1-Samuel
21
[1-Samuel
21:1] THEN CAME DAVID TO NOB TO AHIMELECH THE PRIEST: AND
AHIMELECH
WAS AFRAID AT THE MEETING OF DAVID, AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHY
ART
THOU ALONE, AND NO MAN WITH THEE?
[1-Samuel
21:2] AND DAVID SAID UNTO AHIMELECH THE PRIEST, THE KING HATH
COMMANDED
ME A BUSINESS, AND HATH SAID UNTO ME, LET NO MAN KNOW ANY
THING
OF THE BUSINESS WHEREABOUT I SEND THEE, AND WHAT I HAVE COMMANDED
THEE:
AND I HAVE APPOINTED MY SERVANTS TO SUCH AND SUCH A PLACE.
[1-Samuel
21:3] NOW THEREFORE WHAT IS UNDER THINE HAND? GIVE ME FIVE
LOAVES
OF BREAD IN MINE HAND, OR WHAT THERE IS PRESENT.
[1-Samuel
21:4] AND THE PRIEST ANSWERED DAVID, AND SAID, THERE IS NO
COMMON
BREAD UNDER MINE HAND, BUT THERE IS HALLOWED BREAD; IF THE YOUNG MEN
HAVE
KEPT THEMSELVES AT LEAST FROM WOMEN.
<<HALLOWED
BREAD>>: Sanctified bread (Leviticus 24:5-9) usually eaten
only
by the Priests in the Tabernacle while they were in a state of purity.
[1-Samuel
21:5] AND DAVID ANSWERED THE PRIEST, AND SAID UNTO HIM, OF A
TRUTH
WOMEN HAVE BEEN KEPT FROM US ABOUT THESE THREE DAYS, SINCE I CAME
OUT,
AND THE VESSELS OF THE YOUNG MEN ARE HOLY, AND THE BREAD IS IN A
MANNER
COMMON, YEA, THOUGH IT WERE SANCTIFIED THIS DAY IN THE VESSEL.
[1-Samuel
21:6] SO THE PRIEST GAVE HIM HALLOWED BREAD: FOR THERE WAS NO
BREAD
THERE BUT THE SHEWBREAD, THAT WAS TAKEN FROM BEFORE THE LORD, TO
PUT
HOT BREAD IN THE DAY WHEN IT WAS TAKEN AWAY.
It
had just been heated. This was part of the Divine Plan, that David
and
his men should arrive and partake of the bread of the Almighty just
when
it was ready. Things like this happen to each and every one of us all
the
time. We usually take them for granted. We should learn to open our
eyes
to the evidence of Divine Providence in our own lives.
[1-Samuel
21:7] NOW A CERTAIN MAN OF THE SERVANTS OF SAUL WAS THERE
THAT
DAY, DETAINED BEFORE THE LORD; AND HIS NAME WAS DOEG, AN EDOMITE, THE
CHIEFEST
OF THE HERDMEN THAT BELONGED TO SAUL.
<<HERDMEN>>: Hebrew "Ha-Royim" which can also connote administrators.
He
was apparently an "Edomite" from Edom and from the time of Saul (if not
well
beforehand) onwards foreigners had begun to attach themselves to
Israel
and to be accepted as part of the people. We will come several
examples
of this phenomenon in our narrative about David, cf.
1-Chronicles
27:30-31. The Sages say he was actually an Israelite but is called
an
Edomite
due to his actions and attributes. Since others disagree and
the
Sages only have to be followed concerning the practical application of
the
Law we too will go our own way in this case in this commentary. The
Sages
had a deeper understanding of reality than we do as Abraham Iben Ezra
pointed
out but like Iben Ezra said our task is to understand
according
to our ability and not necessarily according to abilities greater than our
own.Doeg
was to inform Saul that Ahimelech had helped David and
consequently
Saul would order Doeg to wipe out the all the priests in the city.
Doeg
was to slaughter 85 of the Priests (Cohens, 1-Samuel 22:18). In Psalm
52
David describes Doeg as a mighty man but boastful with an evil tongue
that
destroys others, as someone who preferred to lie than tell the truth,
as
one who trusted in his riches and grew great though wickedness, and as
a
creature who through his filth casts the whole human race into a bad
and
contemptible light.
[1-Samuel
21:8] AND DAVID SAID UNTO AHIMELECH, AND IS THERE NOT HERE
UNDER
THINE HAND SPEAR OR SWORD? FOR I HAVE NEITHER BROUGHT MY SWORD NOR
MY
WEAPONS
WITH ME, BECAUSE THE KING'S BUSINESS REQUIRED HASTE.
[1-Samuel
21:9] AND THE PRIEST SAID, THE SWORD OF GOLIATH THE
PHILISTINE,
WHOM THOU SLEWEST IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, BEHOLD, IT IS HERE WRAPPED IN
A
CLOTH BEHIND THE EPHOD: IF THOU WILT TAKE THAT, TAKE IT: FOR THERE IS
NO
OTHER SAVE THAT HERE. AND DAVID SAID, THERE IS NONE LIKE THAT; GIVE
IT ME.
<<BEHIND
THE EPHOD>>: or "After the Ephod": The Sages said that
Ahimelech
asked through the Ephod as to whether he should give the sword to David
and
was answered that he should. Yigal Ariel points to the symbolism in
David
taking the sword of Goliath and fleeing before Saul. Moses had also
fled
before Pharaoh.
[1-Samuel
21:10] AND DAVID AROSE AND FLED THAT DAY FOR FEAR OF SAUL,
AND
WENT TO ACHISH THE KING OF GATH.
Gath
was southeast of Ashdod to the southwest of Judah.
Why
did David go to Gath? He had previously killed the men of Gath and
it
seems not logical that he should even think of finding refuge in such a
place.
We shall further on that later the King of Gath was to employ
David
in his service and it may be that despite their enmity David had
understood
from previous contacts that such an opportunity was possible. The
Philistines
leadership had a Mycenean Greek type culture and contacts
with
Cyprus, Crete, and Greece. They served as mercenaries for Egypt.
Egyptian
records speak of Egyptian rulership over the land of Israel during a
portion
of the Biblical Period yet we found no or little reference to
this
in the Bible. The answer is that the Philistines paid tribute to Egypt
and
were considered representatives of Egypt by the Egyptians. The
Philistines
did rule over good portions of the Land of Israel and at times exacted
tribute
from most of it. In the eyes of Egypt the Philistines were
acting
as agents of Egypt. The Philistines were physically part of the
Egyptian
family:
[Genesis
10:13] AND MIZRAIM [i.e. Egypt] BEGAT LUDIM, AND ANAMIM, AND
LEHABIM,
AND NAPHTUHIM,
[Genesis
10:14] AND PATHRUSIM, AND CASLUHIM, (OUT OF WHOM CAME
PHILISTIM,)
AND CAPHTORIM.
<<PHILISTIM>>:
Meaning Philistines, that is Mitsraim (Egypt) gave
rise
to the Philistines.
Not
only did the Philistines serve as mercenaries for others but
they
also hired mercenaries from elsewhere. Mercenaries can change sides.
Another
point is that David was not entirely "normal" in our terms.
Saul
was after him and at that stage Saul had the whole country behind him
and
every official of the State along with most of the "better" citizens
may
well have been prepared to hunt David in or at least turn him in. David
was
alone and on the run and in touch only with the Almighty who directed
him
to Gath.
[1-Samuel
21:11] AND THE SERVANTS OF ACHISH SAID UNTO HIM, IS NOT THIS
DAVID
THE KING OF THE LAND? DID THEY NOT SING ONE TO ANOTHER OF HIM
IN
DANCES, SAYING, SAUL HATH SLAIN HIS THOUSANDS, AND DAVID HIS TEN
THOUSANDS?
In
those days they did not have newspapers and photographs. David the
military
leaders would certainly have been heard of but most people
would
not know what he looked like. Yehudah Kiel ("Sefer Shmuel") suggests
that
David went to Gath with the intention of not revealing his identity.
When
he realized that he had been recognized and he acted like a madman the
identification
may have been doubted. David would then have been
considered
the equivalent of a "look-alike" nutcase escapee from the equivalent of
an
institution. When I was younger I shared an apartment with a friend
who
actually looked a lot like me (or I like him) and even long term
acquaintances
sometimes confused us for each other. The last I heard
he
was a near-millionaire in Australia. Not everything is the same.
[1-Samuel
21:12] AND DAVID LAID UP THESE WORDS IN HIS HEART, AND WAS
SORE
AFRAID OF ACHISH THE KING OF GATH.
[1-Samuel
21:13] AND HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOUR BEFORE THEM, AND FEIGNED
HIMSELF
MAD IN THEIR HANDS, AND SCRABBLED ON THE DOORS OF THE GATE, AND
LET
HIS SPITTLE FALL DOWN UPON HIS BEARD.
The
Palestinian Arabs believe that someone who is mad has been stricken
by
God and that it is bad luck to harm such a person. The Philistine were
the
physical ancestors of some of the Palestinian Arabs and it may be that
they
too along with the Canaanites held such a belief.
The
Sages say that David was forced to undergo this trial in order to
teach
him the value of madness. God was preparing David to become the king of
all
Israel and an understanding of the human psyche in all its levels was needed.
[1-Samuel
21:14] THEN SAID ACHISH UNTO HIS SERVANTS, LO, YE SEE THE MAN
IS
MAD: WHEREFORE THEN HAVE YE BROUGHT HIM TO ME?
David
put on a good act or really did make himself insane. He really
was
mad at the moment. According to Yehudah Kiel, Achish would therefore
have
decided that it was a case of mistaken identity and his servants had
mistaken
some raving lunatic for the arch-enemy of his people.
Alternately
they knew it really was David but they thought he really
had
gone completely crazy and could not be touched because of the taboo
against
harming those afflicted with madness.
[1-Samuel
21:15] HAVE I NEED OF MAD MEN, THAT YE HAVE BROUGHT THIS
FELLOW
TO PLAY THE MAD MAN IN MY PRESENCE? SHALL THIS FELLOW COME INTO
MY HOUSE?
The
sages had a tradition (related in a Midrash) that the wife and
daughter
of Achish were also round the bend and Achish simply could
not
take any more. We all have such days.
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