1 Samuel 21-22:5
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning, so last time we saw that following David’s triumph over Goliath
that he has gone from insignificant to important
he is now a national hero to the people,
and has gotten different responses from those in power
embraced and loved by Jonathan, the king’s son
who recognizes David as the future king
and feared and despised by Saul
who now jealously sees David for who David
and even as Saul turns on David, David is having greater and greater success as a military leader in Israel
only growing in popularity and esteem among the people
well, since then
David has married one of Saul’s daughters
and David has still only acted righteously in serving Saul
but Saul’s jealousy leads him from trying to hurt David covertly, to openly trying to kill him
and David escapes and goes to Samuel
and God protects him there, causing everyone who comes there to kill him, including Saul
to stop and prophesy
and then in chapter 20, Jonathan and David work together to discern what David should do
and they discern that the Lord is sending David away
so David leaves Jonathan, bringing us to our passage today, starting in verse 1:
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. 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.
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.”
10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5 Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
When people in the church ask for your testimony, they usually mean
tell me about your conversion, tell me about how you came to Christ
and for many brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful, exciting, and dramatic story
this is who I was before Christ
this is when and how Christ called me
this is what it means now
For me, and I’ve shared this with many of you, my story is no less miraculous, but it’s not as exciting and dramatic as others, at least by worldly standards
I don’t really remember not knowing Jesus, not believing in him
my parents were both believers and I was brought up in the church
I can’t point to a day where on this day I was an unbeliever, and this day I was a believer
I can point to a few times in my life where I took greater ownership of my faith
where I affirmed that the faith my parents had taught me was also my faith
but there is no real conversion story, only growing affirmation
for me, I think a key part of my testimony, though, and sometimes a neglected part of all of our testimonies
is how God has been faithful to me throughout my life as a believer
because if I could have walked away from Christ, I would have
the brokenness of the world can feel like too much at times
the pressure to act like someone we are not can feel like too much
our own struggles with sin can feel like too much
my life feels like a series of me forgetting what Christ has done, is doing and will do
and trying to wander away like a sheep
and then God being faithful in never letting me go too far
and always bringing me back
every part of our testimony, is a testimony to what God has done, to his faithfulness
we share these stories, because they encourage us, they strengthen our hope
we see God’s faithfulness to others and we are reminded of his faithfulness for us
that Christ does everything
and our hope is sure
when we wander away, it’s like we forget our hope
that we know the end of the story
that our salvation has been accomplished and there’s nothing the world can do or offer
to take that away
Going to our passage today, this is what we see for David
We see David as the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed King over his people
who is being empowered by the Spirit of the Lord
the one who loves the Lord and is described as being a man after God’s own heart
acting like he’s forgotten the end of the story
he will be king, he knows that, and he’s heard the testimony of others
including Samuel, tell him that
he’s seen God’s faithfulness in delivering him from Goliath
and leading God’s people to victory in battle over Israel’s enemies
but the brokenness of the world feels like too much, the opposition feels like too much
Saul, the king he has faithfully served, wants him dead and still sits on the throne
he has been driven from his home, from his family, from his wife, from his friend Jonathan
So let’s look at our passage, seeing not just David’s actions, not just his faithlessness
but also the Lord’s continued love and faithfulness to him, even in these times
just a warning, we’ll spend the vast majority of the sermon looking at these first 10 verses
only touching briefly on the last two sections
so don’t get too nervous when we’re 30 minutes in and we’re just at verse 9
starting in verses 1-2:
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.
So David leaves Jonathan and goes to Nob, which functioned as a worship center in Israel during Saul’s reign
and as David is approaching, Ahimelech the priest sees him and alarms go off for him
He’s an important enough person that normally would be traveling with a large group or with the king himself
and David looks like he left in a hurry and he doesn’t have any provisions with him
So Ahimelech is rightfully suspicious and asks David what is going on
and then David offers this answer about being sent on a secret mission by the king
there are a couple of ways to look at this
when David talks about the King, he means the Lord, so he is being truthful
or he’s lying about Saul sending him
whatever David means when he says this, he allows Ahimelech to believe he’s talking about Saul
and that everything is fine, so effectively it’s a lie
we’ve talked about biblical examples of untruths being told that weren’t sinful
like Rahab lying to protect Israel’s spies in Jericho
or even in chapter 19, where David’s wife, Michal, lies about David being sick in bed to give him time to escape when Saul is trying to kill him
this is not one of those times
David is talking to a priest, a priest that he knows and should trust
And by being untruthful, he is trying to protect himself while putting Ahimelech and the other priests in danger
this is a selfish act of self-preservation, showing that David is turning to worldly means of survival rather than trusting the Lord to protect him
David acknowledges this later when he hears that Saul has Ahimelech and almost everyone else killed in the next chapter
David could not have imagined that Saul would slaughter the priests like he does
even Saul’s servants won’t do it when Saul gives the order
but he knows what he is doing, he is lying to those he should trust
to protect himself
he is choosing to protect himself rather than seeking to protect the priests
those he should be protecting
He is failing God’s people here, and there will be consequences
Do we do this in the church?
do we endanger our relationships here by being less than honest with others?
Do we put up a front to others during hard times?
when we deal with issues at work or with relationships or with personal struggles?
when we do that, we deprive ourselves of being helped
and we also deprive the church of the opportunity to be the church
on the other side of it, do we have a culture in our church where people feel they can be honest about what’s going on?
does our church culture encourage the church to be the church?
So David’s answer is satisfactory enough for Ahimelech, leading to David asking for the first of two things:
verses 3-4:
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.”
David needs food, but there’s nothing there but holy bread, the bread of the Presence
which is reserved only for the priests to eat
which Ahimelech offers, provided that David and those with him have kept themselves holy
So the question arises: is Ahimelech breaking the law by offering the bread?
the way to think about it is:
is Ahimelech saying we are to follow the law, but when there’s a need like this, it’s ok to break it
that I as a priest have the authority to supersede the law when I think it’s called for
or is Ahimelech interpreting and applying the Law correctly in giving David the bread?
is he saying, that him doing this is based on the Lord’s authority and following the law?
Jesus tells us what Ahimelech does here is lawful, it’s righteous
Ahimelech understands that the principle behind the bread is that the Lord provides for his people
that these loaves were displayed to communicate that truth to the people
so by allowing David to eat the bread, he is allowing the bread to actually do what it symbolizes
and by asking if David and his men have kept themselves holy, he is also acknowledging the call to holiness for God’s people
that the only way for the Lord to relate to his people, to provide for them is if they are holy, because the Lord is Holy
Jesus references this event when the Pharisees challenge him about the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath
Jesus tells them that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath
Jesus, the true and final Messiah, is over the Law, he is Lord over the Law
the Law serves him
the purpose of the Law is to tell us about Jesus
so the Law never conflicts with Jesus’ character, because it’s purpose is to express His character, to tell us who he is
so just as the Sabbath is a gift, an expression of God’s character, his love and provision for his people
so is the Bread of the Presence
because all of these shadows and symbols found in the law are to tell us about Jesus
God’s ultimate display of provision for his people
Providing holiness for God’s people, and life
The law operates like a mirror or like a window
we look at it, and it is a window to see God and his character and who we are supposed to be as his people
as those created to reflect God’s character back to him
we’re supposed to match what we see through the window
and yes, we fall short
but then God becomes man and perfectly mirrors himself through the window
Jesus matches the picture we see through the window, he fulfills the Law
he matches himself
Paul calls Jesus a greater manifestation of God’s righteousness than the law
because while the Law is a window, an inanimate object
Jesus is alive and a source of life for his people
But to receive Jesus, to receive life, we still need to be made holy
David and Ahimelech would have known that their own efforts didn’t actually make them holy
that those holy and unholy laws, the sacrifices, the clean and unclean laws
weren’t really effective in making them holy, they served as reminders, as symbols, as acts of faith God gave them to follow, like the bread, like the Sabbath, that God will somehow provide true holiness
Again, revealing Jesus
that by giving himself for us on the Cross, he actually satisfied God’s wrath and judgment in our place for our failure, for our faithlessness
Just as Ahimelech offers the bread to David after David deceives him
Jesus is given to us freely as a gift, even when we fail, even when we show times of faithlessness
he provides life, he provides holiness, he provides hope
providing rest from our efforts to make ourselves right before God
because he has done that for us already
he is the bread of life, it is him we go to
he is God dwelling with people, he is the bread of the presence
and in him, all questions of holiness are answered
because he has made us holy, he provides that
Jesus is Lord over the Law
Verse 5:
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?”
David answers Ahimelech that women have been kept from him and his men
and that this is a normal practice for David and the men he leads
What does this help us understand?
It helps us to see David’s faith
that even at times like this when he fails, when he leans on worldly means of self-preservation
he is still trusting in the Lord to fight all of his battles
when he faced Goliath, it was David declaring not that the Lord would just be with him, almost like a cheerleader,
or that the Lord would help him
that David would contribute some and then the Lord would contribute enough to put him over the top
no , it was that the Lord would deliver him
that his job is to show up and watch what God would do
this doesn’t mean that David walked out to Goliath and did nothing
no, he threw the stone
but he is acknowledging that the Lord is behind everything, that he is in control
that it is completely because of God’s faithfulness that he prevailed that day
So David keeps himself holy as an acknowledgment that what he does, he does for the Lord
and he shows, even in his failure, that he is still acting like the king in leading his men
and he commands his men to keep themselves holy, too
he leads those under him to holiness, righteousness
that because of their relationship to him as their leader
they are to live acknowledging that the battle is the Lord’s
in all of this, the author of Samuel is making it clear that unlike Saul
who was empowered by the Spirit of the Lord but his actions continually revealed a faithless heart
that what David is doing in deceiving Ahimelech is inconsistent with his heart
he is not acting like himself
but these actions, regarding how David keeps himself and his men
show where his heart is really pointed
Do we recognize as those who follow the King, as those who follow Christ
that because Christ is holy, that he leads us to holiness, too?
because we are counted with him, we are made holy, declared holy, just because we belong to Christ
that God looks at us, and sees the holiness of Christ, our identity is with him
the same way that these men have been assigned to David
they are his men, that is their identity, they have been set apart
and then we are being made more and more holy the longer we walk with Jesus
the more he leads us, the more we look like him
the more these men follow David, the more they look like him
the more their actions reflect the faith of their leader
Just as David instructs his men, Jesus is working and instructing us via the Holy Spirit
When we sin, when we fail like David does in our passage
we are not acting like ourselves, we are not acting like who we belong to
we are not acting like the one we know that the battle belongs to
the one who has already won
verse 6:
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.
So upon hearing of David’s faith as he leads his men
that his outward actions reflect a heart that loves the Lord
and that everything, including victory in battle, comes from the Lord
then what better use of the bread than to provide it to those who are trusting in the Lord for provision?
but remember, it is not really Ahimelech providing the bread, it is the Lord
this comes out of God’s faithfulness to provide for his people
it is out of God’s righteousness, God’s desire to provide for his people, that David receives the bread
because although David is demonstrating faith in his external efforts of being holy
he also shows unworthiness in deceiving Ahimelech
the very meaning behind the bread is why there is no need for David’s wordly act of self-preservation
We receive Jesus, because of Jesus
not because we’ve earned him
and having him is enough for us to know that when the world challenges us, there is no need for us to do anything but trust him
verse 7:
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.
We get this aside in the story that breaks up the interaction between David and Ahimelech
and we’re introduced to Doeg the Edomite
this provides a bit of foreshadowing for the audience
an Edomite would be recognized as an enemy of Israel, someone not to be trusted
and while we don’t know exactly why he is there, other than he is somehow detained
David would have recognized him as a person to be suspicious of
not just because he was an Edomite, but also because he worked for Saul
something David would have known
Doeg’s presence eliminates any excuse David has for deceiving Ahimelech
it’s not a matter of if Saul will hear about this, it’s when
David, again, acknowledges this later when he says in the next chapter:
“I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul.”
After Saul’s servants refuse to kill the priests when Saul commands it, it is Doeg who does it
but David doesn’t blame Doeg, though, he blames himself for Ahimelech’s death
because it was his job as king to protect them, and he fails
verse 8:
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.”
So the author mentions Doeg
and then we immediately get David’s request for a weapon
and see him doubling down on his deception
the king’s business meant I had to leave quickly and I couldn’t grab a weapon
which again, is kind of half true,
the king’s business was trying to kill David, so he had to escape quickly
verse 9:
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.”
And the priest ironically offers Goliath’s sword
David’s defeat of Goliath was the ultimate display of David’s faith and trust in the Lord
and a major example of God’s faithfulness to deliver David
and the Lord still provides for David, but like the bread
what David gets here highlights his deception
the sword he originally obtained as a result of his faithfulness, he now receives as a result of his faithlessness
this again, points to the fact that Ahimelech knows David and David knows Ahimelech
David left the sword there as a reminder of God’s deliverance
of how God saves his people
Before we come down too hard on David, a reminder of how encouraging this passage should be for us
because we belong to Christ, God will always deliver us, he will always provide for us
because our salvation depends on him, not on us
he loves us even when we fail
Because of who Jesus is, because of what he has done,
not because of anything good in us
verse 10:
10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.
So God provides, and David continues to run, he continues to make decisions out of fear
out of self-preservation
he leaves Israel, pointing again to his loss of hope, to doubting God’s promises
he knows he is to be Israel’s king, but how can that happen if he leaves?
so he goes to the Philistines
we’ve seen how David’s faithless actions within God’s people will lead to dire consequences
and now we’ll see what it means when he goes to those outside God’s people
we won’t go verse by verse like normal, but just to summarize
when he shows up, he is recognized and feared by the Philistines
and they say: Is not this David the king of the land?
because of what David has done to them, defeating Goliath and having victory over them in battles
they recognize David as the king, he is to be feared above Saul
and out of fear, David pretends to be insane, which works to save his life
but again, it is a worldly act of self-preservation that destroys his testimony to the Philistines
he goes from being seen a feared king to a harmless madman that has probably been shamed and stricken by the gods
but at the same time, we see the Lord being faithful to preserve David
Do we fall into the same kind of fear when we’re outside the church?
do we feel pressured to act like something we’re not to avoid ridicule or difficulty?
do we sacrifice our testimony for the sake of self-preservation or comfort?
in our jobs, at school, around our friends?
so David escapes from there the first chance he gets
verses 1-2 of chapter 22:
1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
So, here, things start to turn around
David shows up and people begin to gather to him
looking to him to be their king, to lead them
God is faithful to provide a group for David to lead
it starts with his family, who is probably coming to him more form a place of self-preservation
trying to avoid Saul by seeking protection from David
and then those who have been marginalized under Saul’s reign begin to gather
looking to the King
giving us a tiny picture of how Jesus has come to call the poor and marginalized of the world
So then in verses 3-4, David goes to Moab, asking for asylum for his father and mother
probably appealing to the king there because of his familial connection
that David’s great-grandmother, Ruth, was from Moab
and then there is a sense that David begins to trust too much in Moab to protect him
staying in the stronghold there
so we see God intervene through Gad in verse 5::
5 Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
A reminder of the function of a prophet
a prophet’s primary job is to declare God’s Word to his people
for Gad, it would be helping David to understand and apply the Law
So Gad’s statement is not some disconnected
I have a word from God that you are supposed to go to Judah now
He’s reminding David of his obligations as king
the way this is worded is a strong command
David, as king, was forbidden by the Law from entering into treaties with Moab
and also, as King, his obligation is to be with his people
no matter how dangerous it seems
This is God, not letting David continue like he’s been doing, not letting him stray too far
Just as the Lord is faithful not to let David go too far, he does the same with us
again, our testimony, is really a story of how God keeps us close
and then let’s us be part of his story
So David responds to God’s call here, and we see a shift from David operating out of a sense of fear and self-preservation
to operating out of a place of hope, trusting that God will do what he said
that David’s job is not to just survive until God does it
like with Goliath, when he picked up his sling and stone
and went forward to battle
he is called to lead those that God has given him back to Judah
and be part of how God accomplishes his purposes
he is now going on the offensive again
operating out of trust in the Lord
This is our call
when we experience the brokenness of this world, when we struggle
God grabs us and reminds us that
our call is to operate out of our hope, to go forward knowing that he is in control
and that he will accomplish his purposes,
and embrace the opportunities God gives us to be part of what he is doing in the world
being part of God’s mission as part of his church
knowing that Jesus will finish what he started, that he will come back and make all things new
and there will be no more brokenness, no more sin, no more death
but going forward this way is not easy, because the world is still broken
David experiences this, his struggles will continue
Saul still reigns and wants him dead
But like David, we can go forward knowing that our God reigns
and no enemy can stand against him
and he always provides for us and holds us close
Let’s pray