1 Samuel 21

1 Samuel 21 marks the beginning of David's life as a fugitive. In the previous chapter David learned through Jonathan that Saul intended to kill him, and the two parted. In this chapter he flees alone to Nob and then to Gath.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 David comes to Ahimelech the priest at Nob, claims that he is on a secret mission for the king, and asks for five loaves of bread or whatever is at hand. Because no common bread is available, Ahimelech first obtains assurance that the young men have kept themselves from women. He then gives David the showbread that had been removed from before the LORD.
• Verse 7 On that day Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen, was detained there.
• Verses 8–9 When David asks for a weapon, Ahimelech gives him the sword of Goliath, which had been kept wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
• Verses 10–15 David goes to Achish, king of Gath, but the king's servants recognize him, citing the song about David's "ten thousands." Afraid, David feigns madness, scrabbling on the doors of the gate and letting his spittle run down his beard. Achish refuses to receive him, asking why they have brought a madman to him.

Key Verses

• 1 Samuel 21:6 "So the priest gave him hallowed bread" — the incident Jesus cites in a dispute over the Sabbath.
• 1 Samuel 21:11 "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" — shows that the song of 1 Samuel 18:7 had become known even among the Philistines.
• 1 Samuel 21:13 "feigned himself mad" — illustrates the danger David faced in a foreign land.

Characters and Places

• David: in flight from Saul.
• Ahimelech: the priest at Nob. In 1 Samuel 22 he is put to death by Saul because of this incident.
• Doeg: an Edomite and the chief of Saul's herdsmen. In chapter 22 he reports the incident to Saul and kills the priests of Nob.
• Achish: king of the Philistine city of Gath. In chapter 27 David again takes refuge with him.
• Goliath: the Philistine champion killed by David in the Valley of Elah; here only his sword appears.
• Nob: the city where the priests resided (1 Samuel 22:19).
• Gath: a Philistine city and the hometown of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4).

Points for Reflection

• According to Leviticus 24, the showbread was replaced with fresh loaves every Sabbath, and the removed bread was eaten by the priests in a holy place. In Mark 2, Matthew 12, and Luke 6, Jesus answers a question about the Sabbath by pointing to David's eating of this bread.
• Mark 2:26 places the event "in the days of Abiathar the high priest," whereas the priest in this chapter is Ahimelech. This discrepancy has been explained in several ways. Some suggest that it reflects the later prominence of Ahimelech's son Abiathar (1 Samuel 22:20) as a well-known priest; others read the phrase as meaning "in the passage about Abiathar."
• The text offers no evaluation of what David said to Ahimelech. In 1 Samuel 22:22 David acknowledges that he was responsible for the deaths of the priest's household. Some interpreters take this as grounds for highlighting David's fault, while others focus more on the protection he received in the midst of crisis.
• The superscription of Psalm 34 connects the psalm with the occasion when David feigned madness and was driven away, though it gives the king's name as "Abimelech." Some regard this as a title borne by Philistine kings. The superscription of Psalm 56 likewise sets the psalm at the time when the Philistines seized David in Gath.