1 Samuel 21: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

David, fleeing from Saul, arrives alone at Nob and tells Ahimelech the priest that he is on a secret errand for the king. He is given the consecrated bread from the sanctuary and Goliath's sword, while Doeg the Edomite, one of Saul's servants, is there that day, held before the LORD. David then flees to Achish, king of Gath, and when Achish's servants recognize him as the David of the victory song, he pretends to be insane, and Achish asks his servants why they have brought him a madman.

Claim by Claim

1. 21:1
   • David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest.
   • Ahimelech trembled when he met David.
   • Ahimelech asked David why he was alone.
   • Ahimelech asked why no man was with David.
2. 21:2
   • David spoke to Ahimelech the priest.
   • David said the king had charged him with a matter.
   • David said the king told him to let no one know anything about the business on which he was sent.
   • David said the king told him to let no one know what the king had commanded him.
   • David said he had appointed his young men to meet at a certain place.
3. 21:3
   • David asked what Ahimelech had on hand.
   • David asked for five loaves of bread.
   • David said he would take whatever else was there instead.
4. 21:4
   • The priest answered David that there was no common bread on hand.
   • The priest said there was consecrated bread.
   • The priest made the consecrated bread conditional on the young men having kept themselves from women.
5. 21:5
   • David answered the priest that women had indeed been kept from them.
   • David's time reference is ambiguous: it means either 'these past three days' or 'as always when I set out'.
   • David said the vessels of the young men were holy.
   • David's final statement is ambiguous: either that the bread, though common, becomes holy in the vessel, or that the journey is ordinary and today all the more so.
6. 21:6
   • The priest gave David the consecrated bread.
   • There was no bread there except the bread of the Presence.
   • The bread of the Presence had been taken from before the LORD.
   • Hot bread was put in its place on the day it was taken away.
7. 21:7
   • One of Saul's servants was there that day.
   • That man was detained before the LORD.
   • That man's name was Doeg.
   • Doeg was an Edomite.
   • Doeg was the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
8. 21:8
   • David asked Ahimelech whether there was a spear or a sword on hand there.
   • David said he had brought neither his sword nor his weapons with him.
   • David said the reason was that the king's business was urgent.
9. 21:9
   • The priest said the sword of Goliath the Philistine was there.
   • The priest said David had killed Goliath in the valley of Elah.
   • The priest said the sword was wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
   • The priest told David to take it if he wished.
   • The priest said there was no other weapon there except that one.
   • David said there was none like that sword.
   • David asked for the sword to be given to him.
10. 21:10
    • David arose and fled that day from Saul.
    • David fled because he feared Saul.
    • David went to Achish the king of Gath.
11. 21:11
    • The servants of Achish said to Achish that this was David.
    • The servants of Achish called David the king of the land.
    • The servants of Achish said the people sang of David in their dances.
    • The song said Saul had slain his thousands.
    • The song said David had slain his ten thousands.
12. 21:12
    • David took these words to heart.
    • David was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
13. 21:13
    • David changed his behavior before them.
    • David feigned madness in their hands.
    • David made marks on the doors of the gate.
    • David let his spittle run down his beard.
14. 21:14
    • Achish spoke to his servants.
    • Achish said the man was mad.
    • Achish asked why they had brought David to him.
15. 21:15
    • Achish asked whether he lacked madmen.
    • Achish said they had brought this man to act madly in his presence.
    • Achish asked whether this man should come into his house.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

21:1

Nob was a town just north of Jerusalem where a large community of priests lived and where the tent-shrine holding Israel's holy objects then stood; David is going to the nation's main place of worship. Ahimelech's fear is because a senior officer of the king traveling with no escort was an alarming sight: it suggested something had gone badly wrong. (Hebrew Bibles count the verses of this chapter one step differently, so what is 21:1 here may appear as 21:2 in some editions.)

21:2

"Young men" here means fighting men under David's command, not boys; the same word covers soldiers, servants and attendants.

21:3

Bread then was baked in flat round loaves closer to a large pita than a modern sliced loaf, so five loaves is roughly a couple of days of food for a small group, not a stockpile.

21:4

"Ordinary" (King James "common") and "holy" are opposites in Israelite practice: holy things were set apart for God and the priests and could not be used for everyday purposes. Bread offered at the shrine normally belonged to the priests alone. Keeping away from women refers to a rule of ritual purity, sexual contact made a person temporarily unfit to handle holy things, and men on military campaign were expected to abstain.

21:5

The Hebrew of this verse is difficult and translators divide over it. The word rendered "gear" can mean a soldier's equipment or, as a figure of speech, the men's own bodies; David's final clause has been read either as "the bread will only become ordinary once it is in their bags" or as "how much more will they be holy today." The general force is clear, David argues his men meet the purity requirement, but the details are genuinely uncertain.

21:6

The King James "shewbread" is bread "set out for showing." Twelve loaves, one for each tribe of Israel, were placed on a table before the LORD and replaced with freshly baked loaves once a week; the loaves taken away were eaten by the priests. David arrives on the day of the changeover, so the old loaves are available.

21:7

"Detained before the LORD" is obscure in the Hebrew and may mean Doeg was fulfilling a vow, undergoing a period of purification, or being held at the sanctuary for some other reason. An Edomite was a member of the neighboring people living south-east of Judah, traditionally traced back to Esau, Jacob's brother; they were foreigners and often hostile, which makes Doeg's presence at Israel's shrine and in Saul's service notable. His witnessing this scene matters for what follows in the next chapter.

21:9

Goliath was the Philistine champion David killed in single combat in the Valley of Elah, west of Bethlehem (the story is in chapter 17); his sword had been kept at the shrine as a war trophy dedicated to God. An ephod was a priestly garment worn over the chest, used in seeking answers from God; it was stored at the shrine, and the sword was kept behind it.

21:10

Gath was one of the five main Philistine cities, on the coastal plain west of Judah, and Goliath's home town. The Philistines were Israel's chief enemies at this period. David is fleeing to the one place Saul cannot follow him, at the cost of putting himself in the hands of the people whose champion he killed.

21:11

Calling David "king of the land" is the Philistines' own assessment, not a statement of fact, David has been secretly anointed but Saul still reigns. The song they quote had been sung by Israelite women celebrating David's victories (chapter 18); it is the very thing that turned Saul against him.

21:13

In the ancient Near East madness was widely believed to be caused by a god or a spirit, which made a madman disturbing and unlucky to harm rather than dangerous. Pretending to be insane is therefore a calculated move: it makes David worthless as a prisoner and repellent as a target. "Scrabbled" in the King James means scratched or made marks. The gate of a city was its public square, where trade was done and legal cases were heard, so David is performing where everyone can see.

21:15

"Come into my house" means join my household, be given a place at court and eat at my table. Achish is saying he will not take David into his service, which is precisely the outcome David wanted.