Peace in Uncertain Times

David continues to flee from Saul (for more context check out Persecuted, and Best Friends Forever) and this time he flees to Nob. After the destruction of Shiloh (sometime in the eleventh century before Christ, interesting article here.) the sanctuary was moved to Nob, which was located north of Jerusalem. There David meets Ahimelech who is the brother of Ahijah (1 Samuel 14:3) and the great-grandson of Eli the priest. (For more on Eli check out Right God wrong Theology.)

A small lie?

David is scared, anxiety and sorrow are likely visible on his face and this concerns Ahimelech. Ahimelech knows that something is off, so he asks David:

“Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
- 1 Samuel 21:1b NKJV

David could have told Ahimelech the truth and sought help and guidance, instead he chooses to lie, and answers saying:

“The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”
- 1 Samuel 21:2b-3 NKJV

I read a Bible commentary where the author tried to defend David’s behavior by saying he could have been referring to God as king and that he was not lying since God was sending him on a mission. I have to admit that with all due respect to the author of that commentary, I humbly disagree. David was scared and told a lie to protect himself. David made a mistake, his faith faltered, under the pressure of persecution David began to crack.

Holy Bread

And the priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”
- 1 Samuel 21:4 NKJV

There is no regular bread, only consecrated bread.

And you shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.
- Exodus 25:30 NKJV

For more on the showbread read Leviticus 24:5-9 where it also specifies that this bread was meant to be eaten only by “Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place.” So by the letter of the law David and his men should not eat that bread since they were not Levites. It might seem odd that the priest asked David regarding his men if they kept themselves from women. This is likely regarding the young men being ceremonially clean. Exodus 19:15 mentions staying away from wives as part of the sanctification process.

So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
- 1 Samuel 21:6 NKJV

Was this a sin?

Now I will go on what I believe to be a worthwhile digression.

3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
- Matthew 12:3-8 NKJV

Jesus spoke those words when He was accused of breaking the Sabbath, and many believe that Jesus was saying that in essence it is okay to break God’s law. But I believe we have to tread very carefully here. Looking at the story carefully I see not a downplaying of God’s requirements but rather an uplifting of God’s mercy and grace. For God the life of David and his men meant so much that He allowed them to eat the bread they were not supposed to eat. David did not desire to eat the holy bread because he was curious, not because he saw nothing wrong with it, not because he just wanted to, but rather he was a man on a run who had nothing else to eat. If the two options were to eat and live or to die of hunger God allowed him to eat. Jesus tried to explain this principle. Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath, rather he was teaching us how to properly keep it. As Lord of the Sabbath Jesus could properly teach the true meaning of the Sabbath. Jesus taught that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 
- Matthew 12:9-13 NKJV

Earlier Jesus and his disciples had been eating grain as they walked by a field…

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
- Matthew 12:1-2 NKJV

The point here is that they were hungry and food was available around them. Jesus and His disciples were not harvesting, they were not selling or buying grain, they were not doing business. What Jesus and His disciples were doing was going from place to place preaching the good news and healing the sick, so it was lawful for them to not starve.

Though David had lied to the priest, God allowed him and his men to eat the holy bread. I say God allowed him because he was not cursed afterward and even Jesus used this event in history to highlight God’s mercy and the intention of God’s law.

The Need for Protection

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 chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
- 1 Samuel 21:7 NKJV

David spots a servant of Saul and realizes he has no way of defending himself. David is becoming paranoid, he feels like he is constantly in danger, anyone might try to kill him and collect some reward from the king, or anyone might tell the king where he is, or try to capture him and hand him to the king.

8 And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

9 So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.”

And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

David now asks for a weapon and ends up with Goliath’s sword.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
- David (1 Samuel 17:45)

I wonder, how effective had Goliath’s sword been against David? Now David seems to be looking to himself for a way out. Sadly he seems to have forgotten about God and God’s plans for his life. How easy it is for us to doubt God’s power and to forget God’s protection when we are being persecuted. When we are scared, when we are exhausted, when we feel alone and lonely. Do we, like David, forget what God has done for us, do we forget what God has promised us and do we search for a way to save ourselves through lies and violence? Do we turn to what we see those around us using in hopes that it will be more effective than God?

As I think about this I consider if it could be similar to someone turning to alcohol, drugs, sexual immorality, and other “weapons” to protect them from exhaustion, fear, depression, and anxiety. Like David we should be well aware that those “weapons” are not able to keep us, to save us, or to protect us. We know that they don’t work. So many have witnessed or even experienced the destructive power of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sexual immorality, etc. in their lives or in the lives of their friends and loved ones.

Dear reader, if you have made it this far on this post I want to encourage you to turn to Jesus. Turn to God and receive from Him your salvation. The weapons this world offers you are powerless to provide you with what only God can give you, peace, protection, and hope for a brighter future.

David a madman?

David flees outside the realm of King Saul, to Gath, where Achish was king.

And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying:

‘Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands’?”
- 1 Samuel 21:11 NKJV

The servants of the king of Gath refer to David as “the king of the land.” David had a reputation of being brave, wise, successful, blessed by God, and feared by his enemies. God had caused David to be known and feared and respected. This was a blessing from God! But David was afraid, and he was even afraid of who he was and of the success God had given him, so David now humiliates himself trying to save his own life.

So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
- 1 Samuel 21:13 NKJV

David’s plan worked and he was left alone. However, he was now seen as a madman. How far David had come from being successful and victorious. What a difficult journey David is on. I love the insight and perspective provided in the book Patriarchs and Prophets.

Yet this experience was serving to teach David wisdom; for it led him to realize his weakness and the necessity of constant dependence upon God. Oh, how precious is the sweet influence of the Spirit of God as it comes to depressed or despairing souls, encouraging the fainthearted, strengthening the feeble, and imparting courage and help to the tried servants of the Lord! Oh, what a God is ours, who deals gently with the erring and manifests His patience and tenderness in adversity, and when we are overwhelmed with some great sorrow!
- Patriarchs and Prophets p657

We serve a merciful and loving God. God does not give up on us when we mess up. God is patient and gives us a chance to return to Him, not only that He calls us. If you are feeling down, turn to God, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Nothing else can give you what you need. Peace in these uncertain times comes only from Jesus. Only God can give you what you need most. Our problem is that we don’t believe the good news. We doubt God’s love, we doubt His power, we wonder if He really cares and our faith falters.

Every failure on the part of the children of God is due to their lack of faith. When shadows encompass the soul, when we want light and guidance, we must look up; there is light beyond the darkness. David ought not to have distrusted God for one moment. He had cause for trusting in Him: he was the Lord's anointed, and in the midst of danger he had been protected by the angels of God; he had been armed with courage to do wonderful things; and if he had but removed his mind from the distressing situation in which he was placed, and had thought of God's power and majesty, he would have been at peace even in the midst of the shadows of death; he could with confidence have repeated the promise of the Lord, “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed.” Isaiah 54:10.
- Patriarchs and Prophets p657

In closing, I want to encourage you to give your heart to Jesus. Invite Him in. Turn to Him today, He loves you and is waiting for you. Don’t rely on yourself, on your weapons, you are unable to save yourself and when you try, you end up behaving like a mad person. Lean on God, trust in His love, and allow Him to save you. Stop fighting Him, stop running away, stop turning to things that He wants to remove from your life. Let God save you. Turn to Him daily.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV