And the king said to the couriers that stood about him, Turn and put the priests of Jehovah to death; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not inform me. But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Jehovah.
Doeg has told Saul that Ahimelech the priest helped David. Saul now calls in the whole priestly family, sentences them on the spot, and orders his own guards to kill them — but they refuse.
Saul had reached his verdict before the priests even arrived.
He summoned not only Ahimelech but all his relatives, the priests who were at Nob. He did not call them to find out whether Doeg's words were true. He called them to accuse them all, unjustly, of conspiring with David against Saul. This was completely false. So was his assumption that what Ahimelech had done for David was done to get David to raise a rebellion against Saul. Neither David nor Ahimelech had any such motives.
The sentence still needed hands to carry it out. Saul's own guards would not move.
The truth had no effect on Saul's cold-blooded arrogance. He sentenced Ahimelech and all the priests to immediate death, only because of his unreasoning fear and hatred of David. Saul ordered the soldiers to kill the priests, but they were sensible enough to disobey his foolish command, above all because these men were priests of the Lord (v.17). The soldiers at least realized they would have to answer to the Lord for such an atrocious action. Their work was to fight ENEMIES, not their own people Israel.
Their refusal marks a boundary. A ruler's authority is real, but it stops where God's word begins.
But suppose these authorities — emperors, kings, or magistrates — travel outside their own province, as Nebuchadnezzar did. Suppose they try to put their own will in place of the word of God, and to force that will on the consciences of their subjects. They are then putting themselves in the place of God. At that point the believer must disobey, out of real faithfulness to God and at whatever cost, as those three captives did. The limit of his obedience to kings is obedience to God in obeying them.
The order still found a willing hand. The man who obeyed was not an Israelite.
This does not bother the conscience of Doeg the Edomite, however. When Saul orders him to kill the priests, he is glad to take up this cowardly slaughter. None of them had a weapon to hold him off, and he would probably kill Israelite priests as readily as anyone else. Yet who can doubt that Saul's own conscience would accuse him painfully afterward for the awful guilt of murdering 85 priests of the Lord?
This was not a sudden fall. Saul had been mishandling holy things for years.
To an Israelite, this open sacrilege must have been a terrible revelation of the true character of the king. He had begun by intruding into the priest's office at Gilgal, offering a sacrifice he had no right to offer. He had gone on in rebellion and disobedience. Now he attacks God's priesthood, and so puts the seal on the irreverence that ran through his whole character.
The priests who died belonged to the house of Eli. A judgment on that family had been spoken long before, and commentators trace its fulfilment in three stages.
The Philistines kill Hophni and Phinehas in battle (1 Sam. 4:11). Sixty years later King Saul cuts off Eli's descendants (1 Sam. 22:18). And one hundred years after the prediction King Solomon removes the last of Eli's house from the priest's office (1 Kings 2:27).
Not every priest died that day. The survivor ran toward the hunted man, not the palace. What the throne destroyed, the outcast sheltered.
One priest, Abiathar, escapes and flees to David with the priestly robe. He finds his protection with the Lord's anointed. In David's own words, he is joined to him in his danger and in the protection David's presence gives: "He who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safety." So we have a travelling court in miniature — the king attended by the priest and the prophet and a little company of loyal supporters. What does it matter that there is no royal palace?
- Suspicion — Saul called the priests in to convict them, not to check Doeg's report. The conspiracy he named never existed.
- Conscience — his own guards refused. They knew they would answer to the Lord for killing the Lord's priests.
- Limit — a subject obeys a ruler only as far as that obedience is obedience to God. Past that line, refusal is faithfulness.
- Willingness — a foreigner did what Israelites refused to do. Saul's own conscience would accuse him for it later.
- Safety — the one priest who escaped found shelter with the rejected king. The priest, the prophet and the king were all outside the palace.
And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall on the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and fell on the priests, and put to death that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.
Saul has just condemned Ahimelech and all the priests at Nob for plotting with David, and his own soldiers refuse to kill them. So the king turns to Doeg, a foreigner in his service, who kills eighty-five men wearing the linen ephod, the priest's garment.
Saul's own men understood the order, and they would not obey it. Their disobedience was not cowardice but conscience.
Saul ordered the soldiers to kill the priests, but they were sensible enough to disobey his foolish command. They refused above all because these men were priests of the Lord (v.17). The soldiers at least realised they would have to answer to the Lord for such an action. Their task was to fight ENEMIES, not their own people Israel.
Doeg felt none of this restraint, and stepping forward marked him out as Saul's true man.
And so the priests are slain. The servants of Saul shrink from such unholy work, but Doeg is equal to the occasion, and makes good his title to association with king Saul by his slaughter of the innocent priests.
Before the sword came the report he carried to Saul. Commentators point to Psalm 52 as the Spirit's own verdict on him.
Doeg stands out in this history for all the wrong reasons... He is a treacherous foe. He has learned that there is no more powerful weapon for destroying the innocent than the tongue... To learn the Holy Spirit's estimate of him, and David's by the Spirit, we must turn to Psalm 52. He was a proud boaster, making much of himself because of his position and resources, and he did not make God his strength. He was a lover of evil and of falsehood.
This was not a sudden fall. It was the last step on a long road.
To an Israelite, this open sacrilege must have been a terrible revelation of the king's true character. He had begun by taking over the priest's role at Gilgal, offering a sacrifice he had no right to offer. From there he went on in rebellion and disobedience. Now he puts the seal on the deep irreverence of his whole character by attacking God's priesthood.
Saul had not always been so thorough.
Saul and the people "devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword," and everything "despised and worthless." But "the best of the sheep and of the oxen... and all that was good, they would not utterly destroy." Alas for Saul! When his murderous heart turned against Ahimelech for his supposed sympathy with David, he was far more thorough in his work.
Ahimelech belonged to the line of Eli, against whom God had already pronounced judgment. This day was one instalment of it.
Eli had sinned through his family, and on his family the judgment would come... The Philistines killed Hophni and Phinehas in battle (1 Sam. 4:11). Sixty years later King Saul cut off the descendants of Eli's house (1 Sam. 22:18). And one hundred years after the prediction King Solomon removed the last of Eli's house from the priesthood (1 Kings 2:27).
David had lied to Ahimelech at Nob to get bread and a sword.
Ahimelech is too considerate to mention the lie David used to get the bread and the sword. That lie would have made David look guilty in Saul's eyes. But in the end this lie leads to the ruin of the priest and all his house. David is well aware of it when he tells Abiathar, "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house" (v. 22). So he judges himself. Yet on God's side, David is 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."
Saul destroyed the priests; the effect was that the way of approach to God left his court for the cave.
Doeg, at Saul's command, had struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword — men and women, children and infants... But the effect of it is that this holy link with the LORD, this means of keeping up relationship with Him, is now found with David.
David's answer to the news was not despair.
David had learned that "Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul." And so he announces judgment without mercy on the Edomite, Israel's sworn enemy. But that does not destroy the confidence of the man of God. Quite the opposite. Against the dark background of this wickedness the believer's blessed portion shines out: "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever."
- Refusal. Saul's soldiers would not strike priests of the LORD. They knew they must answer to Him. A king's order does not cancel accountability to God.
- Readiness. Doeg's willingness showed who he was — a boaster who did not make God his strength. His tongue destroyed the innocent before his sword did.
- Ruin. Saul spared the best of the spoil, but at Nob he spared no one. Attacking the priesthood sealed the character of his whole reign.
- Reckoning. The slaughter carried out an earlier sentence on Eli's house. David also owned his part: his lie at Nob helped bring it about.
- Refuge. One priest escaped to the rejected king and heard, "With me you shall be in safekeeping." With David, not at court, the way to God was now found.
And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword, both men and women, infants and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
Nob was the town of the priests, home of the tabernacle, and Doeg destroyed it in a day — every household, every child, every animal. Two questions follow: how did a king of Israel come to this, and what became of the priesthood afterwards?
Commentators stress how far the killing reached beyond the priests themselves.
Doeg's thirst for blood did not stop until he had gone through Nob, the city of the priests, killing both men and women, little children and domesticated animals. What honourable person in Israel would not be appalled at this indiscriminate wicked rampage of cold-blooded murder? The fact that the king ordered it only increased the horror.
God had once ordered Saul to destroy Amalek, an enemy nation, and everything it owned. Saul kept back the best of the livestock. The obedience he withheld from God, he gave to his own temper.
Saul and the people "devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword," and "all that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction." But the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, they would not utterly destroy. How sad for Saul! His murderous heart went out against Ahimelech for his supposed sympathy with David. There he was far more thorough in his work.
This was not a sudden lapse. One writer traces it back to Saul's first offence years earlier.
To an Israelite, this open sacrilege must have been a terrible revelation of the king's true character. He began by intruding into the priest's office at Gilgal, offering a sacrifice which he had no right to offer. He then went on in rebellion and disobedience. Now, by attacking God's priesthood, he puts the seal on the essential irreverence of his whole character.
Doeg carried out the order when Saul's own servants refused. Commentators turn to Psalm 52 for God's verdict on him.
Doeg is a treacherous foe: one who has learned that there is no more powerful weapon for the destruction of the innocent than the tongue... To learn the Holy Spirit's estimate of him, and David's by the Spirit, we must turn to Psalm 52. He was a proud boaster, magnifying himself because of his position and resources. And "he did not make God his refuge." He was a lover of evil and of falsehood. In the tabernacle and before the Lord he was planning the work of destruction. He prepared his tongue like a sharp razor to kill the guiltless — a fierce wolf, not sparing the flock.
David himself had lied at Nob to get bread and a sword. He did not excuse himself for what followed.
Out of delicacy, Ahimelech never mentions the lie that David had used to get the bread and the sword. That lie would have compromised him in Saul's eyes. But it is this lie which finally leads to the ruin of the priest and all his house. David is well aware of this when he tells Abiathar: "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house." So he judges himself.
The priests at Nob came from the family of Eli. God had passed sentence on that family long before Saul was king.
Eli had sinned through his family, and on his family the judgment would come. The increase of his house would die in the prime of life... The later history gives the solemn fulfilment of these predictions. Hophni and Phinehas died in the fight with the Philistines. Sixty years later King Saul cut off the increase of Eli's house. A hundred years after the prediction, King Solomon removed the last of Eli's house from being priest.
One priest escaped, and he ran straight to David.
One priest, Abiathar, escapes, and flees to David with the priestly robe. He finds his protection with the Lord's anointed... So we have in miniature — may we say? — a travelling court. The priest, the prophet and a little company of loyal supporters go with the king. What does it matter that there is no royal palace? ... God's presence is with him. For faith, that presence is infinitely greater than the most magnificent palaces and the largest armies.
- Word — a tongue, not an army, emptied a town. Psalm 52 calls that tongue "a sharp razor."
- Will — Saul spared what God told him to destroy, then destroyed the priests God had given him.
- Wound — David's lie at Nob came back as blood on his hands, and he took the blame himself.
- Warning — the judgment spoken over Eli's house came true, decades late but not one word short.
- Welcome — the one priest who escaped ran to the rejected king. The priesthood went with the outcast, not the palace.
And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
Saul has just had the priests of Nob killed for helping David. One of them escapes, runs to David, and carries the priesthood with him — out of the reigning king's reach and into the hands of the rejected one.
Abiathar's arrival brought David both a report and a burden.
One son of Ahimelech escaped, however, and went to David, the only possible refuge at the time. He gave David the report of all that had happened. David felt responsible for causing the death of the priests, because, as he said, he knew Doeg would inform on him when he saw him at Nob (v.22). One wonders what David could have done to protect the priests. But no doubt he did not expect so great a slaughter. David's comforting words to Abiathar remind us of the Lord's care. He cares for those who take a place of rejection with Him.
Ahimelech came from the house of Eli, a priestly line already under sentence. God had said this line would be cut off long before Saul gave his order.
Remember that Ahimelech was of the house of Eli. God's judgment had doomed that house to be wiped out, because of the wickedness at Shiloh (1 Sam. 2:30-33; 1 Sam. 3:12-14). In keeping with this judgment, all of Eli's descendants died at Nob — with one exception. God had not forgotten the mercy Ahimelech showed to His anointed. So He did not yet make a full end of the line of Ithamar, or wipe Eli's family off the earth. He spared Abiathar to represent the younger branch of Aaron's house all through David's reign.
The judgment fell in stages, over a hundred years.
The Philistines killed Hophni and Phinehas in battle (1 Sam. 4:11). Sixty years later King Saul cut off the offspring of Eli's house (1 Sam. 22:18). And a hundred years after the prediction, King Solomon removed the last of Eli's house from the priesthood (1 Kings 2:27).
Saul aimed at David and struck the priests instead. The result was the opposite of what he wanted. The link with God left his court and followed the outcast.
The king stooped — no, Satan's power blinded him — to use his herdsman Doeg, an Edomite, against the priests of the Lord! ... Where was self-judgment for the sin which had forfeited the kingdom? Where was the sense of the honour God had put on him, and of his own misuse of it? Only a bitter, deadly hatred burns inside him. It breaks out now — not against the man he most wanted to destroy, but against those who had shown him kindness, priests of the Lord though they were. But it has one effect: this holy link with the Lord, the means of keeping up relationship with Him, is now found with David.
With Abiathar's arrival, David's company held everything the kingdom should have had.
Here he is in his place. All was there — royalty, prophecy, and priesthood. Saul, after having despised prophecy, turns against the priesthood. Yet David is not discouraged; he will protect Abiathar.
Abiathar did not arrive empty-handed. He brought the ephod — the way a priest asked God for guidance.
The revelation of God's mind, absent from Saul's court and from his people, found refuge with David's company. The king's murderous act against Nob drives Abiathar the priest to David (v. 20). Later he comes to him with the ephod in his hand (1 Sam. 23:6). The way to come near God, to ask His mind at any time, to enter into fellowship with Him — that is the happy privilege of these homeless wanderers, whom the world shames and despises.
One writer names what Abiathar was really protecting.
He realised that the one thing that mattered most was keeping connection with the Lord... We can be sure that persecution will make us want the Lord's mind on everything all the more.
One writer turns the escape into a direct appeal to the reader.
The first thing is salvation. In danger of his life, Abiathar fled to David. There he found salvation from the sword of Saul. And sinner, you must flee to Christ... "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
- Escape. One son of Ahimelech got away, and the only refuge open to him was the man Saul was hunting.
- Mercy. He lived because God remembered the kindness Ahimelech had shown His anointed. That was mercy inside a judgment already announced on Eli's house.
- Transfer. Saul's attack on the priests drove the link with God out of his court and into David's hands.
- Resource. Abiathar came carrying the ephod, so the homeless company could still ask God and get His answer.
- Refuge. What Abiathar found with David, the sinner finds in Christ: safety with the rejected king.