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1 SAMUEL 21

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 21:1-7
  ¹Then 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?" ²David said to Ahimelech 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.' ³Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found." ⁴The 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." ⁵David 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?" ⁶So 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. ⁷Now 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.

21:1 "Nob" This (BDB 611) became the site of YHWH's tabernacle after the destruction of Shiloh. It was a short distance north of Jerusalem.

▣ "Ahimelech the priest" He was the son of Ahitub, son of Eli (cf. 1 Sam. 14:3, i.e., great grandson of Eli, priest at Shiloh).

Because of Mark 2:26 (i.e., name reversal), see my exegetical note from my commentary on Mark:

Mark 2:26 "Abiathar" There is a historical problem between 1 Sam. 21:1ff, when compared to 2 Sam. 8:17 and 1 Chr. 18:16 over the name Abiathar or Abimelech:

1. both the father and the son are called High Priest
2. Jesus used a PREPOSITION, epi, with a GENITIVE in the sense of "in the days of" which meant "during his time" (cf. Acts 11:28; Heb. 1:2).

We know that shortly after this event King Saul killed Abimelech and Abiathar fled to David (cf. 1 Sam. 22:11-23) and became one of two recognized high priests (i.e., Abiathar and Zadock).

This is one example of the kinds of problems that simply cannot be explained away. This is not Greek manuscript variation. If it was one has to assume an early scribal error before the papyri manuscripts were hand copied (which is speculation). It bothers all Bible teachers that Jesus misquotes a part of the OT history, especially since in this context Jesus is chiding the Pharisees for not reading the Scripture.

There are some books that try to deal with the conservative options in interpreting difficult texts.

1. Hard Sayings of the Bible by Walter C Kaiser, Jr., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce and Manfred T. Branch
2. Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties by Gleason L. Archer
3. Answers to Questions by F. F. Bruce

▣ "came trembling to meet David" Obviously he was aware of Saul's irrational behavior toward David.

21:2 David lies in an attempt to protect Ahimelech and the other priest from Saul's wrath.

21:3 David asks for food (and weapons). He pretends it is for his young men (v. 2) but this is part of the lie.

21:4 "consecrated bread" In v. 6 it is called "the bread of the Presence."

SPECIAL TOPIC: SHOW BREAD or BREAD OF THE PRESENCE

▣ "if only. . ." This is a strange question to moderns but we must remember how central ceremonial cleanliness (i.e., contact with bodily fluids made one unclean; blood, sores, sex, menstrual cycles, nocturnal emissions) was to the Israelites. These men were going into battle. They had to refrain from sexual activity to be holy (cf. Lev. 15:32-33; Deut. 23:9-14; 2 Sam. 11:8-13).

The MT has a MASCULINE NOUN (BDB 479, KB 478, PLURAL) that has a wide semantic field, but I think the best guess is the "bag" they used to carry their food (JPSOA).

21:6 "before the Lord" This bread was placed on a table in the Holy Place and replaced once a week.

SPECIAL TOPIC: TABERNACLE OF THE WILDERNESS

SPECIAL TOPIC: SHOW BREAD OR BREAD OF THE PRESENCE

21:7 "Doeg" Notice how he is characterized.

1. an Edomite
2. a servant of Saul
3. called "the chief shepherd"

Josephus, Antiq. 6.12.2, says he was Syrian and that he kept the king's mules (i.e., royal mount).

The IVP Bible Background Commentary (OT), p. 312, suggests he was

1. a royal runner (emendation, cf. 1 Sam. 22:17)
2. a mercenary in Saul's army
3. a scribe (Ugaritic)

This VERB (BDB 783, KB 870, Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE) means "restrain" or "retain." You can see from the translations the meaning here is uncertain. The BDB suggests "kept by a vow." Possibly the completion of it was delayed because of his ritual uncleanness.

Some scholars (NIDOTTE, vol 3, p. 501, #1) suggest the term is parallel to "chief shepherd," and so should be understood as "ruler-deliverer." Many of the connotations of the root imply a "divine purpose in relation to humans rather than human restraint of others" (p. 502, #4).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 21:8-9
  ⁸David 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." ⁹Then 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."

21:8 This is still part of the lie to protect the priests at Nob from Saul's irrational wrath.

The MT has the Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE (BDB 637, KB 690) but it occurs only here in the OT. NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 83, suggests the root is used in Dan. 9:26, "decide" or "decree."

21:9 "the sword of Goliath" David had put it in the shrine earlier (cf. 1 Sam. 17:54).

▣ "ephod" See SPECIAL TOPIC: EPHOD.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 21:10-15
  ¹⁰Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹But the servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,
 'Saul has slain his thousands,
 And David his ten thousands'?"
¹²David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. ¹³So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. ¹⁴Then Achish said to his servants, "Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? ¹⁵Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?"

21:10 "Achish king of Gath" Gath was one of the five city-states of the Philistines. See note at 1 Sam. 4:1.

21:11 The servants of Achish knew a lot about David (i.e., Josh. 2:9; 5:1).

It is possible that "the king of the land" refers to Achish, not David (see its use in Josh. 12:7-24).

21:12-13 David feared Achish (i.e., because he was alone, v. 1) and pretended to be mad (BDB 993, KB 1415).

1. acted insanely
2. scribbled on the doors of the gate (VERB occurs only here in the Piel stem and once in the Hiphil stem, Ezra 9:4; the LXX and Vulgate assume an emendation to "beat on the gate," BDB 1074, KB 1779, Piel IMPERFECT, NJB).
3. let saliva run down into his beard

This event appears in the traditional introduction to Psalm 34.

It is possible that acting like a madman (i.e., ecstasy, cf. 1 Sam. 19:20-24; 2 Kgs. 9:11; Jer. 29:26; Hos 9:7) would have been seen as the acts of a prophet/wiseman and not a military man.

21:13 "disguised his sanity" The NOUN (BDB 381) translated "insanity" normally means "to taste" or "to sample" or metaphorically "to discern." Only here does it have the connotation of "change of mind" (NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 379).

Remember, words have meaning only in context!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why does the NT say "Abiathar" was High Priest (Mark 2:26) but here "Ahimelech"?
2. Why was Ahimelech trembling at David's coming?
3. Why is it so unusual for the priest to give David the consecrated bread?
4. Does sex make one sinful (vv. 4-8)?
5. Who was Doeg?
6. What is an "ephod" (v. 29)?

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