1 Samuel 22

So David left that place and got away safely to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and everyone else in his father's household heard about it, they went down there to join him.

1David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.

NoteAdullam was in the limestone hill country of Judah, roughly fifteen miles southwest of Bethlehem, in the broken borderland between Judah's highlands and the Philistine plain, caves there are numerous and easily defended. "Went down" is literal geography: the road from the hills drops toward the lowlands. David's brothers and father's household join him because a man declared an enemy by the king put his whole family at risk.

2Everyone who was in trouble, everyone who owed money, and everyone who was unhappy came and gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

2And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

NoteThese are three recognized categories of people with nowhere to go. A person who could not pay a debt could be seized by the creditor, along with his children, and worked as a slave until it was cleared. "In trouble" translates a broad word for anyone under pressure, legal, financial, or personal. The third group is literally "bitter of soul," meaning aggrieved or embittered. The word rendered "leader" is the ordinary term for a military commander over a band of men.

3From there David went to Mizpeh in Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God is going to do for me."

3And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

NoteMoab was a small kingdom east of the Dead Sea, often at war with Israel. David had a family connection there: his great-grandmother Ruth was a Moabite. "Mizpeh" means "watchtower" and was a common place name. Leaving elderly parents in a foreign king's protection was a normal arrangement between a fugitive and a ruler hostile to his enemy.

4So he brought them to the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

4And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold.

NoteA "stronghold" here is a defensible refuge, in this terrain usually a natural rock fastness or cave system rather than a built fortress.

5Then the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Leave, and go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hareth.

5And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.

NoteGad appears without introduction and stays attached to David for the rest of his career. A prophet in this period functioned as a messenger carrying God's direction to a leader, often on military and practical matters. The forest of Hareth was somewhere in the hill country of Judah; its exact site is unknown.

6Saul heard that David and the men with him had been found. At that time Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the hill, with his spear in his hand and all his officials standing around him.

6When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;)

NoteGibeah was Saul's home town and the seat of his government, about three miles north of Jerusalem. Sitting under a well-known landmark tree was the normal setting for a ruler hearing cases and giving orders. Saul's spear, which he carries throughout these chapters, serves as the emblem of his office in place of a scepter.

7Saul said to the officials standing around him, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Is the son of Jesse going to give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders over thousands and over hundreds?

7Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye 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;

NoteSaul is addressing his own tribe: he was a Benjamite, and David was from Judah, a different tribe. A king rewarded loyal officers with grants of land, so Saul's point is that a Judahite king would have no fields or vineyards for Benjamites. "Commanders over thousands and over hundreds" are the standing officer ranks of the army. Saul never says David's name in this chapter, calling him only "the son of Jesse", a deliberate slight.

8Is that why all of you have plotted against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made an agreement with the son of Jesse. Not one of you feels sorry for me or tells me that my son has stirred up my servant to wait in hiding to attack me, as he is doing today."

8That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?

NoteThe "agreement" is a covenant: a formal pact sealed by oath, which Jonathan and David had made. Calling David "my servant" is a legal description, David held a commissioned post in Saul's court, so his flight can be framed as a subordinate's rebellion rather than a private quarrel.

9Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul's officials, answered, "I saw the son of Jesse come to Nob, to Ahimelech son of Ahitub.

9Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

NoteEdom was the kingdom southeast of the Dead Sea; Doeg is a foreigner in Saul's service, described earlier as the chief of Saul's herdsmen. Nob was a town just north of Jerusalem where the sanctuary and its community of priests were based at this time.

10Ahimelech asked the LORD what David should do, and he gave him food, and he gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

10And he enquired of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

Note"Asking the LORD" was a formal procedure carried out by a priest, apparently using the ephod and the sacred lots it held, which gave yes-or-no answers; a commander would normally do this before setting out. The food referred to was the consecrated bread from the sanctuary table, and Goliath's sword had been kept there as a dedicated trophy. Doeg reports the acts accurately but arranges them to look like the outfitting of a rebel.

11Then the king sent for Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and for everyone in his father's family, the priests who lived at Nob. All of them came to the king.

11Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.

NoteThe priesthood was hereditary, so "his father's family" means the whole extended kin-group serving at Nob. This line descended from Eli, the priest at Shiloh.

12Saul said, "Listen now, son of Ahitub." He answered, "Here I am, my lord."

12And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord.

13Saul said to him, "Why have you and the son of Jesse plotted against me? You gave him bread and a sword, and you asked God what he should do, so that he could rise up against me and wait in hiding to attack me, as he is doing today."

13And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?

14Ahimelech answered the king, "Who among all your servants is as loyal as David? He is the king's son-in-law, he is the captain of your bodyguard, and he is respected in your household.

14Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?

Note"Son-in-law" refers to David's marriage to Saul's daughter Michal. The next phrase is genuinely uncertain in Hebrew: it can mean that David is in command of the king's bodyguard, that he is admitted to the king's private council, or simply that he goes wherever the king sends him. Ahimelech's defense is that David was, so far as he knew, the king's most trusted officer.

15Was that day the first time I asked God a question for him? Of course not. Do not let the king blame me or anyone in my father's family, because I knew nothing at all about this matter."

15Did I then begin to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

NoteAhimelech's rhetorical question means that consulting God for David was routine business he had done before, not a single suspicious act. "Far be it from me" is a set oath-like formula of denial.

16But the king said, "You will certainly die, Ahimelech, you and your whole family."

16And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father’s house.

17Then the king said to the guards standing around him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they are on David's side too. They knew he was running away, and they did not tell me." But the king's servants refused to raise a hand against the priests of the LORD.

17And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD: because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew calls these men "the runners", the royal escort who ran alongside the king and carried out his orders. Their refusal is a flat disobedience of a direct command from the king, which the narrative records without comment.

18So the king said to Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

18And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

NoteThe linen ephod was the plain sleeveless garment worn by a priest on duty, so "eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod" is a way of counting serving priests.

19He also attacked Nob, the town of the priests, killing with the sword its men and women, its children and babies, and its cattle, donkeys, and sheep.

19And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

NoteThe wording (struck with the edge of the sword, men and women, children and infants, and the livestock) is the fixed formula used elsewhere for the total destruction of an enemy city under a war-ban. Here it is applied to an Israelite town.

20But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he ran away to join David.

20And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.

NoteAbiathar is the one survivor of this priestly family; he remains with David and later serves as his priest. His escape carries the priestly line, and the ephod used for inquiring of God, over to David's camp.

21Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

21And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the LORD’s priests.

22David said to Abiathar, "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. I am the one who caused the death of everyone in your father's family.

22And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house.

NoteThe Hebrew verb is difficult (literally something like "I have turned round upon every person of your father's house") and is generally understood as David accepting responsibility for their deaths.

23Stay with me. Do not be afraid. The man who wants to kill me wants to kill you too. With me you will be safe."

23Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.