Read 1 Samuel 21 and 22 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions for today’s chapters are:
1 Sam 20:42b-21:5 {p} David went to the house of God at Nob +asks bread of Ahimelech the priest of Nob
1 Sam 21:6-8 {s} Ahimelech gives the showbread to David + he asks weapons of him
1 Sam 21:9a {s} The sword of Goliath the Philistine the only weapon in the house of God
1 Sam 21:9b-13 {s} David fled to Achish, king of Gath, and feigned madness
1 Sam 21:14-15 {p} Achish refuses David the hospitality of his house
1 Sam 22:1-4 {s} David became captain of the outlaws + his parents with the king of Moab
1 Sam 22:5 {s} Gad the prophet with David, warned him to depart for Judah / they dwelt in the forest
1 Sam 22:6-8 {s} Saul goes to his own tribe to find someone who will be loyal to him against David
1 Sam 22:9-11 {s} Doeg the Edomite tattled on David and Ahimelech + priests of Nob called before Saul
1 Sam 22:12-13 {s} Saul: why have you conspired against me to help David
1 Sam 22:14-17 {s} Ahimelech thought he was helping Saul + Saul orders his death, but no Israelite would comply
1 Sam 22:18-23 {s} Doeg slays 85 priests of Nob and destroys the entire city + Abiathar his son escapes to David
Psalm 52 is the psalm David wrote upon learning of the treachery of Doeg the Edomite.
I think today’s chapters are revealing that it had begun to be common knowledge that David had been anointed king over Israel, after Samuel prophesied to Saul that the kingdom would be torn from him. I don’t believe either Samuel or David spoke of it, and Samuel took pains to keep his trip to Bethlehem innocent enough – he was afraid, even then, of Saul discovering his purpose in going, and killing him. Now this was even before David had killed Goliath, so Samuel, at least, even as early as that, had realized that Saul did not fear the LORD so as to refrain from killing His prophet without a just cause.
Perhaps it was the Bethlehemites themselves, being proud of one of their own, who had let it slip, so that the rumor filled Israel. The Scripture reveals that all Israel looked with favor on David above all the servants of Saul.
However, there was no conspiracy against Saul–even though he kept talking about a conspiracy against him–before Saul started speaking and acting irrationally. Saul’s fears became a self- fulfilling prophecy:
The enemy lied to him about David’s loyalty. David had too much respect for the anointed of the LORD to do anything against Saul (as we will see), but Saul, on the other hand, did not have respect for the anointed of the LORD. Without hesitation he ordered the death of 85 priests of the house of Aaron, who were at Nob, one of the Levites’ cities, where also the table of showbread was, and the ephod of the high priest. (The priesthood and tabernacle service may have experienced some disarray since the death of Eli, and his sons, and the capture of the ark. However, at least the showbread was put out, every morning, according to the commandment, and the ephod of the high priest was there as well.) So the lie of the enemy made sense to Saul, since betrayal and treason is what Saul would do if the roles were reversed. The negative lie, that David was conspiring to take the kingdom from Saul, had no basis in reality, but Saul acting upon it as if it were true, began to cause it to come to pass.
His irrational acts, based on his fears, were seeking to kill David, his most faithful and successful servant; seeking to kill his own son Jonathan; continuing to talk about conspiracies against himself when there were none, and then ordering the death of all the house of Aaron who dwelt at Nob.
Interestingly enough, when God had commanded Saul to put the Amalekites to the sword, he did not do it; but his disregard for the LORD was by now so great, that he had no qualms to do that exact thing to the city of Nob!
So in acting upon his fears as if they were true, he caused them to come to pass. When David made his covenant with Jonathan, no one was conspiring against Saul. But only a few weeks later, when he was in the stronghold, his father’s house had come to him, the disaffected had come to him, the prophet of God had come to him, and finally, the priest of the house of Aaron had come to him, and the only servant who would carry out the king’s command, was a non-Israelite.
The enemy does the same to us, in lying to us about others, and trying to instill fear. Listening to fears can make a sane man unstable, and perhaps even insane. A mature man who behaves wisely knows the truth of God’s word, and uses it as a sword and shield to reject lies, and fears (‘Fear not’ is the most often repeated command in Scripture) and refuses to act on the enemy’s word, but only on God’s true word!
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