1 Samuel21chapter 21

The site's published guide puts this chapter inside the third act, David anointed and tested, drawn as a secret anointing, a decade of persecution and a throne not yet possessed. Chapter 20 ends with David leaving the court for good, and this chapter is the first working out of that state, since he reaches Nob alone, hungry and unarmed. What it hands to chapter 22 is a witness, since the man standing in the sanctuary at verse 7 is the man who speaks at 22:9.

The guide's cast names Ahimelech as the priest of Nob, killed with his household for unwittingly aiding the fugitive David. The same cast names Doeg the Edomite as Saul's informer, the one man willing to slaughter the priests of Nob at the king's word. Both entries are written from the far side of chapter 22, which is how the book means this chapter to be read a second time.

The New Testament's use

The exposition note on verses 5 and 6 names the bread as the showbread of Exodus 25:30, lawful only for the priests to eat under Leviticus 24:9. The bread is given here to a fugitive and his hungry men. The same note records that Jesus cites this exact episode by name at Matthew 12:3 to 4, arguing from David's case that mercy outweighs the ceremonial law when real need is at stake.

The site's drafted exposition on Mark carries the same scene at Mark 2:25 to 26, under the catchword "Have ye never read what David did". It reads Jesus as answering Scripture with Scripture, and points to this chapter where David, fleeing Saul and genuinely hungry, ate the bread reserved for the priests and gave it to his men. The Pharisees themselves accepted that precedent as legitimate. The site's drafted exposition on Luke carries it at Luke 6:3 to 5 under the catchword "what David did". It reads the precedent as an argument from the greater to the lesser. If human need excused David from a ceremonial restriction on holy bread, it excuses the disciples from a traditional restriction on ordinary grain.

Mark's account names Abiathar where this chapter names Ahimelech, and the site's published dossier for the Gospel of Mark carries the question as a hard question with two readings and no house settlement. The first reading takes the Greek phrase to mean in the time of Abiathar. It is held by C. E. B. Cranfield in The Gospel According to Saint Mark, Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary, 1959, and by most commentators. They read it as the ordinary Greek way of dating an episode. They also point out that Abiathar is the priest a first-century hearer would attach to the whole episode, since he alone survives the slaughter at Nob and carries the priesthood forward through David's reign. The second reading takes the phrase to point to the passage about Abiathar. It is held by R. T. France in The Gospel of Mark, New International Greek Testament Commentary, 2002. France reads it as Mark's way of naming a place in the scroll, as Mark does again at 12:26 when he sends a reader to the place in Exodus by naming the bush. On that reading the words locate the story, and the priest who hands over the bread is still Ahimelech. The dossier records that Matthew and Luke give the same argument without naming a priest, and it states no verdict. This page states none either.

The historical value

The site's published dossier for this book carries Tell es-Safi, identified as ancient Gath and excavated by Aren Maeir from 1996 to the present. The dossier lists it as one of the largest Philistine cities of the Iron Age, matching the prominence Gath carries in this book. The dossier records among its finds an inscribed sherd from about 900 BC bearing two non-Semitic personal names, transcribed there as ʼlwt and wlt. The dossier calls those names philologically close to the name Goliath, and records their publication by Maeir and colleagues in 2005. The dossier states the limit plainly: the sherd does not name the Philistine of chapter 17, and it does show that names of that form were in use in that city. The city David walks into at verse 10 is a real and excavated place.

The site's published historical layer for this chapter records that Nob is where the priesthood relocated after Shiloh fell, and that Ahimelech is of Eli's line. The same layer records that the sword was kept at the sanctuary wrapped in a cloth, the way captured arms were dedicated at sanctuaries throughout the ancient world.

Where the chapter reaches

The sword of verse 9 comes from chapter 17 and the song of verse 11 from 18:7, so both halves of this chapter reach back to the day in the valley of Elah. The name in verse 7 reaches forward to 22:9 and 22:18.

The exposition note on verses 10 to 12 records that two psalm titles set their psalms in this scene, Psalm 34 and Psalm 56. The same note records that this database stores the Psalms without their Hebrew titles, so the link cannot be shown from the floor by query. The door for that thread is the feature page on David's life in the Psalms.