1 Samuel 21:1

This chapter begins the record of David's wanderings as an exile. He wrote many Psalms during this time of the rejection of the Lord's anointed... He reached Nob after he parted from Jonathan. At Nob stood the tabernacle of the Lord, and Ahimelech (my brother is King), son of Ahitub (22:9) and great-grandson of Eli, was serving as priest. Nob lay north of Jerusalem, not far from the city (Isaiah 10:32).

David is now an outcast and a fugitive, cut off from any hope from Saul's government. By instinct he flees first to the priest, who keeps the sanctuary of the Lord. From him David would seek food for himself and his few followers. The priest seems to know how disordered things are in king Saul's court, so he hesitates to help David. But David's lie puts him at ease.

David came down to Nob, and this alarmed Ahimelech the priest, who asks why he had no man with him. The account here makes it look as if no-one was with him. Yet others must have been nearby, because the Lord Jesus, commenting on this occasion, plainly speaks of "those who were with him (David)" (Mt. 12:3). As he told Ahimelech, he had apparently posted his servants somewhere in the area. Still, his words were not true that the king had sent him on a secret mission.

David, fleeing from Saul, comes to Ahimelech, who is afraid when he sees David alone. He had likely heard of Saul's hatred and of David's distress... Sadly, his untruthfulness now takes a clearer form... Having begun with deception, he sinks deeper into its trap. He invents details to prop up his first claim. Was he remembering this and other times like it when he later sang of the blessing of the Man in Whose spirit there was no deceit? Even this shows the perfection of the One of Whom it is said, in the fullest sense, "neither was deceit found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2:22).

There is no need to try to justify, and little reason to fully condemn, the course of a man who was only human, hunted by a powerful and relentless enemy... If we complain about the weakness of his faith, which led him to fall back on human tricks of deception, let us search and test our own hearts. We may find far more untruthfulness in them than in this beloved man after God's own heart.

The chosen king is now rejected. He goes to the priest, who gives him the holy bread. This is the sovereign grace of God, who rises above the ordinances tied to blessing when that blessing is refused — when He Himself is refused in His chosen one and in the power of His testimony. When that happens, His sovereign grace sets faith above ordinances.

Out of delicacy, Ahimelech does not mention the lie David used to get the bread and the sword... Yet it is this lie that finally ruins the priest and all his house. David knows this well when he tells Abiathar: "I am accountable for all the lives of your father's house" (v. 22). So he judges himself. Yet on God's side he is also a picture of the One who keeps the believer safe: "Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping."