The high priest is referred to as Ahimelek in our passage today and a popular opinion is that this is just another name for Ahijah who was the great-grandson of Eli, the priest with whom the prophet Samuel grew up. However, some scholars disagree and believe Ahimlelek is the son of Ahijah, making him the great-great grandson of Eli. At this time the Lord has not yet removed the line of succession for the priesthood from the family of Eli, as He warned He would because of the wickedness of Eli's sons and because of Eli's reluctance to do anything about their wickedness. We will see the Lord's prediction come true later when the priesthood is moved to a different branch of the Aaronic family tree during the reign of King Solomon.
Ahimelek must not have heard of the conflict between Saul and David. He doesn't know that Saul has placed a bounty on David's head. But when David unexpectedly appears in Nob alone, the priest is worried and suspicious. "David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Alimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, 'Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?'" (1 Samuel 21:1) A man of David's status would naturally be accompanied by armed soldiers and servants. He is the son-in-law of the king and as such would have his own contingent of "secret service men". He's also a great military general who would be expected to travel with his comrades in arms. The sight of David alone is unexpected and abnormal. On top of that, his demeanor and appearance are probably abnormal too, for in yesterday's passage we were told that he wept a great deal before fleeing from Gibeah.
David tells a lie in answer to the priest's question. "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. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.'" (1 Samuel 21:2-3) We've talked before about the lies we occasionally find being told by Bible characters in order to save their own lives or the lives of others. The Bible usually paints these episodes in a neutral light (or even in a positive light, as was the case of Rahab of Jericho) but some commentators find fault with David's lie here in Chapter 21, saying he sinned because he didn't trust the Lord to protect him if he told the truth. The only thing I can say about it is this: the forefathers of Ahimelek were quite unscrupulous. Eli's sons were known to take bribes to pervert justice. Money does funny things to people and David can't be sure whether Ahimelek will turn him in for a reward if he tells him he's fleeing from Saul. So instead he pretends he is traveling with a band of armed soldiers, who are waiting for him nearby and who will come looking for him if he doesn't meet them at the arranged time, and he pretends he is by himself at the moment because he's on a secret mission for Saul and can't draw attention to himself by being surrounded by his troops. By claiming he's on a secret mission, he's asking the priest to keep silent about having seen him at Nob. This will help to prevent Saul from knowing what direction David is traveling in.
I think David asks for multiple loaves of bread for two reasons. One is that he needs some bread right now and some to take with him as he continues his flight from Gibeah. He doesn't know when he'll have a chance to obtain more food. The other reason is that asking for more than one loaf backs up his lie that there are other men traveling with him. The only bread in the house is the consecrated bread but because this is an urgent situation the priest says he can have it. "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 I set out. The men's bodies 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." (1 Samuel 21:4-6)
This is what is called the "showbread" in various translations of the Bible. We studied in it Leviticus 24 when we were told that twelve fresh loaves were to be placed on the table in the tabernacle as an offering to the Lord every Sabbath day. Abimelek tells David that he can have the bread that has been removed and replaced with fresh bread, but only if he and his men are ceremonially clean. This bread was to be eaten by no one but the priests, according to Leviticus 24:9, and it had to be eaten inside the tabernacle. But Abimelek makes an exception due to David's hunger and distress---an act which is commended by Jesus in Matthew 12 and Mark 2 when He explains that it is more important to show mercy than to strictly keep every letter of the law. Abimelek could have stubbornly adhered to the law and said to David, "There is bread here but only I and the other priests may eat of it. You will have to go on your way hungry." But in doing so he would have been committing a greater sin than breaking the law: he would have been withholding mercy.
Jesus found no fault with what Abimelek did or with what David did. He used this example from 1 Samuel 21 to expose the hypocrisy of His enemies who accused His disciples of breaking the Sabbath by grabbing heads of wheat and eating the grain as they traveled along the roadway. His enemies were trying to say the disciples were threshing or gleaning wheat on the Lord's day, which they obviously were not, but in their extreme hunger it hardly mattered either way. Rather than criticizing His disciples, His detractors should have obeyed the law of mercy and given them food to eat. Then the entire argument about whether or not anybody was breaking the Sabbath would have been avoided altogether.
Speaking of enemies, David doesn't expect one of the servants of his enemy to be present at the Lord's house, but a man spots David and recognizes him. This man will inform Saul of David's last known location. "Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief shepherd." (1 Samuel 21:7) The author of 1 Samuel doesn't explain what he means when he says Doeg was "detained before the Lord". I do not believe the author intends to indicate that Doeg is at the house of the Lord in a state of worship under the influence of the Holy Spirit because we are going to learn that Saul's chief shepherd is a very evil man. The odds are that he is either there to fulfill some type of religious obligation for himself or on behalf of the king or else he is being held in custody for a time as discipline for having committed some type of infraction against the law of the Lord. We can't help getting the impression that Doeg is in the house of the Lord only because he has to be, not because he wants to be.
Does David recognize Saul's servant and realize Doeg has recognized him too? Possibly, because the next thing he asks the priest for is a weapon. But even if he doesn't see or recognize Doeg, getting hold of a sword is a practical thing to do when one is being hunted by a murderous king. David needs to be able to defend himself. "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.'" (1 Samuel 21:8) David claims the king's business was so urgent that he didn't even have time to arm himself before setting out. This would only make sense if the soldiers traveling with David are armed, if indeed the priest believes there really are any soldiers. Whether or not the priest believes David, he's willing to give him what he asks for.
The tabernacle is not a place where one would typically go to find a weapon but it so happens that there is one very distinguished weapon on hand. "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.'" (1 Samuel 21:9) This is the sword with which David cut off the giant's head after killing him with a stone flung from his slingshot. Evidently, at some time between then and now, this war trophy was placed in the tabernacle as an object of remembrance or as a dedication to the Lord for His help against the Philistines. David does not appear to know it is housed at the tabernacle or else he has forgotten it due to his anxious state. I can personally attest to the fact that being in an anxious state makes me feel scatterbrained; it may have had the same effect on David.
I believe it is the providence of God that the one and only weapon available to David is the one and only weapon capable of reminding him of the way the Lord protected him from a powerful enemy in the past. David is again facing a powerful enemy: a king gone mad who wants him dead. King Saul could send an army after him or hire ruthless mercenaries to track him down. The king's sphere of influence is far-reaching, potentially able to grasp hold of David even beyond the borders of Israel. This "giant", so to speak, likely seems larger to David than Goliath ever did. And what happens when we focus more on our problem than on the Lord? The problem looms ever larger in our imagination. Being handed the sword with which he killed Goliath helps place David's focus back on the Lord, where it should be. It comforts him because the same God who protected him from the enemy of yesterday will protect him from the enemy of today.
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