seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Samuel 21:1[a]David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever(b) I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever(b) I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
a. 1 Samuel 21:1 In Hebrew texts 21:1-15 is numbered 21:2-16.
b. 1 Samuel 21:5 Or from us in the past few days since
Stop... I've spent all this time reading about these families. I want to keep them in context here.
Ahimelek is directly related to Eli. He is the son of Phinehas, grandson of Eli, and brother of Ichabod. We met Eli. He's the guy in the temple who called Samuel's mother and drunk and dismissed her when she was praying for a child. Now Hophni and Phinehas [Eli's sons] died in battle with the Philistines who captured the Ark of the Covenant and took it away from Israel. Upon hearing this terrible news, Eli fell backward off his chair and broke his neck and died. Phinehas’s pregnant wife went into labor and bore a son. That son was Ihabod. So Ahimelek and Ichabod are grandchildren of Eli.
So now we know that Ahimelek was a priest. It was his family business, so to speak. His family has a lot of garbage in it... but basically Ahimelek is just a good guy who works the family business which is priesthood. He tries to follow the rules.
Now let's think about where David came from. David is the great grandson of Ruth and Boaz. Jesse [David's father] was their grandson. Ruth was a Moabite followed Naomi home. Naomi and her husband fled a famine with their two sons. Both sons married, and both sons, along with Naomi's husband passed away leaving the Naomi a widow. She tried to get her moabite daughters in law to stay where they were... but Ruth insisted, gave up all here Moabite gods and followed Naomi to Israel. Ruth met Boaz when she was gleaning food from his land for herself and Naomi. They were married and Boaz is the proud great grandfather of David, son of Jesse.
This is from Bible.org.
Ahimelech is no one’s fool either. When he sees David, he comes trembling to meet him (compare 16:1-5). He is especially troubled to see David coming alone and questions him about this. David has been made the commander of a thousand by Saul. If he is coming in an official capacity (as he has a number of times in the past – see 22:15), then he should be with his men. “Where are they?” the priest wonders. He asks David about his coming alone.
David has a ready-made story for the priest. I do not know whether or not the priest believes it, but he does know better than to press David on this point. He takes David’s words at face value. David believes that if he keeps Ahimelech ignorant, Saul will surely not harm him. David is wrong. David tells the priest he is on special assignment for King Saul, that the king has sent him on a top-secret mission, one he cannot even describe to Ahimelech. David tells Ahimelech he is not alone; his men are secretly hidden a short distance away. All of this cloak and dagger stuff adds importance to the mission, or at least David hopes it does.
David now comes to the reason for his visit: he needs some provisions. Carrying on with his deception, he tells Ahimelech that he needs some bread. The only bread the priest has on hand is sacred bread, the showbread, which is normally eaten only by the priests. If David and his men have not been rendered ceremonially unclean by sexual relations with women, the priest will give five loaves of the consecrated bread to David. David assures him that this is the case.
David has a ready-made story for the priest. I do not know whether or not the priest believes it, but he does know better than to press David on this point. He takes David’s words at face value. David believes that if he keeps Ahimelech ignorant, Saul will surely not harm him. David is wrong. David tells the priest he is on special assignment for King Saul, that the king has sent him on a top-secret mission, one he cannot even describe to Ahimelech. David tells Ahimelech he is not alone; his men are secretly hidden a short distance away. All of this cloak and dagger stuff adds importance to the mission, or at least David hopes it does.
David now comes to the reason for his visit: he needs some provisions. Carrying on with his deception, he tells Ahimelech that he needs some bread. The only bread the priest has on hand is sacred bread, the showbread, which is normally eaten only by the priests. If David and his men have not been rendered ceremonially unclean by sexual relations with women, the priest will give five loaves of the consecrated bread to David. David assures him that this is the case.
OK... that's three lies that have been told so far. Michal lied to her father when she said that David threatened her life if she didn't help him escape. Jonathan lied to his father and the boy about David's disappearance. Now David is lying to the priest about being on the run. Get this.... David had to lie to the priest. That can't be good.
This is from the blueletterbible.org site.
Why couldn't David just tell the truth? Why couldn't he come to Ahimelech the priest, and say "Ahimelech, as strange as it might seem to you, Saul is trying to kill me. I don't understand the situation myself, but I know God does not want me to die at the hands of Saul. So I am running for my life, and trusting God will protect me and show me what to do. Please pray for me, because I'm pretty depressed and scared!" This might have been hard for David to say; but his lie became harder still.
"Some go about to excuse David's lying here: but that cannot be. The consequences of it were very sad... and afterward made his soul melt for very heaviness, whilst he bewailed it, and begged pardoning and prevailing grace (Psalm 119:28-29)." (Trapp)
"Some go about to excuse David's lying here: but that cannot be. The consequences of it were very sad... and afterward made his soul melt for very heaviness, whilst he bewailed it, and begged pardoning and prevailing grace (Psalm 119:28-29)." (Trapp)
So far David, his wife Michal, and Jonathan have all lied. That's not good.... and Saul is getting crazier as the days progress.
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