Prepare
Opening Prayer
God, thank you for your Word and that it is good enough to read twice. As we read, work in our hearts by your Spirit so that we follow and love you and seek to live faithfully. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
David and the Holy Bread
21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”
4 And the priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”
5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.”
6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
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 chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8 And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”
9 So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.”
And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Samuel 21:1-9.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
David flees Saul and comes alone to Ahimelech at the tabernacle. Though David lies about being on royal business, the priest provides the consecrated bread for his hunger and returns Goliath's sword to him, while Saul's servant Doeg watches; the Lord mercifully provides for and protects the sinful fugitive.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
1 Samuel 21:6
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
So the priest gave him holy bread and there was no bread there but the show bread. which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
The transcript announces the Best Verse question but skips directly from the About discussion to the calling without a personal selection. Verse 6 is distilled because Ahimelech's giving the consecrated bread is the act of gracious provision Bryan places at the center of Jesus' own use of this passage.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
See the ceremonial bread as pointing to God's holy and merciful provision in Christ. David did not deserve mercy, and neither do we, yet Jesus graciously provides for sinners; receive that mercy and become merciful and loving toward others.
Additional Notes
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Hey, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. I've already recorded this once and it didn't record. I've got no more coffee. I'm all coffeed up. We're at 1 Samuel chapter 21. We're going to do the first nine verses. Just a quick one for us this morning. David has escaped from Saul, but what's he going to do? What's going to happen? I'm not going to have coffee. I don't have any more coffee.
Let's pray. We'll get into God's word. God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it's good enough to read twice. We pray that we would follow after you and love you and that your spirit work in our hearts even as we read. We try to live in Jesus' name. Amen. Here we go. 1 Samuel chapter 21, the first nine verses.
Now David came to Ahimelech the priest and Ahimelech was afraid when he met David and said to him, why are you alone and no one is with you? So David said to him, Ahimelech the priest, the king has ordered me on some business and said to me, do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you and what I have commanded you. And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. now therefore what have you on hand give me five loaves of bread in my hand or whatever can be found and the priest answered david and said there is no common bread on hand but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women then david answered the priest and said to him Truly women have been kept from us about three days since I came out and the vessels of the young men are holy and the bread is in effect common even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day. So the priest gave him holy bread and there was no bread there but the show bread. which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away. 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 chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
And David said to Ahimelech, is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. So the priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. you will take it, take it, for there is no other except that one here.' And David said, there is none like it. Give it to me." So we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? What's this about?
David is on the lam. He's running. He's escaped. He's a fugitive from Saul. Saul wants to kill him. And David's running away. Where does he go? He goes to the tabernacle. And while he's there, he's famished. And he tells a lie. Hamlet's like, well, he's scared, man. What are you doing here alone? And David, I'm not justifying him, right? But that's what he does. I'm hungry. The king sent me on business. You got food? Give me some food, right? There's a lot of haste going on here. And Himalaya said, ah, the only food we have is five loaves of bread. But those five loaves of bread, the consecrated ones, they're holy. He said, well, you can still give them to me, right? He said, well, maybe that's true.
Maybe it's OK. Have you at least kept yourself clean? Have you stayed away from women? And he says, yeah, yeah, me and my men, it's been like three days. We're golden." He says, okay, yeah, sure, fine. He says, what about a sword or a weapon? You got any of those hanging around? I had to run in haste. He said, I got a lot of swords still. The one that you cut the guy's head off, I still got that. He was like, man, there's no sword like that. Give it to me. All the while, a little slimy nude of a lizard, Doeg the Edomite, right, is hanging out in the corner. He's gonna go do whatever he's gonna do.
What's this story about? This is David finding mercy even though he's sinning. It wasn't a sin for him to run, but God is still merciful. Thank the Lord he's still merciful to sinful people. What's this about? David is fleeing Saul and going Who knows where? And the Lord providing and protecting them. Seek calling. What are we called to do? I'm just going to jump to Jesus Christ, right? Jesus points us out.
Did David not eat of the showbread? Did he not go in and take and eat? All of that is good and holy and was meant to show us that God is merciful in his intercession. It's not like God needed to eat that bread. The priests were just going to eat it later. It was holy, but it's not like God was consuming it. It was meant to point towards God's gracious provisions. God's holiness, yes, but also his mercy. So all the ceremonial laws and all that type of stuff, it was meant to point to Christ. and how merciful and wonderful Christ would be, even towards us, even sinners like us.
Let's pray. Father, you know that we do not deserve your grace and mercy in and of ourselves, but you are a wonderful, great, merciful, good God. We pray that we would love you and enjoy you all the days of our lives. Thank you for your mercy. In Jesus's name, Amen. May you walk in the joy of Jesus. May you be merciful and loving as he is merciful and loving. I'll see you next time. Bye.