David Takes the Consecrated Bread
(Matthew 12:1–8; Mark 2:23–28; Luke 6:1–5)
Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” Mrk 2:26Neh 11:321Sa 14:31Sa 16:4Isa 10:321Sa 22:9-19
“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place. Col 3:9Gal 2:121Ki 13:181Sa 19:171Sa 22:22Gen 27:20Gen 27:24Psa 119:29 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” 1Sa 21:4Isa 3:6Jdg 9:29
“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.” Mat 12:3-4Exo 19:15Exo 25:301Co 7:51Sa 21:6Lev 24:5-9Zec 7:3
David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the equipment of the young men is holy, as it is even on common missions, and all the more at this time.” 1Th 4:3-42Ti 2:20-21Act 9:15Lev 24:9Lev 8:261Pe 3:17
So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away. Luk 6:3-4Lev 24:5-9Mat 12:3-4Mrk 2:25-27
Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul. 1Sa 22:9Psa 52:1-91Ch 27:291Sa 11:51Sa 14:472Ch 26:10Act 21:26-27Amo 8:5
David Flees to Gath
(Psalms 34:1–22; Psalms 56:1–13)
Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business was urgent.”
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, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” 1Sa 17:21Sa 17:50-541Sa 31:10Exo 28:6-14
And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 1Ki 19:31Sa 27:1-2Jer 26:21Psa 34:1-22 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying: 1Sa 29:5Psa 56:1-131Sa 16:11Sa 18:7-8
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
Now David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. Luk 2:19Psa 56:3Psa 34:41Sa 21:10Gen 12:11-13Gen 26:7Luk 2:51Psa 119:11 So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard. Pro 29:25Ecc 7:7Psa 34:1-22
Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is insane! Why have you brought him to me? Ecc 7:7 Am I in need of madmen, that you have brought this man to rave in my presence? Must this man come into my house?”