And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house.
Abiathar has escaped from Nob, where Doeg killed eighty-five priests at Saul's command. David's first response is to blame himself, not Saul or Doeg.
What David Knew at Nob
David is not saying he foresaw a massacre. He is saying he saw an informer and did nothing about it.
Leslie M. GrantOne son of Ahimelech escaped, however, and went to David, the only possible refuge at the time. He reported to David everything that had happened. David felt himself responsible for causing the death of the priests. As he said, he knew Doeg would be an informer 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.
The Lie That Started It
David's lie at Nob won him bread and a sword. It cost Ahimelech far more. Where the ESV says David occasioned the death of these priests, older translations say he was accountable for all their lives.
H. L. RossierAhimelech is too considerate to mention the lie David had used to get the bread and the sword. That lie would have compromised David 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 am accountable for all the lives of your father's house" (v. 22). So he judges himself.
Why a Man of Faith Lied
David's journey to Ahimelech was a step of faith. What he said when he arrived was not.
A. PridhamDavid lied to Ahimelech. He believed that Saul's name carried more weight with the priest than God's name did. David went to Ahimelech in faith… But policy governed how he acted in front of the Lord's priest, and faith had no part in it. This is how the faith of God's saints has often failed. They judge rightly that no one can safely lean on man, so they shape their conduct to fit the circumstances of the time. But this is to forget God — to lose sight of Him as the shield and light of the way we walk now… Shifty dealing and lying are the natural tools of spiritual fear. God is the believer's strength. If we forget Him when difficulties come, crooked ways are the certain result.
Sin That Spreads Beyond the Sinner
One lie did not stop with the man who told it. It also shut a door the truth might have opened.
The Bible TreasuryIf David had told the whole truth, the priest might even then have joined his side, as his son Abiathar did later. Full trust in God would surely have spoken then the words of faith David later said to the son: "With me you shall be in safekeeping"… The effects of one man's sin are seldom limited to himself.
Confession Without Excuses
David's words to Abiathar are not only a confession to a man. Behind them is a confession already made to God.
William J. HockingDavid had sinned at Nob. But he surely confessed his guilt to God. He confessed it to the grief-stricken Abiathar too, saying, "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house." The confession came from an honest and good heart. He took the whole blame on himself and tried to make no excuses for himself. But he could not bring the dead priestly families back to life.
A Longer Story Behind the Slaughter
David's guilt is real. Commentators also tie the massacre to a judgment God had spoken long before against Eli's family.
C. KnappDoeg the Edomite killed the Lord's priests, eighty-five of them, at Saul's command. That terrible slaughter was part of the judgment God had pronounced on Eli's family (1 Sam. 22). Only one, Abiathar, escaped and fled to David. He served as priest with David through the years of David's rejection… God had pronounced this judgment on the family nearly a century before. It came slowly, but it came exactly as God had said.
Summary
- Seen — David saw Doeg at Nob and knew what the man was; the verse is his admission that he read the danger and let it pass.
- Said — The bread and the sword were not the fatal thing. The lie he told Ahimelech was, and it ruined the priest's whole house.
- Source — Behind the lie was a moment when Saul's name weighed more with David than God's. Policy replaced faith.
- Spread — One man's sin rarely stops with him. The truth might have won Ahimelech to David's side instead of costing him his life.
- Spoken — David takes the whole blame with no excuse, and offers the survivor shelter at his own side. Confession could not raise the dead, but it could still shield the living.