David Takes The Sacred Bread & The Sword Of Goliath Series

David is on the run! He is in a panic. Saul had tried to kill, pin him to a wall with a spear while he was playing music for him. Then Jonathan David’s friend goes and tries to calm Saul down and make things right. And Saul tries to kill Jonathan too.

So David makes a run for it. His first stop is in a place called Nob, which is very close to the capital. He stops in to see the priest at the temple there. He’s on the run but he has no food.

It says in 1st Samuel 21:1-6, “David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

4 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.”

5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 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.”

David isn’t really on a secret mission for King Saul. He’s on the run, and trying to get supplies. Maybe he’s hoping if he lies to Ahimelek he can protect him from reprisals from Saul.

But all that Ahimelek has is the bread of the presence. This was sacred bread, special bread, blessed, something symbolic of God’s presence and protection. God is protecting David even through this, and we see even a metaphor of it, in the bread of the presence of God, God is with David as he flees. And this bread is symbolic of God’s provision. He provides for David’s food. And he is keeping David safe.

First point today is this, in your time of need, when everything is going crazy, God will be with you, if you’ve been with Him. Now, that may not be as true if you’ve rejected God your whole life and now suddenly you’re in trouble and start saying God if you get me out of this mess I’ll never do it again.

But if you’re a follower of Jesus, he’s going to provide for you in your time of need. And honestly even if you aren’t a Christian, cry out to God anyway in your time of need, perhaps he will help you, and guide you out of trouble. You never know, then again, you may have to deal with the consequences of your own actions first.

David now has food. But he is still unarmed. He ran away in such a hurry, he doesn’t have much of anything aside from the clothes on his back, and now a stack of sacred bread.

But there is a problem. It says in verse 7, “Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.”

One of King Saul’s closest buddies is there, his chief shepherd, so this may quickly end up getting back to Saul.

But David needs a weapon. So in verse 8 David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”

9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”

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

Point number two, God will arm you with what you need to stand firm. Point number one, God will feed you with what you need to stay strong. Also, he will give us our weapon to fight the enemy. David is now carrying the sword of Goliath.

Today we also are suited up in the armor of God, a gift of Jesus Christ, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the Holy Spirit, the word of God.

We need all the armor to stand firm against the evil one. And we have it. Because God gives us all we need to survive and prosper and stand firm.