIESTS.
17, 18. the footmen that stood about him--his bodyguard, or his runners ( 1 Samuel 8:11 , 2 Samuel 15:1 , 1 Kings 1:5 , 1 Kings 14:28 ), who held an important place at court ( 2 Chronicles 12:10 ). But they chose rather to disobey the king than to offend God by imbruing their hands in the blood of his ministering servants. A foreigner alone ( Psalms 52:1-3 ) could be found willing to be the executioner of this bloody and sacrilegious sentence. Thus was the doom of the house of Eli fulfilled [ 1 Samuel 2:30-36 ].
19. Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword--The barbarous atrocities perpetrated against this city seem to have been designed to terrify all the subjects of Saul from affording either aid or an asylum to David. But they proved ruinous to Saul's own interest, as they alienated the priesthood and disgusted all good men in the kingdom.
1 Samuel 22:20-23 . ABIATHAR ESCAPES AND FLEES AFTER DAVID.
20-23. one of the sons of Ahimelech . . . escaped--This was Abiathar, who repaired to David in the forest of Hareth, rescuing, with his own life, the high priest's vestments ( 1 Samuel 23:6 1 Samuel 23:9 ). On hearing his sad tale, David declared that he had dreaded such a fatal result from the malice and intriguing ambition of Doeg; and, accusing himself as having been the occasion of all the disaster to Abiathar's family, David invited him to remain, because, firmly trusting himself in the accomplishment of the divine promise, David could guarantee protection to him.