1 Samuel 22:14

14 And Ahimelech answered the king and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and has access to thy secret council, and is honourable in thy house?

1 Samuel 22:14 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 22:14

Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said
First with respect to David, and then with regard to himself; with respect to David as follows, and who [is so] faithful amongst thy servants as David;
I considered him, as if he should say, as a servant of thine, upon an errand of thine, and doing thy business; and as a faithful one, none more so, and as such I valued and regarded him, not as a rebel to thee, having no such thought of him: which is the king's son in law;
who has behaved himself so well, and thou hast entertained such an opinion of him, as to take him into thy family, and marry thy daughter to him; wherefore showing him favour, and doing him honour, was doing honour to thee and thy family, and surely there can be no blame in that: and goeth at thy bidding;
has always been ready to execute thy commands, and obey thine orders, let them be what they will; as to go out against an enemy, and fight Saul's battles for him: and is honourable in thine house?
behaved honourably there, and highly esteemed by all, as well as had the honour bestowed upon him to be the king's son-in-law, and made captain of a thousand; and therefore who could think that showing respect to such a man could be deemed treason and conspiracy, or he be thought to be a traitor to the king? and then with respect to himself he answers,

1 Samuel 22:14 In-Context

12 And Saul said, Hear now, son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord.

13 And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me as a lier-in-wait, as at this day?

14 And Ahimelech answered the king and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and has access to thy secret council, and is honourable in thy house?

15 Was it to-day that I began to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king charge anything to his servant, [nor] to all the house of my father; for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

16 And the king said, Thou shalt certainly die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'goes in at thy bidding.'