Weary Weakness
Notes
Transcript
A. Desperation and Divine Bread
A. Desperation and Divine Bread
1 Samuel 21:1-6
You could explore how David's encounter with Ahimelech reveals his desperate state, yet God's providence provides the consecrated bread as sustenance. Perhaps focus on how this moment foreshadows Christ as the Bread of Life, fulfilling our deepest needs even in times of desperation. This could suggest that believers, when faced with dire circumstances, must remember that God is faithful to provide without the need for deceit.
1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?”
2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place.
David flees to Nob which has become the city of priests about 2 miles north of Jerusalem. He meets up with Ahimelech. The nation of Israel is in a tough position at the moment. They have King Saul who we know has been rejected by God.
26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
They also have their priest Ahimelech who has been rejected. For he is the grandson of Eli.
30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.
34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.
35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.
36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”
David is out of options on places to go. He has run to Jonathon, Mikal, and Samuel and now must flee from his life to save his life. I would like for us to stop just for a moment and put ourselves in the shoes of David. He is in a difficult situation wouldn’t you say? The king of Israel wants you dead. You must feel like you have done all you could to stay and have a life around Saul with no success. At the same time you know that God has put his hand on you and set you aside to be the next King of Israel. The journey and timing from David Shepherd to David King is in God’s timing. This time that David lives currently we know if meant for training purposes because we can see his life from the outside.
Ahimelech runs to David scared not knowing what is going on and the purpose for him being there. Remember David is a warrior and the idea that he is alone would be very strange at this point. In vs. 2 David gives him many details but none of them being the truth. The bible does not OK this because it is David and in fact if you read on you will find out that this lie will ultimately lead to the death of Ahimelech in:
1 Samuel 22:9-18
But what we find is that God will use David even in the middle of what we would say is not one of his finer moments and provide for him. Ultimately for God’s name sake.
3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.”
4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.”
5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?”
6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
David and his men are hungry and in the middle of running for his life he is given what is holy and meant only for the priests to eat. This should have been a huge no—no. What this really made me think of was the verses that led to King Saul being punished by God.
8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel:
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.
Saul was commanded to wipe the Amalekites off the planet along with their king and he failed to do so.
Here we have David who is hungry needed food for him and his men and he is able to do that which has been set aside as holy.
28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these.
29 And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold.
30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.
5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf.
6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord.
7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord.
8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever.
9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”
Aaron and the descendents of Aaron have the right to this bread no one else.
9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub,
10 and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
Ahimelek had sought God’s approval and gotten it so that ultimately God would be the one that provided for the needs of David. Our soon to be King. How can this be? David just lied to Ahimelek for whatever reason we can speculate but don’t know for sure. But God is determined to use David and will provide for him as he is empowered by the Spirit of God to be the next King of Israel.
T.S. This passage shows up in Matthew 12 which makes things really interesting.
B. Divine Example
B. Divine Example
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:
4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
The Gospel according to Matthew 4. The Use of the Sabbath, 12:1–14
The Jews took Sabbath observance very seriously. Thus when the enemy attacked on the Sabbath in the days of the Maccabees, they let themselves be slaughtered, men, women, and children, rather than break the Sabbath by defending themselves (
Jesus asks the Pharisees have you not read? They should know what he is speaking of and understand it but they have not.
The Gospel according to Matthew 4. The Use of the Sabbath, 12:1–14
The singular for entered seems to mean that David went into the holy place to get the bread (unless the loaves were those taken out of the holy place and not yet eaten by the priests). He then brought it out, and his little band ate it. They were in need and there was no other bread, so they ate the holy loaves. For him fastens the responsibility on David; his men are then joined with him, but Jesus makes it clear that the great David, whom everyone honored, was the principal figure in this breaking of the strict provisions of the law. Jesus goes on to make it clear that the bread belonged to the priests alone, the priests of Aaron’s line. They alone prepared the loaves, set them out in the sanctuary, and consumed them when the time came for removal and replacement. Eating the holy loaves was a priestly prerogative—laymen were not allowed to do it. But the Scripture, the very Scripture on which the Pharisees professed to rely, did not condemn David or his men. David was not breaking the Sabbath; the relevance of what he did was that the need to satisfy hunger overrode a liturgical provision. His men were not starving, just badly in need of food. This makes a powerful argument: if these men’s hunger set aside a divine regulation without blame, how much more should the hunger of Jesus’ disciples set aside a rabbinical rule!
T.S.
C. Danger and Divine Defense
C. Danger and Divine Defense
1 Samuel 21:7-9
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
8 Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”
9 And the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
Perhaps discuss how David's interaction with Doeg the Edomite exposes the danger of his situation, hinting at future consequences. Emphasize how even in the presence of enemies, God is our defense. Connect this with how Christ, surrounded by enemies, trusted the Father’s will, illustrating that believers too should maintain their integrity and trust amid adversity.
When do you think we might learn that the Lord can be trusted. Even when we are Weary and Weakened by this world our Lord is there. Do you know what not just Even but all the time. In times of weakness I’m prone to run to my own wisdom and thoughts even though I know I’m weak. What God do you serve? Is he different from the God of David. Will he only care of David this way? Or do you know that he cares for you?
C Deceit and Divine Deliverance
C Deceit and Divine Deliverance
1 Samuel 21:10-15
Maybe delve into David's feigned madness before Achish, showing human cunning contrasted with divine assurance. Highlight how Jesus, despite being subject to human manipulation and plots, remained resolute in God’s purpose. Encourage listeners to rely on God’s wisdom rather than deceit when feeling trapped by circumstances, trusting in His perfect plan and timing.
