David escaped (v1). The phrase ‘escaped’ seemed to concur with the fact that he had been a captive in Gath. If you are a Hebrew scholar, you might know differently. He made for the cave of Adullam. Adullam means refuge but it was hardly a place of refuge for him. His refuge should have been in God, but he had decided to go his own way. Apart from God it appeared to him that he had nowhere else to go but to a cave. Some archaeologists believe that the cave wasn’t far from the place where David had defeated Goliath. I wonder if he thought of his ‘come down’ from such a victory to being on the run.
Once again, we have reference in the Psalms, giving us a fuller picture and and more information as to what took place. These were written by David and make the scene more personal. In Psalm 142 David stated that it was a contemplation, a prayer when he was I the cave. He stated, “I cry out to the LORD with my voice; with my voice to the LORD I make my supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me. Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul.” (v1-4)
Psalm 57 also seems to have been written by David during this time in the cave and this is indicated in the title, and he acknowledged that it was a time of preparation for the future. He prayed that God would be merciful to him (v1), and that even though his enemies laid a trap for him he was trusting in The LORD (v2-11).
It is interesting that his brothers and all his father’s house came to him at the cave. What a turn around this was! Previously, his brothers were scathing of him, especially when he offered to fight Goliath, but now they came to meet him there when he was in distress (v1,2).
We are introduced to the rest of David’s associates in the cave – everyone in distress, everyone in debt, and everyone who was discontented. What a band of people! Hardly the type one would choose.
Those in distress – life was hard, and they had problems.
Those in debt – unsuccessful people with problems especially repaying their debts.
Those who were discontented – I understand the word means ‘bitter of soul’, totally dissatisfied with life under king Saul, and they wanted something better.
Note that they were not a just a few down and outs, but there was four hundred of them. One wouldn’t immediately think that this would lift David’s spirits, but it seemed to do just that. They were all in the same boat and the only way they could look was up. David was encouraged just as the Psalms suggested.
The late Bible Teacher Alan Redpath stated, “These are the kind of men who came to David: distressed, bankrupt, dissatisfied. These are the kind of people who come to Christ, and they are the only people who come to Him, for they have recognised their distress, their debt, and bankruptcy, and are conscious that they are utterly discontented. The sheer pressure of these frustrations drives them to the refuge of the blood of Christ that was shed for them.” “Do you see the truth of which this Old Testament story is so graphic a picture? Just as in David’s day, there is a King in exile who is gathering around Him a company of people who are in distress, in debt, and discontented. He is training and preparing them for the day when He shall come to reign.”
I dare to suggest that we are distressed without presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. We are certainly in debt – one Gospel song says, ‘I owed a debt, I couldn’t pay; and it was growing every day, but Jesus paid it all for me’. We can only be dissatisfied and discontented with this life without Christ. It is through Him that we can have life, and that life more abundant. The things of the world can and do satisfy but they are temporal, they don’t last. The world does give pleasure, make no mistake about it, otherwise people would not be flocking to worldly pleasures and instead running to Jesus Christ. But the pleasures don’t last, and we flit about from one thing to another to get satisfaction. If we recognise our discontent and realise that it can only be satisfied by new life in Christ and come to Him in repentance and faith, He will satisfy us in a way that no other can.
David became the leader over them, he became their captain. An unprincipled leader could have made these men into a group of rebels, but he molded them into a fine body of people, maybe like those described in 1 Chronicles 12:8 “Mighty men of valour, men trained for battle, who could handle the shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains.”
Eventually David left there and went to Mizpah of Moab (v3,4). Seemed a strange place to go but remember that David’s great-grandmother Ruth came from Moab and maybe that’s the connection.
So, who were the Moabites? When the Israelites were journeying to the Promised Land, Moses had requested the king of Edom to allow a passage through his land. Even though they were distant relatives (descendants of Esau), the king refused, so they had to detour around Edom (Numbers 20) the next country to the north is Moab, followed by Sihon and Ammon. These were separated from Moab by a deep gorge and a river. God gave instructions not to provoke war with Moab (Deuteronomy 2:9) or Ammon (Deuteronomy 2:19, 37) so, they skirted around them.
They had requested passage through the land of the Amorites, King Sihon refused even though they promised to keep strictly to the road (Deuteronomy 2:27) and offered to buy food and water from them – a wonderful opportunity for a commercial venture. The LORD delivered the Israelites and they utterly destroyed everyone and took the land. This land was granted, at their request, to Reuben and to Gad. It was good for pasture and was bordered on the west by the river Jordan and on the east by the fortified territory of Ammon. However, the land of Moab had been given by The LORD to Ar the descendant of Lot. It was a land of giants, and the Israelites did as they were commanded and left Moab in peace. He requested that the king of Moab allow his mother and father to come to him and stay there until God showed him His will for him. He had a care for their safety while king Saul was on the warpath.
Maybe the scrolls of history had reminded the king of Moab and so it was a relatively safe place for David and his family to be.
David left the stronghold on the advice of Gad the prophet, who told him to go to Judah, and went to the Forest of Hereth (v5). This was in the land of Saul, and hardly the place he would want to go. He was in danger, but he was trusting in God.
Message gets to Saul as to where David is (v6). Saul is armed with his spear in a place called Ramah in Gibeah, just north of Jerusalem. He speaks to the Benjamites (remember Saul was a Benjamite) – trying to rally some support, making them promises of fields and vineyards and making them captains over his army. It sounds like a party-political broadcast – “Can David (or as he refers to him “the son of Jesse”) provide this for you?” (verse 7) “No, but I can” (but could he?). He shows his frailty, ”All of you have conspired against me and none of you even told me that my son is in league with this renegade” (my paraphrase) (v 8). It wasn’t true that Jonathan was conspiring against him, he was simply helping David to escape Saul’s clutches. Then (v 9) Doeg the Edomite who we met earlier in Chapter 21, told how David was helped by Ahimelech in providing food and the sword of Goliath. Doeg is looking to his own ends and seeking to put himself in Saul’s good books.
Ahimelech and all his house were summoned before the king (v11-15). He came with all his house and the priests of Nob. Saul greeted them with a question – “Why have you conspired against me that the Son of Jesse should rise against me?” (v13)
Ahimelech assured Saul that there was none more faithful and loyal than David (v14). Saul had a persecution complex and accused everyone of treason. Saul has no trust in God, and is simply bound up in himself, and he is in complete confusion and doubt.
Anyone without Jesus Christ is liable to be like that.
If Saul had had his trust in God, he would have been at peace, and not running around trying to wipe out his imaginary foe. What Ahimelech said about David’s faithfulness, loyalty and service was true (v15). He went on to say that he knew nothing of David’s so-called treason. Even his own son Jonathan had told him that David was his most loyal subject.
Ahimelech protested his innocence and told the truth about what David had said to him, but Saul is intensely jealous and wouldn’t listen, and he ordered his men to kill the priests without any justification (v16-19). Saul was insane with rage, but his servants wouldn’t obey him. To their credit and because of their bravery, they refused to carry out Saul’s instructions, rather they feared God more than Saul.
Saul was desperate for someone to carry out his order, so he turned to none other than Doeg the Edomite. Doeg, you will recall, was present when David went to Ahimelech and the prophets. Being religious, or apparently religious, or being with religious people does not do anything for the heart, unless God is in it to do the changing. It hadn’t done him much good being with the prophets, and he shows his true colours by killing 85 priests and more or less wiped out Nob, killing men, women and children and even cattle. However, one man escaped and that was Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, and he went to David.
Commentators consider that this was the worst of Saul’s acts, his anger and cruelty were totally without any thought of justice. He gave no thought to what he was doing, and he appeared to have no remorse or regret. It seemed to be purely out of rage and vengeance towards David, but taken out on innocent people, who were seeking to follow God.
When David found out, he was distraught and repentant (v20-23). He acknowledged that it was his fault that Ahimelech and all the people had suffered because of his lying about why he was there. He said, ‘I knew it! When I saw Doeg there, that he would tell Saul where I had been; I have caused the death of all these people.’
David had lied when he went to Ahimelech – yet another instance of sin (in this case lying) leading to trouble and disaster. It wasn’t the only reason of course, but it was the large part of it. The very fact that Ahimelech had given help to David was sufficient to arouse Saul’s anger. So, David was obviously sad that he had caused that. He showed his feelings in Psalm 52, where the title shows that he wrote this due to this very incident. He showed what he thought of Doeg, that he was evil and deceitful (v1-4). He was confident that God would judge Doeg and destroy him (v5). Moreover, he showed that he trusted in The LORD and would praise Him (v8,9). It clearly showed that he turned to The LORD after this incident, and he invited Abiathar to stay with him. They were both ‘wanted men’ as far as Saul was concerned, and he assured Abiathar of his safety (v23). David trusted in God’s promise that he would be king one day and that Saul would be powerless against him. His faith was firmly in God and Abiathar became priest during David’s reign.
After the death of David, Solomon mentions Abiathar (1 Kings 2:26) he states that he is spared death – (why?), because “you carried the Ark of the LORD God before my father David and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted”. Abiathar obviously went through “thick and thin” with David and remained loyal.
