Nob at first light: a small town of flat-roofed stone houses on a rocky ridge, and among them the long, low tabernacle tent under its dark goat-hair covering inside a linen-screened court, a thin line of altar smoke rising into a calm pale sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 21

A hungry fugitive, a frightened priest, holy bread and a giant’s sword, and one of Saul’s men watching it all.

15 verses≈ 3 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listened
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waitsChapter 21
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

David Takes the Consecrated Bread

Morning at the gate of the tabernacle court at Nob: the old priest Ahimelech has hurried out and stops short, hands half raised, as David walks up the path alone, dusty, with no weapon; another priest watches from a doorway.

Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest.

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Ahimelech

And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

David

“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission on which I am sending you. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”

“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”

David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the bodies of the young men are holy even on common missions. How much more so today!”

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence

1 Samuel 21:6

Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul.

Question

Quick question

David arrived at Nob hungry and alone, and the priest had no ordinary food on hand.

What bread did Ahimelech give David?

David Flees to Gath

David

Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s mission was urgent.”

Ahimelech

The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one here.”

In a dim stone storeroom of the sanctuary, a white linen ephod hangs on a wooden stand; behind it on two pegs lies a huge iron sword in a linen cloth folded back to show its long dark blade, the old priest’s hands just lifting it down.

And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

Late afternoon: the Philistine city of Gath on its high mound at the mouth of a valley, mud-brick walls on stone footings and one deep gateway; a lone traveler with a long wrapped bundle across his back walks the road toward the gate.

That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

0:04

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

When I am afraid

At Gath, David “took these words to heart and was very much afraid.” The psalm he wrote about those days says that when he was afraid, he would trust in God. Name a fear you are carrying right now, and write one sentence of trust in God to set beside it.

You’ve experienced

1 Samuel 21

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A verse to carry with you

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

1 Samuel 21:6

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