1 Samuel 21:1-15
1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelecha the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.b
4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctifiedc this day in the vessel.
6 So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
8 And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought 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 thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.
10 And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbledd on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad:e wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
1 Samuel 21. David at Nob and Gath.
1 Samuel 21:1 (J). From one of the ancient documents; it is not clear which of the previous sections finds its sequel here. It is often connected with 1 Samuel 19:17: if this is right, David fled straight from his own house to Nob. It is likely that originally stories of single episodes of David's adventures circulated separately by oral tradition or otherwise, not forming a connected narrative. When they were collected, different editors might arrange and connect them in different ways.
David fled to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Nob was probably a little N. of Jerusalem, on the way from Gibeah to Bethlehem. According to 1 Samuel 22:9 Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub, and therefore (1 Samuel 14:3) the great-grandson of Eli. Probably Ahijah (1 Samuel 14:3) and Ahimelech are equivalent names of the same person, the Divine title Melech, king, replacing the Divine name Jah. In LXX this priest appears as Abimelech, and in Mark 2:26 as Abiathar. Ahimelech is usually the father of Abiathar, but in 2 Samuel 8:17, we have Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar; facts which illustrate the tendency to an inaccurate transmission of names; a tendency not confined to the Bible. The LXX has Abimelech here. The genealogies imply that after the destruction of the sanctuary at Shiloh, (p. 277), its priesthood migrated to Nob. They no longer had charge of the Ark (1 Samuel 7:1).
David appeared before Ahimelech alone, unarmed, and without provisions, showing in his person the signs of sudden departure and hurried flight; all of which would be explained by precipitate descent from a house beset by enemies. Ahimelech is startled to see the foremost captain of his day, the king's son-in-law, in this plight. David asks for food; the priest can only offer him the shewbread (Leviticus 24:5 *); but he is willing to give him this, if he and the companions, whom David has invented for the occasion, are ceremonially clean. David reassures him on this point, entering into technical details which we cannot altogether understand, partly because both text and translation are uncertain. David also obtained Goliath's sword, which was kept behind the ephod (here again something standing by itself and not a garment; cf. p. 275). All this was witnessed by Doeg, one of Saul's officers. The nature of Doeg's office is uncertain, owing to doubtful text and translation: alternatives are, chief of the herdmen, muleherd, chief of the runners. He was detained before Yahweh, i.e. he had to remain in the sanctuary for some time in order to undergo purificatory rites spiritual quarantine.
1 Samuel 21:10. David at Gath. Another anecdote, of uncertain origin and not connected with its present context: it is a premature duplicate of 1 Samuel 27:1 f. It is commonly regarded as a late addition; possibly the sequel of 1 Samuel 19:18, and by the same hand. The conception of the author who could put the question [Is not this David, the king of the land?] into the mouth of the Philistines at this date is naively unhistorical (ICC).
David flees to the court of Achish, king of Gath: fearing the vengeance of the Philistines, he feigns madness, taking advantage of the fact that in the East then, as now, Junatics were respected as inspired.
1 Samuel 21:13. scrabbled: scrawled; LXX has drummed.