1 Samuel Chapter 21 Verses 1 – 2

·    We spoke last week about David’s issue with telling the truth. We see here again David uses deception, outright lies, and even more, to the Ahimelech the priest. All the while, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him… Doesn’t ring right, I know, but this shows us that even as Spirit filled and Spirit led Christians, none of us are robots…, being controlled on puppet strings by the will of God. That each of us retain our own will and in order to bring about God’s results in our lives, God’s will in our lives, we must take the action to bend our will to God’s will…

·    Romans 8 starts out famously by saying, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” but that verse does continue, “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Giving an implication that we can bring upon our own lives a certain finite, worldly condemnation if we do not act/react according to the Spirit. It happens to David…, you’ll see that in short order…

·    Romans 8 (verses 5-8) continues on to say, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

·    Filled and led by the Holy Spirit, lovers of Jesus and worshippers of God, all still have a first nature of selfishness and sin, and all still have free will to conduct their lives. It all comes down to trusting self or trusting God. God would have taken care of David; I am sure of that. But David trusts himself over God in this moment as in many others, so he lies to manipulate the situation rather than trusting that God had the situation in hand, and it ends up costing him and many many others greatly.

·    We will see at the end of the next chapter that Saul finds out about this and murders Ahimelech, his entire house, his family, all of the priests of Nob and even the city including women and children and all animals. There is great bloodshed because of David’s deception… It’s been said and this is foundationally true, you can choose your sin but you cannot choose your consequences, and sin always costs you more than you’d ever had been willing to pay…

1 Samuel Chapter 21 Verses 3 – 6

·    The show bread would be put onto a table of pure gold right at the entrance of the Tabernacle as you come in to the right. There would be the showbread on the right, the menorah on the left and the table of incense right in front of you. Then, right beyond the incense would be the veil separating the Holy Place of the tabernacle from the Most Holy Place.

·    The showbread was representative of the communion God had and desired with the nation of Israel, with the people. There would be 12 loaves, one for each tribe, and it would be placed there, representative of the fellowship, communion and unity God wanted with the people. In that culture, to share a loaf of bread would be to become one with them…

·    The showbread was to be kept hot and fresh. Just like God’s desired fellowship with His people and just like Little Caesars! HA! He didn’t want cold, stale or yesterday’s bread! Just like right now! God wants a living relationship with you and with me! Fresh, daily prepared and unseasoned/unleavened! Not cold, not lukewarm but hot and warm with a soft center!! OH YEA! Like Golden Corral buns, baby!!

·    Now, the showbread was to be eaten by the priests in a holy place according to Leviticus 24:9 but the Bible doesn’t expressly say that no one else was allowed to eat it… So many conclude, including Jesus, what Ahimelech does here which is essentially valuing people over practice, was righteous.

·    Jesus uses this as a proof text in Matthew 12 when His disciples were criticized for breaking religious practice by eating the heads of the grain as they walked through a field on the Sabbath. Jesus’ response, Matthew 12:3-4, “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?” Jesus gives us the point in verse 7, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”

·    Ahimelech did not transgress the Word of God in feeding David when he was hungry. He did transgress his own custom. This is precisely good in the eyes of God. Serve the person, feed the hungry, meet the needs of those in need even when they are walking in the flesh, and even if it’s against your religious customs or practices…

1 Samuel Chapter 21 Verses 7 – 9

·    Doeg is not a Jew but an Edomite, he is the chief of the herdsmen for Saul, and he is with the priest… We aren’t told why. It’s interesting to think about with really no possibility at discovering why he was there… But it is interesting that this is probably one of the last people David wants to run into…, a chief that serves Saul who is trying to find and kill him!

·    Sometimes going to church, that’s where David has gone for help, sometimes that’s not so easy. But it’s still a good idea. David gets food and he gets armed… His strategy is suspect, he definitely didn’t have to use deception for sure, but where else would he get this kind of equipment to continue on in his journey?

·    Sometimes the last place you want to go, especially when you’ve been walking in the flesh, is church. But, may I just say, it’s the place you need to go. You find amongst the people of God and in the presence of God equipment that cannot be found anywhere else. Worship, humility, wisdom of the Word, food for the spirit, rest for the soul. Hope…

·    David holds in his hands once again a symbol of his greatest moment of faith in his life. The sword of Goliath. And Ahimelech just happened to have it? It’s good to be reminded of past faith, past triumphs, past faithfulness of God… It’s super interesting…, Doeg the Edomite was probably the last thing David needed, but the sword of Goliath was probably the thing David most needed… Both were are church…

·    Over the years I have seen so many come and go and for good reason. To go off into new ministry that God is starting through them, moving with their family for the next chapter in their lives, but also, I’ve seen so many disappear because what’s here for them is the last thing they want. A person that’s hurt them, confrontation and challenge, revelation of their own sin…, a call to bend their will…, so they leave…, and yet I know, what is most needed for them is also right here… Not at another, new, comfortable, unfamiliar fellowship, but right here, where they must face whatever it is that causes them so much consternation and work through it and grow up in it… Much easier to Google search the next church…

1 Samuel Chapter 21 Verse 10

·    Notice where David’s chosen path of deception takes him… To the enemy. I wonder if he had of been truthful with Saul if he’d still be in the castle, reconciled to the king he loves and helping him as he suffers with the distressing spirit. I wonder if he had of been truthful with Ahimelech and Doeg that he could have found refuge in Nob, and Doeg would have kept his mouth shut (which he does not). All this wondering is useless…, because what becomes reality is David, carrying the sword of offense into the house of the enemy…

1 Samuel Chapter 21 Verses 11 – 15

·    I can’t help but see from 10,000 feet that David now acts ridiculously. Shamefully. He has become irrational, and it’s a progression. I see it so clearly… No deception defeats in a moment. It has staying power. He is in this situation and having to act this way not because he is in Achish and knows he will be killed as quickly as he has arrived, but because he chose to lie to Saul…

·    And yet God is merciful. Psalm 34 is one of the most precious and encouraging chapters in the entire Bible. It is a song of praise to God who delivers those that are His. David sings of his desperation and crying out to God (clues we aren’t given in 1 Samuel 21) and how God heard him and delivered him.

·    What does that have to do with this scene? Psalm 34 begins, “A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.” (Abimelech is probably a royal title for the king and not his proper name, which is Achish. It was not uncommon to have more than one name: Gideon was also Jerubbaal and Solomon was also Jedidiah).

·    God is good. He is faithful even when we are faithless… And if you find yourself in a time tonight where you have done some things, made some poor decisions, and all you are deserving of is God’s complete ignoring of your self-inflicted pain, He won’t. His love for you is not stained or swayed by your sin.

·    The King of Achish rejected the madman from his house…, God doesn’t. Whosoever would believe in Him… He gives everlasting life. Anyone, any background, any situation, any condition, any time…