Portion For Reading 1 Sam 21-24David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?" David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.
Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."
But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women."
David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever [a] I set out. The men's things [b] are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!" So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women."
David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever [a] I set out. The men's things [b] are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!" So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
A.. Ahimelech was afraid when he met David: It seemed unusual to Ahimelech that a prominent man like David would wander around the villages of Judea all by himself. It made Ahimelech think something must be wrong, so he asked David, Why are you alone, and no one is with you?
i. As the story unfolds, it seems that Ahimelech knew nothing of the conflict between David and Saul. In fact, he knew that David was Saul’s son-in-law. It seemed strange, and dangerous to him, that David was traveling alone. Plus, we can imagine that David looked tired, weary, disheveled, and probably looked like he had been crying a lot!
ii. “David, who was before beloved, admired, and reverenced of all, is now left and forsaken of all.” (Trapp)
ii. In many ways, we can understand why David lied, and even sympathize with him. Many of us would have done the same or worse in the same situation. At the same time, David would come to horribly regret this lie (as he says in 1 Samuel 22:22).
iii. Why couldn’t David just tell the truth? Why couldn’t he come to Ahimelech the priest, and say “Ahimelech, as strange as it might seem to you, Saul is trying to kill me. I don’t understand the situation myself, but I know God does not want me to die at the hands of Saul. So I am running for my life, and trusting God will protect me and show me what to do. Please pray for me, because I’m pretty depressed and scared!” This might have been hard for David to say; but his lie became harder still.
v. “It is not easy to walk with God. The air that beats around the Himalaya heights of divine fellowship is rare and hard to breathe; human feet tire after a little; and faith, hard put to it, is inclined to give up the effort of keeping step with the divine pace.” (Meyer)
B. Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? We can understand why David wants a weapon, and why he asks. But it is also sad that David continues his same lie about being on the king’s business. David is desperately trying to avoid the king’s business, because right now, the king’s business is killing David!
i. Considering what the king’s business really was, David told the truth when he said, “The king’s business required haste.” That was true, but not in the way David meant it!
ii. “It is painful to the last degree to see one whose faith towered to such a lofty height in the encounter with Goliath, coming down from that noble elevation, to find him resorting for self-protection to the lies and artifices of an impostor.” (Balikie)
C. The sword of Goliath: As David took the sword of Goliath, imagine what he must have thought! Of course, he was happy to have a good weapon (There is none like it). On the other hand, did he remember how he came to win that sword for Israel? He didn’t do it with lies and half-truths. He did it with a bold trust in God, a trust that believed God and trusted Him to sort out the consequences.
i. The last time David held that sword in his hand, he used it to cut the head off the giant he had killed with great faith in God (1 Samuel 17:51). But the sword was not the weapon of faith; the sling and the stones were. David now remembers the victory, but perhaps not the faith that brought the victory.
ii. David can have the sword of Goliath in his arsenal, but he would be even better equipped if he had the same sling, five smooth stones, and faith that killed Goliath. Is David now trusting in Philistine swords more than the shepherd tools? There was nothing wrong with Goliath’s sword - the Lord used it before (1 Samuel 17:51), but only in the context of radical faith. The press of the trial with Saul is challenging these things in David’s life, and it remains to be seen how it will all turn out. He is starting to trust more in his own cleverness than in the Lord, but will he stay there?
iii. “David lost confidence in God and in fulfillment of God’s purpose for his life which had been revealed to him. He went to God’s house for comfort and help and guidance, but he was detected as being wrong in his soul. Instead of acknowledging the truth to the only one who could help him and confessing that he had been telling a lie, he ran for his life again.” (Redpath)
d. There is none like it; give it to me: Knowing that something is precious and wonderful, it makes us want it. Being in a time of trial or stress makes us want the wonderful thing all the more. If this was true of Goliath’s sword, how much more true is it of the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word! How we should say, give it to me!
i. “There are some who are bent on taking away the Word of God. Well, if they discard it, ‘Give it to me.’ There are some who want to put it up on the self, as a thing that has seen its best days. They suppose the old sword is rusty, and worn out, but we can say, ‘There is none like that; give is me!’” (Spurgeon)
ii. Trapp on there is none like it: “Say we so of the sword of the Spirit, the word, when preached especially. As milk warmed is fitter for nourishment, and as the rain from heaven hath a fatness with it, and a special influence more than standing waters: so there is not that life, operation, and blessing in the word read as preached.”
i. Considering what the king’s business really was, David told the truth when he said, “The king’s business required haste.” That was true, but not in the way David meant it!
ii. “It is painful to the last degree to see one whose faith towered to such a lofty height in the encounter with Goliath, coming down from that noble elevation, to find him resorting for self-protection to the lies and artifices of an impostor.” (Balikie)
C. The sword of Goliath: As David took the sword of Goliath, imagine what he must have thought! Of course, he was happy to have a good weapon (There is none like it). On the other hand, did he remember how he came to win that sword for Israel? He didn’t do it with lies and half-truths. He did it with a bold trust in God, a trust that believed God and trusted Him to sort out the consequences.
i. The last time David held that sword in his hand, he used it to cut the head off the giant he had killed with great faith in God (1 Samuel 17:51). But the sword was not the weapon of faith; the sling and the stones were. David now remembers the victory, but perhaps not the faith that brought the victory.
ii. David can have the sword of Goliath in his arsenal, but he would be even better equipped if he had the same sling, five smooth stones, and faith that killed Goliath. Is David now trusting in Philistine swords more than the shepherd tools? There was nothing wrong with Goliath’s sword - the Lord used it before (1 Samuel 17:51), but only in the context of radical faith. The press of the trial with Saul is challenging these things in David’s life, and it remains to be seen how it will all turn out. He is starting to trust more in his own cleverness than in the Lord, but will he stay there?
iii. “David lost confidence in God and in fulfillment of God’s purpose for his life which had been revealed to him. He went to God’s house for comfort and help and guidance, but he was detected as being wrong in his soul. Instead of acknowledging the truth to the only one who could help him and confessing that he had been telling a lie, he ran for his life again.” (Redpath)
d. There is none like it; give it to me: Knowing that something is precious and wonderful, it makes us want it. Being in a time of trial or stress makes us want the wonderful thing all the more. If this was true of Goliath’s sword, how much more true is it of the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word! How we should say, give it to me!
i. “There are some who are bent on taking away the Word of God. Well, if they discard it, ‘Give it to me.’ There are some who want to put it up on the self, as a thing that has seen its best days. They suppose the old sword is rusty, and worn out, but we can say, ‘There is none like that; give is me!’” (Spurgeon)
ii. Trapp on there is none like it: “Say we so of the sword of the Spirit, the word, when preached especially. As milk warmed is fitter for nourishment, and as the rain from heaven hath a fatness with it, and a special influence more than standing waters: so there is not that life, operation, and blessing in the word read as preached.”