Introduction
Desperation describes David well in this chapter. He now knows that Saul will kill him at the first opportunity he gets. He doesn't seem to think that Jonathan of Samuel can help him anymore. In his desperation and in his desire to run away from his problem, we see David making a series of questionable decisions.
I. David's Flight
A. David moves quickly (at least that's the impression the narrative gives) from place to place as he tries to distance himself from Saul.
B. First to Nob, 20:42-21:1.
1. Nob was 1.5 miles SE of Gibeah of Saul where the royal court was.
2. After Shiloh was overrun by the Philistines, the tabernacle moved to Nob even though the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim till David ascended to the throne.
1 Sam. 7:1-2 – Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
C. Then, to Gath, 21:10.
1. Gath was one of the five Philistine strong cities.
2. It was the hometown of Goliath.
3. For a reason that is not easily discerned, David thought he and his men would be safer in Philistine territory than in Israel.
a. This will prove to be a bad decision.
1) The servants of the ruler quickly recognized him (maybe the sword give him away) and apprehended him, 10, 14.
2) David had to pretend to be crazy in order to be let go, 12-15.
3) This episode in David's life gave occasion to the writing of two Psalms: 34 and 56 (we will consider them in future Sundays).
b. Yet, he will make it again in chpt. 27.
D. Next to a cave in the desert, 22:1-2.
E. Then to Moab where he thought his family would be safe (maybe because of his great-grandmother Ruth), 3-4.
F. For the next few years after that, David was a wanderer – mostly in the wilderness of Judah.
II. David's Visit to Nob, 21:1-9.
A. The first thing we need to ask ourselves is this: why did David go to the tabernacle?
1. There are two explicit reasons given to us in this chpt.: provisions and a weapon, 3, 8.
2. The thing is that David could have gotten these things from any one.
3. David went to Nob, not only for bread and a sword, but also to seek direction from the Lord, 22:14-15.
B. Notice that Ahimelech, the leading priest (maybe the high priest) was suspicious of David's presence in Nob, 1 (uh, why are you here?).
1. Why was he afraid of David?
2. Was he aware of the rift between David and Saul?
3. Or, was David such an infrequent presence at Nob that his being there made Ahimelech think that there was something fishy going on?
C. It doesn't seem like David gave a lot of forethought to the story he was going to tell Ahimelech, 2-3, 8.
1. "I am in secret mission for the king. So secret that I couldn't even get food or a weapon before I left."
2. This story is suspicious at best, more on the not believable at all side.
3. But, it's just a little lie – why worry?
a. David's visit to Nob will prove to be deadly to the priests that were there, 21:7 – an ominous glimpse of things to come.
b. David's "little" lie led directly to the death of 85 priests, 22:17-18.
c. We think that our deliberate sins won't hurt anybody, but that is a lie from the pit of hell.
1) "I will just look at a little bit of pornography. It won't hurt anybody."
2) "I will just get high this one time."
3) "I will just cheat this one time."
d. The reality is that the wages of sin is death regardless of how big we think the sin is, and sin always hurts somebody.
III. The Request for Bread and the Ethics of the Law, 21:4-6.
A. This seemingly insignificant passage is alluded to in the NT three times: Mt. 12:3-4; Mk. 2:25-26; Lk. 6:3-4.
1. This is an example of what Paul told Timothy about the Word of God.
2 Tim. 3:16-17 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2. We can always read the Word of God expecting to be equipped for every good work.
B. What is this holy bread? 4a.
Lev. 24:5-9 – And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being takenfrom the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it ismost holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.
1. This bread was placed in the Holy Place every Sabbath day.
2. The loaves that were removed could only be eaten by priests who were direct descendants from Aaron.
C. If all we had were this passage, we would have to conclude that the priests made a mistake.
1. The priests even came up with a half-baked idea about abstaining from sex in order to eat the bread.
2. No biblical warrant for that.
D. The problem arises when Jesus says that Ahimelech was keeping the law perfectly when he gave the bread to David.
Mt. 12:1-8 (turn to it) – 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. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 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? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
1. In his argument with the Pharisees, Jesus gives us ethics that go beyond the letter of the law.
2. Jesus's argument: if it was appropriate for Ahimelech to set aside a legitimately God-given law in order to provide for David, how much more appropriate is it for these man-made Sabbath laws to be set aside for the Son of God? (a fortiori argument).
3. The point for us is this: one could follow all the ceremonial laws, all religious observances, to a T and yet break it.
a. Jesus is once again point to the heart.
b. If you are very rigorous in your religious observance and yet you can't show mercy to your neighbor, you don't really know what obedience is.
c. Paul puts the same idea in terms of love.
1 Cor. 13:1-3 – Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4. In a very real way, David's coming to Nob and asking for bread in 1 Sam. 21 happened, so that Jesus could use it in Mt. 12 to teach us about obedience from the heart.
Application & Conclusion
Why do you do the things you as a Christian? Is your motivation love for God and love for your neighbor? Why are you in church today? If you put money in the offering plate, why did you do that? Is heart obedience a reality to you?
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2016/02/running-away-1-sam-21.html
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