Chapter 22

1 Companies resort unto David at Adullam. 3 At Mizpeh he commendeth his parents unto the king of Moab. 5 Admonished by Gad, he cometh to Hareth. 6 Saul going to pursue him, complaineth of his servants’ unfaithfulness. 9 Doeg accuseth Ahimelech. 11 Saul commandeth to kill the priests. 17 The footmen refusing, Doeg executeth it. 20 Abiathar escaping, bringeth David the news.

1. Cave Adullam. According to Josephus (Antiquities vi. 12. 3), a cave near the city of Adullam. Adullam has been identified with Khirbet eshР Sheikh MadhkuЖr, 16 1/4 mi. (26 km.) southwest of Jerusalem on the western slope as the mountains fall off toward the Shephelah. The town is at the eastern end of the Valley of Elah, where David met the Philistine giant. Many caves are found in these hills, some of which are very large. The sandstone formation is so soft that the walls can be cut down with shells. Even centuries have not erased the marks of these shells. In some of these caverns the shepherds kept their flocks. In some, a few miles south of Adullam, the early Christians are reported to have lived at the time persecution drove them out of the cities of Palestine. Some of the caves contain burial vaults and crypts similar to those in the catacombs at Rome. Adullam was the hiding place of David when he longed for a drink from the well at Bethlehem. Three of his valiant men risked their lives to thread through the lines of the Philistines, who had raided the Valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem, and to bring their beloved leader a drink. So overcome was David by their loyalty that he poured out the water as a libation before the Lord (2 Sam. 23:13–17; 1 Chron. 11:15–19). This incident occurred in the time of harvest (2 Sam. 23:13; cf. 1 Sam. 23:1), the spring and early summer of the year. David had probably spent the winter in this cave.

While in the cave of Adullam David wrote the 57th psalm, according to its heading. Recovering his faith and courage, he now expressed his confidence in God’s deliverance, even though he found himself “among lions: and even among … men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword” (Ps. 57:4). His changed attitude may in part be accounted for by the presence of the prophet Gad, who, as some have suggested, joined David and his companions at the cave (see on v. 5).

3. Mizpeh. Literally, “watchtower.” All over the mountainous district of Moab the ruins of these “holds” or fortresses have been found. They were built on the shoulders of mountain peaks within sight of one another. Observers were stationed in these fortresses to form a chain of communications. The exact site of this Mizpah in Moab is not known. It was probably one of the fortresses in the Moabite hills not far from Kir. Kir appears, later at least, to have been the capital of Moab (see 2 Kings 3:25–27). Its modern name is Kerak, a town situated on the slopes of the Wadi Kerak, on an eminence well suited for defense. About 14 mi. (22.4 km.) from Kir is the Wadi Hesaµ—the Biblical brook Zered—which constituted the northern boundary of Edom. Saul had warred against Moab after coming to the throne (1 Sam. 14:47). Therefore anyone outlawed by Saul would find refuge in that country. Also, David may have been influenced by the fact that Ruth, his great-grandmother was a Moabitess.

4. Hold. Heb. mesudah, “a fastness,” “a stronghold,” from the root sud, meaning “to hunt.”

5. Gad. This is the first mention of a man who was to figure so prominently in David’s life. Inasmuch as Saul turned against not only the priests but also the prophets, of whom Samuel was chief, it would be expected that the minds of all the truly religious would be alienated from their king. Perhaps it was Samuel who dispatched Gad to connect himself with David. The future king of Israel would be greatly benefited by the presence of a divinely inspired seer. As long as David lived, Gad was his seer (2 Sam. 24:11–19). Gad, along with Nathan the prophet, was the compiler of David’s biography (1 Chron. 29:29). Since he survived his lifelong friend and king, the indications are that he came to David while yet a young man. Although it is not stated, it is probable that Gad came to David while David was at Adullam, and that he accompanied David to Moab, rather than traveling to Mizpah to find him. Only by attempting to piece together the snatches of information concerning David from various portions of Scripture can it be seen how many details—interesting if we could only recover them—have been omitted in setting forth the story of God’s providential assistance to His children.

What God did for David in providing prophetic guidance He had done for Saul. These two lives are placed in contrast and demonstrate that God is no respecter of persons. Those who fall short of the divine standard fail, not because the Lord does not do everything that Heaven can devise to make true success possible, but because Heaven’s plan is persistently rejected.

Abide not. David was not to remain in Moab. He was needed in Judah. The forces of Saul seemed impotent against the continuing Philistine raids (1 Sam. 23:1, 27; 1 Chron. 11:15), and conditions were unstable. The story of Nabal implies that armed protection was needed by shepherds (1 Sam. 25:15, 16, 21). Saul’s hatred of David was no reason for David to run away to a foreign land. God, who had protected him so many times in the past, would not now forsake him, but would shape events in such a way through hardship and suffering that he would receive the training necessary for future leadership.

The discipline of suffering was operative even in the life of Jesus. The Captain of our salvation was made “perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10). David, by returning to the midst of all the controversial elements in Judah, was so to conduct himself as to bring courage to all those about him. God today is anxious to demonstrate the loyalty of His children, in every type of environment. He does not want His children to retreat when circumstances become difficult. He desires His followers to demonstrate the beauty of the Christian religion and reveal its vast superiority over the service of self and Satan.

Hareth. Identified by some with the modern KharaЖs, northwest of Hebron, on the edge of the mountain district; but the identification is uncertain.

6. David was discovered. Some commentators take the narrative of the remainder of this chapter as an illustration of the way in which the Hebrew text sometimes departs from the strict chronological sequence of events in order to carry one thought to its conclusion before discussing another. Such an interpretation of this passage assumes that Doeg’s accusation against Ahimelech the priest and the massacre of Nob followed immediately upon the discovery of David’s original escape, but that the narrative continues with the account of David and his men until it becomes necessary to introduce the massacre to explain the arrival of Abiathar at Keilah in the next chapter. This interpretation is based largely on Ahimelech’s avowal of his ignorance of David’s true situation. This is not an illogical deduction.

It is equally reasonable to take the narrative as running consecutively. In this case the statement that David and his men were discovered means that it became known that they had emerged from their hiding place in the stronghold of Adullam and were encamped in the Forest of Hareth; and that when the king learned of this he complained to his officers about treasonable collaboration with the outlaw (v. 8). Thereupon Doeg the herdsman would seize the opportunity to turn informer against Ahimelech (vs. 10>9, 10). There is no reason to suppose that a man in Doeg’s station would have known, when he saw David at the sanctuary, anything of the real reason for his coming. Since there would have been nothing unusual in David’s stopping there for counsel before going on an errand for Saul, Doeg would doubtless have considered this not worth reporting at the time. Ahimelech’s reply does not help in determining the sequence of events, for his plea of ignorance at the time of David’s visit would still be his logical defense (see on vs. 14, 15), regardless of the interval between his alleged treason and the arraignment of the priests before Saul. Thus the slaying of the priests and the massacre at Nob did not necessarily immediately follow David’s visit to the sanctuary (see PP 658, 659).

A tree in Ramah. Since Ramah and Gibeah are distinct sites separated by a considerable distance (see on ch. 1:1), Saul could hardly be in Gibeah, yet sitting under a tree in the town of Ramah. The Hebrew word ramah should here probably be translated “height,” or “high place” as in Eze. 16:24, 25. The high place in Gibeah was probably a favorite meeting place for the men of the city.

8. Conspired against me. Because of his insane jealousy Saul began to pity himself and blame everyone but himself for all his frustrated attempts to capture David. He now resorted to heaping shame upon his own tribesmen for withholding information from him in order to aid a rival from Judah. Even his own son had, so he thought, turned against him, and was guilty of treason. He had threatened to have him put to death once before (ch. 14:44); now he felt that the people’s sympathies were with Jonathan even more than before.

9. Then answered Doeg. Doeg, the chief herdsman, saw his chance to be avenged on the priest Ahimelech (see on ch. 21:7), as well as to enhance his position with the king. He virtually told Saul that Jonathan and the Benjamites were not so much in the wrong as the priest, who not only gave David food but inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him a weapon (v. 10). Doeg apparently did not volunteer this information until bribed by offers of rich rewards and high position (see PP 659).

14. Ahimelech answered.Ahimelech did not deny the charge of aiding David, but he denied any disloyalty. On his reply hinges a difference of opinion as to the time placement of this incident (see on v. 6). Those who hold that the incident occurred immediately after David’s flight from Gibeah interpret Ahimelech’s words as meaning that he had not learned, up to that moment, that David was no longer Saul’s most faithful servant and an honored member of the king’s household. He could hardly have been either so ignorant or so foolish as to tell Saul, after David had been a fugitive and an outlaw for many months, that he “goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house.”

This conclusion is based on our English translation, which renders the verbs in the present tense. Actually the Hebrew has only one verb, sur, here translated “goeth.” The word “is,” though it occurs three times in this verse, is supplied. The form of the verb sur here found may be given either a present or a past sense, so that the sentence is quite indefinite as to the time period under consideration. The tense must be supplied by the context. The literal rendering of the words of Ahimelech is: “And who among all thy servants so faithful as David, who, the king’s son-in-law, and turning [or turned] at thy bidding, and honorable in thine house?” The past tense seems to be demanded by the context. The insertion of the necessary verb forms in rendering such a sentence into English must depend on the best judgment of the translators, but in the nature of the case it will allow differences of opinion. Ahimelech obviously meant to say that he had aided one whom he had supposed at the time—whether recent or remote—to be an honored representative of the king.

15. Did I then? Literally, “today my beginning to enquire of God for him?” Nearer to the original than either the KJV or the RSV is the rendering of the RV and ASV: “Have I to-day begun to inquire of God for him?” The implication is that if he had begun now, after knowing David’s status, to seek divine guidance for David, that would be giving aid to a recognized enemy of Saul, but that what he had done before he learned of the controversy between Saul and David should have no bearing on the question of his loyalty. With quiet dignity Ahimelech answered Saul’s charge that he had used the Urim and the Thummin in a way contrary to Saul’s ideas by stating that he had inquired for the one closest to Saul, one who had ever been loyal and devoted, and he had rendered his service to the messenger for the king. His last word was a denial that he had known anything of the situation.

17. The footmen. Heb. rasim, literally, “the runners,” sometimes used of the royal bodyguard as obviously here. Samuel probably referred to this office when he warned Israel that the king they were asking for would take their sons, and conscript some of them to “run before his chariots” (ch. 8:11). Saul was frustrated by the refusal of the guards to lift their hand against the Lord’s priests. It was a shocking deed that the king required. Even among heathen tribes today the medicine man is held sacred, and none dare raise a hand against him. How much more should Saul have had respect for the servant of the Most High!

18. Doeg the Edomite. This descendant of Esau appears as a man after Saul’s own heart—jealous, resentful, malevolent, and anxiously waiting for any flimsy excuse to carry out the intents of his evil nature. Now that he had permission from the king of Israel, Doeg did not hesitate to lift his hand against the servant of God, even disregarding the sacred vestments of Ahimelech as well as those of his associates. Eighty-five men fell that day before the lust of selfish greed. What a contrast here between Saul’s professed religious fervor that kept Agag alive (ch. 15:20) and his frenzy that enabled him to perpetrate an act unparalleled in Jewish history for its barbarity.

19. Both men and women. The innocent suffered with the supposedly guilty. The inhabitants of Nob probably had had nothing to do with the removal of the tabernacle and the priestly families to Nob (see on ch. 21:1), yet Saul’s senseless and satanic fury wiped out the entire town. Once before, the Philistines had destroyed the sacred city of Shiloh. They were Israel’s enemies, yet we have no record of their annihilating the entire population.

20. Abiathar. The only recorded survivor from Nob. Fleeing “after” David, he probably did not reach him until the later had left the Forest of Hareth for the city of Keilah (see on ch. 32:2, 6).

21. Shewed David. Literally, he “caused David to know.” Obviously David had not heard the news before. Therefore this verse indicates that the atrocity had happened immediately preceding Abiathar’s arrival at Keilah rather than some time earlier in connection with David’s visit to Nob.

23. Abide thou with me. What a joy it must have been for David to welcome Abiathar to his company What encouragement it must have been to see the Urim and the Thummim (ch. 23:6) and to know that in spite of the devastation of Nob, the hand of God had been over the ephod and the priest who guarded it. Yet when David learned the awful facts of the tragedy, he was filled with remorse as he realized that he had been responsible for the death of the high priest and those who had perished with him. He now wished that he had refused to stoop to duplicity. Gladly would he have done differently could he have had the year to live over again But the past could not be undone. Dreadful as was his self-reproach there was nothing to do but to reach “forth unto those things which are before” (Phil. 3:13).

It was after hearing of Doeg’s deed that David wrote the 52d psalm (see heading). He stood amazed that any man could set himself up in arrogant antagonism to God’s plan instead of resting upon the Lord’s eternal mercy. By a tongue sharp as a razor Doeg had sown deceit and calamity to such an extent that he became the very personification of fraud and evil. But the day was coming when he would reap that which he had sown.

Ellen G. White comments

1–23PP 657–660

1     PP 657; 4T 525

2     Ed 152

2–5PP 658

7–10, 16, 18, 19PP 659

20–23PP 660