As he fled from Saul, David went to the tabernacle at Nob and obtained bread from Ahimelech the priest, explaining to Ahimelech – falsely – that he was on a secret mission from the king (I Samuel 21:1-4). Ahimelech had no ordinary bread; he only had the Bread of the Presence (Exodus 25:30), which was reserved for the priestly descendants of Aaron (Leviticus 24:9). He nevertheless gave this to David, along with the sword of Goliath (I Samuel 21:9-10).

One of Saul’s servants, Doeg the Edomite, saw this interaction between David and Ahimelech, and later told Saul about it (21:8, 22:9-10). Saul considered this treason on Ahimelech’s part. Ahimelech protested that David had long proven his loyalty to Saul; if Saul had decided otherwise, Ahimelech insisted, nobody had told him anything about it (22:14-15).

But Saul ruled that Ahimelech had to die for this betrayal, and all his family with him (22:16). He ordered his soldiers to kill them; but the soldiers would not raise their weapons against the priests of the Lord (22:17). Saul then called on Doeg the Edomite, and he killed 85 men in the priestly family; then Saul ordered the destruction of their town and everything in it: “men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys and sheep” (22:18-19). We might notice that this listing is virtually the same as the command that Saul himself had not fully carried out for the destruction of the Amalekites (15:3); but in this instance, Saul would not keep any of the animals alive. Yet his vengeance was not quite perfect; one of Ahimelech’s sons, Abiathar, managed to escape the slaughter in order to flee to David in the wilderness (22:20).

It is an awful snapshot of the progression of Saul’s downward spiral, as he ordered the death of a whole community, including children and infants, because Ahimelech had failed to know that Saul had secretly decided that he wanted David to be killed. It is certainly a grim and graphic story. Yet if we are willing, it can also offer us a kind of parable of warning. Like Saul, we can end up desperate to appear strong and in control, even while we engage in increasingly destructive behavior.

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Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? (Matthew 12:3-4).
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Help us, Lord! Like Saul we are so prone to escalate our way to ever-more-severe vengeance when our will is checked. So much hurt and destruction comes from our own rage and bitterness. Teach us repentance; teach us humility. You alone are the Lord: and we are not.

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