Havasu Christian Church
Series in I Samuel
September 22, 2024
I Samuel 21:1-10
“David, a liar after God’s own heart??”
1 Samuel 21:1-10 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” David said to the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ “Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.
Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds. David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” Then the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.” Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath.
INTRO: Saul is crazy and apparently, everyone knows it. Besides his own rage, paranoia, fear of losing his throne, there’s also the evil spirit stirring him up and making it even worse! This seems at least to have the whole kingdom on edge! When the leader of your nation starts acting crazy, who knows what’s going to happen?
So, when David shows up at the Tabernacle, claiming he’s on a mission from the king, Ahimelech has every right to be troubled. “If I don’t make Saul happy, BAD THINGS COULD HAPPEN! Since David is Saul’s right-hand man, I’d better do what he wants me to do!”
- Ahimelech “Bends the rules.”
- As we’ve already stated, the whole kingdom is probably on pins and needles because of the behavior of their king.
- Displeasing Saul in any way might cost you your life.
- This was true of kings in general back then, but I suspect it was especially true of Saul.
- David tells Ahimelech that Saul has sent him on a “secret mission.”
- Ahimelech does his best to comply.
- David asks for bread, but the only bread available is what just came out of the tabernacle. This is the consecrated bread that symbolized God having a meal with men.
- Ahimelech asks if the men are at least ceremonially clean, and David says “yes.”
- The obvious question to ask now is was it a sin for Ahimelech to give David the bread, and for David to share and eat it?
- Nobody’s comments I read really addressed Ahimelech’s action.
- They ignored him.
- They did, however, comment on David’s actions.
- One commentary suggested that what was done was ok because it wasn’t explicitly prohibited.
“If you read Leviticus 24:5-9 very carefully, it states that "it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place." Notice that it does not say "for Aaron and his sons only".”
- Others appealed to Jesus’ use of this text to say that mercy trumps law.
Matthew 12:1–7 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.
But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?
“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?
“But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.
“But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
- David also asks for a weapon and receives the sword of Goliath.
- I guess you could say it was his to begin with. (Scripture doesn’t tell us how it got into the tabernacle.)
- Why did David Lie? (We can’t know for certain what was going on in his head, but we can make some guesses.)
- He’s scared and on the run.
- Being scared will often bring out the worst in people.
- This is a far cry from the young man who fought a giant.
- This is a far cry from the man who was Saul’s armor bearer.
- This is a far cry from the man who fought King Saul’s battles.
- Why is David so afraid?
- His world has turned upside down.
- He has been a part of Saul’s household, his trusted warrior, he’s even married to Saul’s daughter.
- Suddenly, he is “public enemy #1”
- Saul isn’t just mad at David, he wants him dead!
- What does David allow his fear to do to him?
- He quits trusting God like he should.
- David begins making moral compromises.
- We see him lying repeatedly to make a “clean getaway.”
- He asks his friend Jonathan lie for him.
- Now, we see him lying to God’s Priest, himself.
- It would be nice to be able to say that he was giving the Priest “plausible deniability” but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
- David simply appears to be looking out for himself, at the expense of others.
- “I’m on a secret mission for Saul!”
- David apparently convinced himself that the ends justify the means.
- On occasion, I’ve heard people in Ministry say “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask permission.”
- David has allowed that kind of idea to sprout in his head and live there!
- What were the consequences of David’s lies?
- There were consequences for David’s wife.
- He allows his wife lie for him.
- Her father, the king, is furious with her.
- Her life is put in danger.
- There were consequences for Jonathan.
- Saul is FURIOUS with him!
- Jonathan is almost killed by Saul.
- It certainly put a strain on his relationship with his father.
- There were consequences for Ahimelech, and all the priests and families in Nob.
- We read in the next chapter that Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds” was there, and at the right moment to ingratiate himself to Saul, tells an “edited version” of what happens.
1 Samuel 22:9–10 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, said, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. “He inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
- Doeg even becomes Saul’s assassin.
1 Samuel 22:17–20 And the king said to the guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the LORD to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me.” But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the LORD. Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and attacked the priests, and he killed that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword. But one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
- There were even consequences for David.
- David had to bear the weight of what had happened the rest of his life.
1 Samuel 22:22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household.
- David even writes a psalm about it.
Psalm 52
For the choir director. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
1 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good,
Falsehood more than speaking what is right.
Selah.
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent,
And uproot you from the land of the living.
Selah.
6 The righteous will see and fear,
And will laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches
And was strong in his evil desire.”
8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it,
And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
(Selah: Likely a musical or liturgical term. The term may refer to silence, pause, or an interlude. However, the exact meaning of the Hebrew term is unknown.)
Conclusion: What can we learn today that will have an effect on my life?
- Even a “Man after God’s own heart” can and will fail in his pursuit of godliness.
- When that person allows their fear to grow larger than their faith!
- Don’t allow fear to flourish! TRUST GOD!
- There are no perfect followers…. But there are many forgiven followers.
- There’s always going to be someone around to point out what we did wrong.
- In this case if was Doeg.
- For us, there are people in our lives who will happily point out where we have gone wrong.
- Some of them will be pagans.
- But some of them are liable to be Christians.
- If they point out our failures in order to be helpful to us by guiding us back to the right path, then we should be grateful.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
- If they are gloating about our failure and pointing it out to hurt us, that’s totally another matter.
- There will most certainly be consequences for the wrong we do.
Galatians 6:7–8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- Consequences for us,Consequences for others.
- Those consequences may sprout and come up months or years after the wrong was done!
Do your best to live in such a way that you will not bring dishonor to your Lord. When you do fail, REPENT!
