Who was Doeg the Edomite?

Chief of Saul's herdsmen, an Edomite, who informed Saul of David's being aided by Ahimelech, and who afterwards slew the latter and his house — 85 priests. 1 Sam. 21:7; 1 Sam. 22:9-22; Ps. 52 title. We have no information as to how such a man could have been 'detained before the Lord.' He may have been a proselyte and had some vow upon him.

Then Doeg (the fearful) is mentioned. He was an Edomite and a prominent servant of Saul. David knew with the presence of Doeg that his secret was now discovered and Doeg later told Saul about it (22:9). He also received the sword of Goliath. With it he had slain the giant and, as we showed before, it is the type of Him who by death has destroyed him who has the power of death. The victory our Lord has won through death is the weapon against all our enemies.

Another instance of this perpetual hatred is seen in the conduct of Doeg, an Edomite in the service of Saul. David, the Lord's anointed, had not yet come to the throne. Hunted and threatened, he fled to Abimelech the priest, who treated him kindly and supplied him with food. But the treacherous Edomite witnessed the transaction and lost no time in informing Saul, and thus procuring the death of eighty-five men of the priestly family.

"I knew it!" cried David, when he was told of the cruel deed; "I knew it that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul" (1 Sam. 22:22).

Moses said to the children of Gad and of Reuben, "Be sure your sin will find you out;" wrong-doing cannot be long concealed. David was to discover that the evil seed he had planted in Nob would produce its evil fruit, and that very quickly. The unfriendly eye of Doeg, the chief of the royal herdmen, saw him there, and he carried the news of the befriending act of Ahimelech to his master. The king was furious, and issued the cruel order for the wholesale massacre of the inhabitants of Nob, men, women, and children. Of the retinue of Saul, none would obey him and lift up their hands against the defenceless priests of the Lord, except Doeg himself, his Edomite servant.

There was a solitary survivor of the priestly household. Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled from Nob to David, told him the fearful news, and he was stricken with remorse.

In response to such an appeal to self-interest, one replies, who is not a Benjamite, nor even an Israelite, but a member of the ungodly race of Edomites, the relentless enemies of the people of God. It is quite suggestive that an alien should be the chief of the shepherds of king Saul, and that the king should have as his servant one of the race closely linked with the Amalekites whom he had failed to completely destroy.

Doeg, intentionally or otherwise, misrepresents David's interview with Ahimelech. From David's characterization of it in Psalm 52, there can be little doubt that his own enmity led him deliberately to lie. Whatever would weaken the kingdom of Israel would be pleasing to an Edomite. According to his representation, Ahimelech was in the conspiracy to enthrone David. He had inquired of the Lord for him, had given him food and the sword of Goliath but even the statements which were correct were given a wrong interpretation by Doeg, and so his whole narrative was false witness, which had a most disastrous result for the priestly house.

We pursue the history. David first sought refuge with Samuel. We can understand this. In the day of adversity fellowship with a kindred spirit is doubly sweet. Moreover, at Naioth, whither they withdrew for greater safety, there was a company of prophets and the power of the Spirit was manifest among them. What a little sanctuary it might have proved but for the cruel jealousy of Saul who did not hesitate to seek his victim there, notwithstanding the presence of Samuel and the mighty influence of the Spirit of which for the time neither he nor his messengers could resist! How evident it was that he was fighting against God! David had again to flee, an outcast now let him turn where he may. He was however comforted by meeting with Jonathan and by receiving from him a signal proof of his unchanging affection; but learned that not even his influence with his father could change his determination. He then fled to Nob, the place where the tabernacle was and the priesthood, and where he might enquire of the Lord from Ahimelech the high priest. Doeg, an Edomite, an official in Saul's service, was there at the time, who told his master of the help given to David, but so wickedly misrepresented it that Saul suspected all the priests were in league against him. Terrible was his vengeance. Eighty-five were slaughtered at his command, by Doeg, and Nob was devoted to destruction, every living thing in it, man and beast, put to the sword. Abiathar the son of Ahimelech alone escaped and told David all (1 Sam. 21; 22). — Some incidents are here omitted for the present to maintain the connection of this visit to Nob with its results.

Doeg is of bad pre-eminence in this history. In Saul we may learn the powerlessness of the flesh, whatever external advantages it may possess, to overcome its evil passions. Prophecy he despised, the priesthood he destroyed, and, notwithstanding moments of softening and compunction, he pursued the downward tendency of a godless course to the bitterest end. But Doeg is a treacherous foe: one who has learned that there is not a more potent weapon for the destruction of the innocent than the tongue. He is a type no doubt, of a terrible enemy of the remnant in Israel in the latter day. 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 made not God his strength." He was a lover of evil and of falsehood. 1n the tabernacle and before the Lord he was contriving the work of destruction, preparing his tongue, like a sharp razor, to slay the guiltless, a grievous wolf, not sparing the flock.

Now we have noticed the presence of the enemy, the Edomite, whose name, if names have meaning, seems at first sight a strange enough one in such a connection. It is Doeg, "the fearful"; but are not our fears the greatest enemies that can be to our David and His followers when being Himself rejected, to follow Him means to share His rejection? Who is not conscious of it? Nor need we wonder to find him chief among such shepherds as a Saul might have. His presence, "detained before Jehovah," not of his own free will we may be sure, will be found to have its disastrous effects on the future near to be. Meanwhile we can trace a more than superficial connection with what follows here, where David, in answer to his request for spear or sword, has put again into his hand Goliath's sword, with which he had slain the giant. The death which has annulled death, and which abides in perpetual memory with God, what a defense is that for the people of God, in all the attacks of the enemy! What a weapon against fear itself! Thus they are both fed and furnished.

Amalek, I may observe, came of Esau; and we know what place Amalek fills in the page of Scripture. Agag belonged to Amalek and Haman to Agag: Doeg likewise. He was an Edomite, and so is he called; and a true Edomite, a man of blood he was. And when the Lord arises for the avenging of Israel, for the recompense of the controversy of His people, "the day of the heathen," as it is called, the land of Edom is presented to us by the prophets as the scene of that solemn action, as the gathering-place of the confederated hostile nations, and where the Lord in judgment meets them. (Isa. 63)

Doeg, though an Edomite, is shown here as picturing the antichrist who will be Jewish. Does this not indicate that the antichrist will be untrue to his Jewish heritage, but acting as an Edomite, which speaks of the activity of the flesh? Thus, though one's true blessing comes only from God, yet the pride of man is determined to exalt itself as though he himself is God.

A frightful scene follows. Doeg the Edomite tells Saul of what happened at Nob. Saul, demonized Saul, orders the slaughter of the priests and while the servants of Saul refused the bloody work, the Edomite executed the command. Abiathar the son of murdered Ahimelech told David. He knew of Doeg's words to Saul about the shelter Ahimelech had given him. At that time David wrote Psalm 52. Prophetically Doeg, the Edomite, is the type of that cunning man of sin.