I Samuel 26, Another Test for David

Saul continues to pursue David.

I Samuel 26: 1-5, Pursuit to the hill of Hakilah

The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?" So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search there for David. Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. 

When he saw that Saul had followed him there, he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived. Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

David knows that Saul has pursed him to his hideout and manages to spy on Saul's encampment.

I Samuel 26: 6-11, Slipping into camp

David then asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, "Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?" 

"I'll go with you," said Abishai. 

So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him. Abishai said to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won't strike him twice."

But David said to Abishai, "Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the LORD lives," he said, "the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let's go."

David and two other men (one a Hittite, not an Israelite) slip into Saul's camp, where they find Saul asleep, unprotected. Abishai says, "One thrust from my spear is all that is needed. I won't need a second thrust!" The imagery is strong, to pin Saul to the ground like an insect pinned to a board. Saul has twice throne this spear at David and missed; Abishai promises not to miss!

According to 1 Chronicles 2: 13-16, Zeruiah is David's sister and so Abishai and Joab are nephews of David.

But David says, "No, I am not in charge here.  Let YHWH do it."

I Samuel 26: 12-16, "You didn't guard your king!"

So David took the spear and water jug near Saul's head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the LORD had put them into a deep sleep. Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them.

He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, "Aren't you going to answer me, Abner?"

Abner replied, "Who are you who calls to the king?"

David said, "You're a man, aren't you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn't you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king. What you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, you and your men deserve to die, because you did not guard your master, the LORD's anointed. Look around you. Where are the king's spear and water jug that were near his head?"

Previously, when Saul was vulnerable, David took part of his robe. Now David takes the spear and water jug. David then accuses Abner of leaving his king unprotected. 

I Samuel 26: 17-20, Why pursue David?

Saul recognized David's voice and said, "Is that your voice, David my son?" 

David replied, "Yes it is, my lord the king." And he added, "Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of?

"Now let my lord the king listen to his servant's words. If the LORD has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, men have done it, may they be cursed before the LORD! They have now driven me from my share in the LORD's inheritance and have said, `Go, serve other gods.'

Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea--as one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

David makes Saul aware of Saul's vulnerability and, once again, of David's integrity.  David calls on YHWH to be the judge between them. As before, he identifies himself as a mere flea. As before, he challenges Saul for wasting his time hunting fleas. Or partridges.

David has been repeatedly rejected by Saul. For David, the rejection by the king of Israel denies him the inheritance given by YHWH and is, in effect, a command to go serve other gods. It is the most devastating humiliation for a soldier who has tried to defend Israel at every stage.

Alter says there is a play on words here.  The Hebrew word for "partridge" is a homonym for the Hebrew "he who calls out". David answers "who calls out?" with the same sounds.

I Samuel 26: 21-25, "I have sinned""

Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have erred greatly.

"Here is the king's spear," David answered. "Let one of your young men come over and get it. The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD's anointed. As surely as I valued your life today, so may the LORD value my life and deliver me from all trouble."

Then Saul said to David, "May you be blessed, my son David; you will do great things and surely triumph." 

So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

Once again, like Pharaoh long before him, Saul repents. Again. For a short time.

Despite Saul's promises, David is aware this cannot continue.

Sibling Rivalry

At the beginning of the Bible, Cain kills his brother Abel (Genesis 4: 8.) Even the first family had sibling conflict, anger ... and murder! Even the first family was dysfunctional -- I am not sure if that is encouraging to the rest of us, or not....

Sibling rivalry and strife, although not always deadly, persist throughout the Old Testament. Jacob and Esau in Genesis, chapters 25 to 36, are another pair of brothers; their rivalry, with Jacob's cunning and deceit, almost come to blows at various times. Jacob then marries two sisters, Leah and Rachel, whose child-bearing fights propagate through their handmaids, leading to twelve sons through four mothers.

The twelve brothers (really four sets of brothers, with rivalries between half-brothers) escalates as Joseph boasts of his dreams, and reaches a climax in violence, where Joseph is thrown into a well, threatened with death and then sold into slavery. Later, the rivalry between their descendants, within the twelve tribes of Israel, is an undercurrent throughout all of the Old Testament history, bursting out into genuine civil war at numerous times.

Abimelech, in Judges 9: 1-6, murders his half-brothers, in an attempt to rule the local region.

Even King David's home is no better. His son, Ammon, rapes Tamar, a daughter of David (and so a half-sister of Ammon.) In retaliation, Tamar's brother, Absalom, murders Ammon (2 Samuel 13) and then, when David refuses for to reconcile with Absalom, Absalom attempts a coup.  He is eventually killed by David's general and nephew, Joab. (Playing parts in this civil war are cousins Absalom, Joab and Amasa.) All of the family strife in David's palace probably grows out of David's own deceit, with adultery followed by the murder of Uriah.

David's sons Solomon and Adonijah then fight for David's throne. Solomon eventually has his rival older brother killed. (1 Kings 2: 22-25.)

Jehoram, in 2 Chronicles 21: 1-4, kills his brothers in order to prevent any attempts on his throne.

Sometimes these siblings worked through their conflict. Esau and Jacob are reconciled (Genesis 33.) Rachel and Leah, despite their conflicts, seem to at least co-exists as wives of Jacob. (A Christianity Today article, by Dena Dyer, tackles Rachel, Leah and leadership rivalries.)

In other cases, the rivalry ended in murder. Usually the eventual death of the murderer is recorded. Abimelech is killed by a thrown millstone (Judges 9: 52-54) and remembered for centuries for his foolishness in allowing a woman to kill him (even though the final blow was from an assistant.) Absalom is killed by Joab. Jehoram experiences a rather gruesome death (2 Chronicles 21: 18-19.)

Much of the Old Testament serves as a history of ancient, dramatic events, and so sibling reconciliation seems to occur rarely, as conflict is more likely to influence a change in history. But we do, at least, have examples of sibling love and support. In addition to the eventual reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, we see brothers Moses and Aaron leading Israel out of Egypt. Even Absalom's murder of his half brother Ammon, is an act of support for Absalom's sister, Tamar, punishment for Ammon's rape.

As we continue in our study of the Old Testament, I will look for other examples of both family dysfunction and family health.

I Samuel 25, David and Abigail

David is in exile, anointed king by Samuel but chased by Saul.

I Samuel 25: 1-3, A wealthy Calebite

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon.

A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings.

In the desert of Maon is a wealthy Calebite (not Israelite) who has a wife who is both intelligent and beautiful. The statement about the wife is typical foreshadowing. We will hear little about her for a bit and then suddenly she will become the main character in this story.

Maon is in the Hebrew Hills (around Mount Hebron),south of Jerusalem, in what is now the West Bank.

The Hebrew word nabal means "fool". Is this the man's real name? Or a play on words?

I Samuel 25: 4-8, David's request of Nabal

While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: `Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

"`Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.'"

David, on the run, makes requests of a wealthy man in Carmel.  Wealth here, as in much of the ancient near east, means large flocks of sheep and goats.

I Samuel 25: 9-13, Rude response

When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited.

Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?"

David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.

David said to his men, "Put on your swords!" So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Nabal responds with rudeness and treats David's request as that of a renegade servant, indeed a runaway slave. He may be aware of David's flight from King Saul. 

David responds with anger, and armed men.

I Samuel 25: 14-17, Servant runs to Nabal

One of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail: "David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him."

A servant of Nabal warns Nabal's wife and recounts the truth of David's generosity.

I Samuel 25: 18-22, Intervention

Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. David had just said, "It's been useless--all my watching over this fellow's property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!"

The wife of the wealthy man intervenes, collecting a feast and a caravan to take it to David.

The Hebrew phrase gently translated "one male" by the NIV is really a crude phrase.  The King James Version more accurately translates the two Hebrew words mashtin bekir as "one who pisseth against the wall". (The word bekir means "wall".)  This phrase will be used six times in the Old Testament. It appears here in verse 22 and 34; it will also appear in 1 Kings 14: 10, 1 Kings 16:11, 1 Kings 21: 21,and 2 Kings 9: 8. In each case, it describes males who are about to be killed. (The website gotquestions.org has this article on the phrase.) Since dogs also urinate against the side of a building, this phrase may suggest that the men about to be killed are dogs, not real humans.

I Samuel 25: 23-31, Abigail's plea

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: "My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name--his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent.

"Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you.

"Please forgive your servant's offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD's battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

"When the LORD has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD has brought my master success, remember your servant."

Abigail begs forgiveness for her husband's sin and begs David not to waste his time or conscience in bloodshed. At the end of her plea, she suggests that David remember her. Abigail, both smart and beautiful, may be making a prescient suggestion.

I Samuel 25: 32-35, Forgiveness

 David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.

"Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."

Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request."

 

David recognizes Abigail's wisdom and integrity and rewards her by granting her request. Her husband and family are safe at this time.

I Samuel 25: 36-42, Drunken Nabal

When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until daybreak. Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.

About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head." Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife."

She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master's servants." Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife.

Nabal's greed and rudeness are followed by his death a few days later, possibly from a heart attack or stroke. The thoughtful heroine Abigail is rewarded with marriage to David (and later, a son -- see 2 Samuel 3: 2-3.)

I Samuel 25: 43-44, Other wives

David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

The story of Abigail leads the narrator to mention other wives of David. Sadly, his first wife, Michal, daughter of Saul, had been given to someone else by her father.

I Samuel 24, A Test in a Cave

David continues to run from Saul.

I Samuel 24: 1-4, Saul vulnerable

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, "David is in the Desert of En Gedi." So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. 

David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, `I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'" 

Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

 

David's men are hiding in the caves among the crags. Saul has, unknowingly, made himself very vulnerable to David and his men.  David's men say, "Yes, this is your chance!  It is given by YHWH!"

I Samuel 24: 5-7, Conscience-stricken

Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD." With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

 

David's conscience bothers him after the mere act of cutting off a corner of Saul's robe! He makes sure to allow Saul to escape.

David, aware that he has been anointed king, still recognizes that Saul is the current anointed. 

I Samuel 24: 8-15, Verbal confrontation

Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, `David is bent on harming you'? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, `I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD's anointed.'

See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.

As the old saying goes, `From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you. "Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? May the LORD be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand."

David points out Saul's vulnerability and his own restraint in the cave. He uses this to call out Saul's foolish hatred, chasing a flea from a dead dog. A point is being made to Saul: your obsession is destroying you.

David's words remind Saul that YHWH is watching all of this.

I Samuel 24: 16-22, Saul mollified

When David finished saying this, Saul asked, "Is that your voice, David my son?" And he wept aloud. You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me.

"When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family."

So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Saul concedes David's point and asks for protection for his own family.  Then Saul abandons the chase. Implied in Saul's words are recognition that David has indeed been anointed to be a future king.

I Samuel 23, Saul Pursues David

David is on the run from King Saul.

I Samuel 23: 1-3, Keilah

When David was told, "Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors," he inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" 

The LORD answered him, "Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah."

But David's men said to him, "Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!"

YHWH tells David to go and save the town of Keilah.  But his men are aware that even in Judah they are afraid of the Philistines.  How much more in the town of Keilah, which apparently is outside of Judah.

I Samuel 23: 4-6, Keilah

Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, "Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand." 

So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)

David is probably inquiring of God via the priest's ephod with with the Umin and Thummin. Commentators believe that this process gives a binary Yes/No response so David possibly asks two questions, "Should I fight the Philistines?" and "Should I got to Keilah?"

David, guided by YHWH, is successful at Keilah. We note, again, that Saul is wasting his army by attacking David; here it is David, not Saul, who attacks the Philistine oppressors.

I Samuel 23: 7-12, Saul pursues David to Keilah

Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, "God has handed him over to me, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars." And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod." David said, "O LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant." 

And the LORD said, "He will."

Again David asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?" 

And the LORD said, "They will."

David is worried about being trapped and YHWH assures him that indeed he will be. Again we have a sequence of questions with a binary Yes/No answer.

I Samuel 23: 13-14, Abandoning Keilah

So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. 

David moves on from Keilah. Saul continues to hunt for him, even though David is a powerful force against the Philistines.

I Samuel 23: 15-18, Covenant with Jonathan

While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. And Saul's son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. "Don't be afraid," he said. "My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this." The two of them made a covenant before the LORD. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

 

Jonathan, supportive of David, is able to find him. Jonathan also recognizes God calling of David to be a future king and volunteers to be second (subordinate) to David in his reign.

Despite the anger of Saul, David and Jonathan make a covenant together. 

I Samuel 23: 19-23, Crafty David

The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? Now, O king, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for handing him over to the king."

Saul replied, "The LORD bless you for your concern for me. Go and make further preparation. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah."

Saul asks for help finding David's hiding places. Since David has slipped away before, Saul asks for a precise location for David.

I Samuel 23: 24-29

So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.

Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land." Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth.

 

And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

David continues to elude Saul.  In this last incident, probably in a pincer movement to trap David, at the last moment Saul is called away by a Philistine raid.

Saul has an army of several thousand men and, instead of confronting the Philistines, is wasting them on a search for David.

(NIV footnotes: In verse 28,  Sela Hammahlekoth means "rock of parting.")

I Samuel 22, Massacre of Priests

David is fleeing Saul.  His first stop was in Gath where he faked insanity. Now he moves on.

I Samuel 22: 1-2, Collection of discontents

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

As David flees Saul, others who are discontented for some reason (debt is an example) begin to come to him, forming a ragtag army. This army includes people of his father's household.

I Samuel 22: 3-5, Refuge for David's father and mothe2

From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?" So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.

But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

David is concerned about his parents and the effect his campaigns may have on them. He asks the king of Moab to allow David's aging parents to retreat there, beyond the reach of Saul. (David's great-grandmother, Ruth, was from Moab; see Ruth 1: 22.)

A prophet, Gad, warns David to keep moving. (Gad appears, for the first time, with no introduction.)

I Samuel 22: 6-8, Saul's complaint

Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing around him. Saul said to them, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today."

Saul is angry that David has been slipping away and warns his officers of the threat David's reign brings to them.

Note the tribal conflict and the echoes of Samuel's complaint about kings: Saul offers his tribal members, Benjamites, command of hundreds and thousands and nice fields and vineyards. He claims that if David is king, all of that wealth and power will go to people of David's tribe (Judah.)

Robert Alter says that identifying someone by their father's name (such as "son of Jesse") without using their own name, is an insult. 

I Samuel 22: 9-10, Abimelech exposed

But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul's officials, said, "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

One standing nearby overhears Saul's complaint and turns in Abimelech for aiding David. (We are told that Doeg is an Edomite, not an Israelite.)  

I Samuel 22: 11-15, Abimelech confronted

Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and his father's whole family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 

Saul said, "Listen now, son of Ahitub." 

"Yes, my lord," he answered.

 

Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?"

Ahimelech answered the king, "Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king's son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father's family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair."

An angry Saul goes to Abimelech and accuses him. Abimelech reminds Saul of David's loyalty to both Saul and Israel.  Abimelech is unaware of Saul's conflict with David and his praise of David seems to only anger Saul.

Saul insults the priest (says Alter) by not using his name, but calling him "son of Ahitub."  This is a hint that things are about to go very bad.

I Samuel 22: 16-19, Massacre

But the king said, "You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and your father's whole family."

Then the king ordered the guards at his side: "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me." But the king's officials were not willing to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.

The king then ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.

The logic of Abimilech's response is ignored by Saul and the priests are massacred by Doeg. (The king's officers refuse to take part!)

Saul's paranoia has become a mental illness. He repeatedly wastes the resources of his throne by waging war against his own people.

I Samuel 22: 20-23, Abiathar

But Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, escaped and fled to join David. He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

Then David said to Abiathar: "That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father's whole family. Stay with me; don't be afraid; the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me."

A son of Abimelech escapes to tell David.  Now David is aware that his stop at the priests place has led to the massacre.

I Samuel 21, David and the Shewbread

David is now fleeing from Saul.

I Samuel 21: 1-5, "Please, bread"

David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?"

David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, `No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."

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."

David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!"

David asks the priest for bread. He claims to be on a mission from the king. The priest is frightened but responds that only the consecrated bread is available. (As we will see later, the priest has reason to be frightened.) The conversation includes a requirement that the men have abstained from sex.

This location is Nob, a small town close to Jerusalem.

I Samuel 21: 6-9, Now a sword

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.

Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd. 

David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent."

The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one." 

David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."

David also asks for a sword and is told that the sword he took from Goliath is there.  Although the sword of Goliath is big and heavy, David takes it.

We have a tangential comment that one of Saul's servants, an Edomite (not an Israelite), is also there. In classic Old Testament storytelling, the mention of Doeg foreshadows a future event.

I Samuel 21: 10-15, Refuge in Gath

That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: "`Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?"

David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"

David, afraid that the king of Gath might be threatened by him, pretends to be insane.  The king asks, "Do I really need another madman in my employ?"  This retreat to Gath represents a significant gamble by David but he pulls off the insanity act enough that the king of Gath is repulsed, not threatened.

Playing the part of a madman in Gath is a low point of David's career.  The act itself is humiliating and several psalms will be composed by David during this flight from Saul.

Crafty David plays the madman.  Meanwhile, the king of Israel is showing increasing signs of real insanity.

Gath was a significant city in the ancient Near East. Archaeologists in Israel are currently excavating its ruins.  An article on that excavation is here.