1 Samuel 22: 1 – 23
The problems keep piling up
22 David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. 3 Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5 Now the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth. 6 When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered—now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him— 7 then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? 8 All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.” 9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” 11 So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. 12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13 Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?” 14 So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? 15 Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.” 16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!” 17 Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the LORD. 18 And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword. 20 Now one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the LORD’s priests. 22 So David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23 Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.”
I believe that God had made me to be a listener. People who really who would not even give me the time of day line up left and right to pour out their woes upon me. But lately I find myself dealing with my people and their problems more than ever. The problems drift from abuse in their homes, relationship problems, suicide, and quite a lot more! Don't get me wrong, I like being trusted and thought wise for advice I give, but sometimes I know I'm just being used, and all I need to do is listen. But I also feel helpless towards many of the situations, example, drug abuse or violence in their homes. They're expecting my help most of the time! I have no resources such as money to help yet I constantly are asked to come up with a solution to other people’s problems which keep piling up.
By venting, unloading, complaining, crying, and sharing feelings humans can process emotions and relieve themselves from some of the weight of day-to-day problems.
Today we are going to see how the problems that David has keeps piling up on him. He has been facing some pretty significant issues and decide to just go and get away for a while. Trying to do this for some well needed peace and rest will not work out for him. In fact a heck of a lot of more problems come his way.
As he is hiding out people with the 3 D’s - And everyone who was in distress, “everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him.’
If you yourself are going through anyone of these dreaded D’s how would you feel if others with the same issues come and drop their problems on you. I think you might want to scream. Why is God doing this to me?
Do you have any advice for one man in such a predicament? How about the old advice of ‘toughen up kid!’ One way to overcome your issues is to first realize that on your own you can do nothing but with the Lord Jesus Christ all things are possible. You need is to let our Holy God take care of all the details to solving your dilemma. Others will see the success in your life that He provides and will understand that their way out of the doldrums is to follow by your example.
Having barely escaped from Gath with his life David returned to Israel and made for the cave of Adullam. Adullam was an ancient royal city of the Canaanites, twelve miles east of Gath and in the Judean foothills near the valley of Elah (Joshua 15.35). Nearby were a series of large caves. And it was to one of these caves that David made his way. It must have seemed like the end of the road
Imagine now the scene as the Reject of Saul, the Liar of Nob and the mad man of Gath makes his tired way towards the cave of Adullam. His exultation at escaping from Gath (Psalm 34) must now have been replaced by a sense of despair. For as he entered its gloomy portal little did he realize at that moment that in that cave he was about to experience the Grace of God. It did not come immediately, nor did it come in any moment of high exaltation but it came in dribs and drabs, as God drew to that cave the beginnings of a unique fighting force.
From that cave he appears first to have got a message through to his family, who were possibly not yet aware of the disaster that might face them. For the one who would slaughter the innocent priests of Nob would have had no qualms about the destruction of the family of the traitor David. And the result was that he was soon joined by his brothers and parents, and their household. But it was not only they who gathered to David. When news got around in whispers that David, the hero of Israel, was sheltering in the caves of Adullam, (and presumably venturing out on raiding trips, for they would need to survive somehow), many who had grievances or were in debt gathered to him, until at length he had about four hundred men at his command, a considerable force in those days, especially when they were well trained.
Indeed, one thing that will stand out in the future narratives is the fact that David had ‘his men’. This pack of losers would ultimately turn out to be his brave soldiers. It was they who would be the foundation of his future greatness, and it was here that they had their beginnings. We have already noted the military successes of David. He was a brilliant campaigner, and a popular hero. But shaping the motley group that he would now gather into an effective and powerful fighting force was undoubtedly one of his greatest achievements. They came together as a group of malcontents, and we are left to imagine his tight control over them, the requirement for worship and the daily training that gradually honed them into a powerful instrument of war.
22 David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
There were several caves at Adullam, and this was presumably the largest of them. David had contacted his family at this time and warned them of what Saul might do to them, with the result that they joined him in the Cave of Adullam. There can be little doubt that David urged them to join him there.
2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.
But not only his family came. For as news spread around Israel about how David had escaped from Saul, his name became a magnet that drew men to the cave at Adullam. All who were distressed or in debt, and all who were not content to have Saul as king, gathered to David at Adullam. And they all looked to him as their natural leader with the result that he became commander over them. The consequence was that soon he had four hundred trained and disciplined men under his command, to say nothing of their wives and children. And we can be sure that David ensured that they were well trained. He would know that their future depended on it.
3 Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.”
The cave was no place for his ageing father and mother, and so David went to Mizpeh of Moab and asked the king of Moab if he would watch over them for him. We do not know how he had become acquainted with the king of Moab, but we do know that he had Moabite blood in his veins from his great-grandmother Ruth (Ruth 4.17). It would seem therefore that there had been previous contact, either through his father, or when he had been commander of a military unit under Saul.
Please notice that even with all these problems David’s faith had blossomed, “until I know what God will do for me.” His stay in the cave of Adullam and his new small army had made all the difference to his thinking. He was now full of expectation.
4 So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
So David’s parents dwelt with the king of Moab all the time that David was ‘in the stronghold’.
5 Now the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
Then, however, a young prophet named Gad arrived, possibly from Samuel. He came to David at Mizpeh and instructed him to return to the land of Judah. It was not good that David be out of touch with the people. It would be important in the future that he had lived among them. So, David took shelter with his men in the Forest of Hereth. The thick, tangled forests of Judah made a good hiding place for a band of men like David’s.
Thus, following his descent into deception at Nob and the low point of his life in Gath, Yahweh had now given him three indications that He was still with him. The foundation of his new army at Adullam, the concern shown for his parents by the king of Moab, and the appearance of a prophet of Yahweh to give him guidance. All demonstrated that Yahweh had not forgotten him.
Now here is something I want you to write down and keep handy when troubles come your way. While David was going through his period of refining, Saul was displaying his true colors. Unlike David he did not learn from his tribulations. He rather used them as a base from which to launch further evils.
6 When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered—now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him—
It appears that Saul had his spies out constantly for David, for at length he learned that David ‘was discovered’, that his whereabouts were known, and that he had accumulated a good number of followers. This caused him to panic and he immediately set his mind to establishing his own position, first by promising rewards to those who followed him, and secondly by ruthlessly destroying all whom he saw as opposing him, in this case the priests of Nob. The state of his mind comes out in that he even accused Jonathan his own son of plotting against him and of stirring up David to cause him trouble He seems to have thrown off all restraint. The truth was that the thought of David was eating into his soul. He was a different man from the young man whom Samuel had anointed to be king so many years before, and in the end, it had all come about through one or two major acts of disobedience against Yahweh.
The passage begins with Saul calling his advisory council together because his spies have discovered the whereabouts of David and had also brought the news that he has gathered a host around him
7 then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? 8 All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.”
Saul then addresses his ‘servants’ (his courtiers and commanders). The fact that he calls them ‘Benjaminites’ demonstrates how parochial Saul’s government has become. He now ruled through his favorites, of whom his son at this moment was clearly not one, and favored his own tribe. And he points out to them that under the son of Jesse they would lose their special entitlements and honors, for he was not a Benjaminite. It would thus pay them to keep in with him. They were to be good politicians.
He then demonstrates his paranoia by suggesting that his son Jonathan is in league with David against him and is planning his downfall, and indeed that David is in some way ‘lying in wait’ for him. Both were untrue. But he was so obsessed with the idea that David was seeking to take over his kingdom that he could not separate fact from fiction.
9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
The only one who replied to his unjust accusations was Doeg the Edomite. All the rest remained quiet with their own thoughts. But Doeg wanted to curry favor with Saul so he informed on Ahimelech. He did not actually lie. But he cannot be acquitted of deliberately feeding Saul’s unjustified suspicions without regard for the consequences, and he made no attempt to indicate the truth concerning what he had seen.
11 So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king.
Suitably stirred in his suspicions Saul sent for Ahimelech, and along with them ‘all his house’. This last fact already demonstrates that Saul had evil intentions towards them. He was looking for some people to take out his vengeance. And that although almost everyone would have recognized that Ahimelech was probably guiltless. Why should he have suspected the king’s son-in-law? It is doubtful if most of the priests wanted to come. Saul’s unaccountable moods were well known. But they had no choice but to obey a royal command, and no doubt came fearfully.
12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
Saul addresses him as ‘you son of Ahitub’. That was not a very promising beginning. To speak of a man in that way was usually seen as insulting, as though he was not worthy of his own name being given. But Ahimelech replied respectfully, and openly. His conscience was clear.
13 Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?”
As with the case of Jonathan in verse 8 Saul links Ahimelech with ‘the son of Jesse’ (another insulting expression) as though the two had been conniving together. But the things included in the charge were innocent enough. He had simply provided David with bread and a sword and guidance from Yahweh because he had thought that he was there in the service of Saul. These were innocent enough things if provided to someone about whom he had no suspicion.
14 So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house?
Indeed, Ahimelech made his position clear. Why should he have been suspicious of a man who had served Saul faithfully, who was his son-in-law, who had constant audience with Saul, and had an honored position in his house? The description is not only intended to be a defense, but also to be a true description of the character of David. He wanted all to recognize that this really was what David was like, an honorable and trustworthy servant and commander.
15 Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.”
He pointed out further that his enquiring of Yahweh on his behalf was not a new thing as though he had not done it before. He had often enquired of Yahweh for him, and no one had ever suggested that it was wrong. Thus, it was far from the truth to suggest that by it he was in any way conspiring with him. And thus, he asked the king not to read anything into it that was not true, both for his own sake, and for the sake of his father’s house whom he recognized to be in some danger, otherwise they would not have been there. The propensity of kings for widespread slaughter when they suspected treason was far too well known to be ignored. And he ended up by taking any guilt on himself, while assuring Saul that it would not be justified. The truth was, he urged, that he knew nothing of any conspiracy.
16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!”
But Saul was not listening. Ahimelech had admitted offering David help and so he and his whole house must die whether they had intended a conspiracy or not. For by their actions they had specifically injured the sacred person of the king. While this verdict might have been acceptable in a foreign court where such standards applied, it was not seemly for a king of Israel who was supposed to uphold God’s Law. But that is the point that is being made here. Saul was putting himself above God’s Law. He was ignoring all the claims of justice. It will also be noted that there was only one witness. In Israelite law that was insufficient to bring a conviction (Deuteronomy 19.15). It may be that Saul would have claimed that Ahimelech was himself the second witness, but in that case, it would not have applied to the other priests. And in any case a man could not be convicted on what was not really a confession. Everything is wrong with this verdict. Saul is being shown up as totally unjust.
17 Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the LORD.
This fact is then accentuated by what follows. For when Saul calls on his guard (Do not forget that they are all from Saul’s tribe) to slay the priests of Nob because Ahimelech had clearly favored David against the king, and had not disclosed to him that David had fled, they refused to respond. They were very unwilling to ‘fall on the priests of Yahweh’, especially on so flimsy a verdict. It is interesting that his own failure to react against them indicated that Saul too understood their qualms. But that being so it should have made him question himself to what he was proposing. Instead it simply made him look for someone less squeamish. he is revealed as clearly having no excuse for what he was doing.
Saul’s actions could not fail to resound against him before the whole of Israel, and would forever demonstrate to the discerning that he was rejected by Yahweh. For he was not only behaving unjustly and contrary to the Law but was also doing it towards those who were holy to Yahweh. He was falsely judging and slaughtering people who were Yahweh’s own. It was sacrilege of the worst kind. It was the action of a man beyond mental stability.
18 And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod.
Then Saul turned towards the only man who appeared to be in sympathy with what he wanted. Perhaps as a newly converted Edomite he would not have the same built in qualms of an Israelite. And he was right for when he called on him to turn and fall on the priests, Doeg gladly obeyed and killed 85 priests.
19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword.
Doeg then followed this up by doing the equivalent of ‘devoting’ the city of the priests and all who were in it to destruction (although certainly not to Yahweh). But it was not at Yahweh’s command, nor of His will. It was rather an act of total barbarism. The Holy Spirit wants us to see that Saul was doing to God’s holy priests and their possessions what he had refused to do to the Amalekites and their possessions (chapter 15). His unbelief and sacrilege was being emphasized a hundredfold.
20 Now one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
One of the sons of Ahimelech, however, somehow escaped and ‘fled after David’. His name was Abiathar. He was becoming a refugee like David, and would later become David’s High Priest, before losing his status in the time of Solomon when he took part in the rebellion of Adonijah.
21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the LORD’s priests.
Abiathar told David that Saul had slain ‘Yahweh’s Priests’. It was seen as almost beyond words. Saul had lifted his hand against Yahweh and what was His. So, the man pick by our Holy God now is taking it upon himself to fight against Him.
22 So David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father’s house.
When David heard it he was conscience stricken. He had noticed Doeg at the Sanctuary and now realized that he should have done something about him, and by not doing so had occasioned the death of all Abiathar’s priestly relatives. It was not strictly an accurate verdict, for he could hardly justly have murdered Doeg at the time. But it does demonstrate how deeply David felt it.
23 Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.”
David assured Abiathar that he would be safe with him. For they both were in the same boat. The one who sought David’s life also sought Abiathar’s life. Thus, Abiathar would enjoy the same protection, both from Yahweh and from David’s men, as David himself did. Saul’s vengeance could not reach him here. This was another turning point in Saul’s evil life. He had lost the Priest of Yahweh to David, who could therefore from now on consult the oracle and have official dealings with Yahweh and be given legitimacy in the eyes of Yahweh’s people. That Saul, when he came to his senses, realized this comes out in that he appointed Zadok, of the line of Eleazar, as his High Priest, for Zadok also turns up later as High Priest at the Sanctuary whilst Abiathar was still alive. But the Urim and the Thummim were seemingly now with David (23.6), and as we shall see, he uses them shortly.
