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The Priest Gave Him the Consecrated Bread

1 Samuel 21:1-15

Key Verse 1 Samuel 21:6

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Read verses 1-7. Where does David go? (1a) What does Ahimelek ask him? (1b) What is David’s answer? (2) What does David ask? (3) What can the priest offer to David to eat? (4) How does David persuade him to give the consecrated bread? (5, 6; Lev 24:5-9; Mk 2:25-26) Who was there? (7) 

Read verses 8-9. What else does David ask for? (8) What is the priest’s answer? (9a) What does David say? (9b) 

Read verses 10-12. Where does David go next? (10; 1 Sam 17:4) What do the servants of Achish say about David? (11) What might have David’s heart been going through? (12, Psalm 56:3, 4) 

Read verses 13 -15. What does David do? (13) What is the king’s response? (14,15) How might David have felt at hearing the king’s response? (Psalm 34:4,19)

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread

1 Samuel 21:1-15

Key Verse 21:6a

^“6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence.”

One person I know had some trouble when he thought about making offering of $420.00. He needed the money for his personal use. But he also knew it was good to make offering. So while he was troubled between two thoughts suddenly the Lord reminded him of the truth that the Lord can give him more than $420.00. When he believed that the Lord has power to give him more than $420.00 he was able to make the offering. Although he did not count and could not count how much money the Lord gave him through the offering he knows the Lord indeed provided him with far more than $420.00 without any doubt.

When we believe the Lord’s provision our lives can be changed. We will look for the Lord’s provision instead of trying to provide for ourselves with our own hands. Our life of faith will be very exciting life to find the Lord’s provision which is like hidden treasure in a field. Our life will be treasure hunting life in a treasure island. When we believe that the Lord provides we can fight battles with great confidence relying on the Lord’s provision. 

In today’s passage finally David becomes an exile, a fugitive, a man without country. So he needed provision. So today we want to learn how the Lord provides David. So the question we want to think about is:  First, what does the Lord give David?’ Second, why does the Lord give such hardship to David when he was faithful to the Lord and Saul?

Answer for the first question: The Lord gave David bread, sword, and protection. Answer for the second question. The Lord wants David to know Jesus and become a king like Jesus when he becomes a king. Jesus is merciful and he had no place to lay his head.

Part I. David at Nob (v.1-9)

First, the Lord gave David the consecrated bread.

Look at verses 1-6.

 David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” ² David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.” ⁴ But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.” ⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Now after departing from Jonathon David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. He went there probably because he wanted to inquire of the Lord and get some provisions such as bread and weapon. The priest Ahimelek is the one David can trust. Nob was a priest town and it is near Gibeah of Saul. When Ahimelek met David he trembled. Why? We do not know. There is possibility that he noticed from David that it was not an ordinary occasion because David was alone. He might have thought that the war might have broken out and David had to run away all by himself something like that. 

When Ahimelek asked David about the reason why he was alone he lied to him. ““The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.” David said in this way not only he wanted to protect himself but also he believed that Ahimelek would be safe if he did not know anything about the occasion. Indeed Ahimelek was innocent.

Then David said, “³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.” David might have seen only 5 loaves of bread left from 12 loaves of bread or something that he asked 5 loaves of bread. Ahimelek said, ““I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.” He had some consecrated bread, the bread of the Presence although he did not have any ordinary bread. What is the bread of Presence which is called ‘consecrated bread”?

Leviticus 24:5-9.

⁵ “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf. ⁶ Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. ⁷ By each stack put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the LORD. ⁸ This bread is to be set out before the LORD regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. ⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is a most holy part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the LORD.”

In the holy place of the tabernacle, there are three things. The altar of incense, the lamp-stand, and the table with 12 bread of Presence. This bread symbolizes the Lord’s providence. It is 12 bread piled up in two stacks. Incense was offered whenever they were replaced with hot bread on every Sabbath. They were eaten by priests and their families in the sanctuary area.

Now on the condition of not have relationship with women Ahimelek allowed David to eat the consecrated bread. But it was unlawful according to Jesus.

Matthew 12:1-8 reads, “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” ³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?⁴ He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. ⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus protected his disciples who were hungry on one Sabbath and pick some heads of grain and ate while they were passing through grainfields. The legatlistic Pharisees condemned them but Jesus defended for them. Jesus’ point is ‘God desires mercy not sacrifice.” Even Sabbath was given for men not men for the Sabbath. This is amazing truth. The law of God was given for the benefit of men. So every law should be interpreted based on the love of God and mercy of the Lord for men. Surprising!

Based on the Lord’s mercy the Lord provided David with bread, the consecrated bread which was only lawful for priests to eat.

In the same way ‘based on the Lord’s mercy’ God also gave us the true consecrated bread, which is Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life because only Jesus can take away our sins and gives us life.

Jesus declared in  HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6:35&version=NIV" John 6:35 “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

He also said in  HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6:51&version=NIV" John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Indeed the Lord provides. 

To believe the Lord’s provision is critical in our life of faith. The Lord knows David needed bread. The Lord knows all men needed the bread of life the most because the bread of life gives life to all men who are dying because of their sins.

Now when we believe the Lord’s provision for our bread what do we do? We will look for the Lord’s provision instead of trying to provide bread for ourselves. This makes a huge difference. When we try to provide bread for ourselves we will not able to find the true bread, Jesus, which we need the most. We will be occupied and consumed by providing physical bread and in the end we will die like the Israelites who ate Manna but all died in the desert. But when we believe the Lord’s provision we will look for it with great expectation. Indeed our lives will be so much exciting because it will like treasure hunting life.

Jesus reveals the same truth in Matthew 13:44-46.

Matthew 13:43-46 “⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. ⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. ⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Our life here on earth is like looking for the Lord’s great provision and find it. Our life here on earth is to find what the Lord has already given us and find it and be extremely thankful. What a life it is!

Secondly, the Lord gave David Goliath’s sword. (7-9)

Look at verse 7. “⁷ Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.” Because of his presence David probably had to leave quickly. 

Now look at verses 8-9.

⁸ David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.” ⁹ The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah,is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

Priests town is not a good place to find weapons. According to Moses’ law, Levites from whom priests come, are exempted from military services because they need to serve the Lord’s tabernacle. So to seek weapons from priest Ahimeleck is not a wise way. But amazingly there was a sword. It was the sword of Goliath. Now the Lord gave David the Goliath’s sword.

Goliath’s sword has a special meaning to David. The Lord gave David a great victory when he trusted in the Lord and fought for the honor of the Lord Goliath’s sword was given to David. It was the Lord’s indirect encouragement and it is another sign of the Lord’s provision.

It rightly belonged to David. So the priest gave him without any hesitation when David asked it.

 David needed a sword for his battles and believers also need sword for their spiritual battles. To believers the Lord also gives the best sword and in the world there is none like it. It is the sword of the Spirit. 

Ephesians 6:17 reads, “¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” 

The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. And it is none other than any sword in the world because it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 reads, “¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  The word of the Lord is not only sharp but also it has power to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 reads, “⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Part II. David at Gath (v.10-15)

The Lord gave David protection. (10-15)

God not only provided David with bread and sword but he also protected him. Now look at verses 10-15.

10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands,  and David his tens of thousands’?” 12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. 14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15 Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

David went to king of Gath, Achish. Gath was the hometown of Goliath. But to David, his enemy’s land was safer than his homeland. But when he went there his fame went ahead of him. The servants of Achish recognized David as the king of the land and the mighty warrior who killed Goliath.

And 12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. David became very afraid when he took these words to heart. I was surprised by the expression ‘very much’ because the Bible does not exaggerate. So when I saw ‘very much’ I looked up all other versions and they all without fail express the same kind of expressions. Indeed David was very much afraid. Then I looked at the whole bible to see how many times the Bible uses the expression ‘very much’ based on NIV 2011 according to Bible Gateway. It is only 6 times. We can see David was really filled with fear. David was a mighty warrior. He was not afraid of Goliath. But now he was so afraid when he took the words of Achish’s servants. But the Lord delivered him from fear. 

The Lord gave David the wisdom to act like madman and Achish and his servants believe it. In this way the Lord protected David from fear of man.  

God also protected sh Robert Fishman when he was kidnapped by deprogrammers who were criminals. God reminded him of David’s wisdom and he pretended that he was deprogrammed and the deprogrammers were deprogrammed without realizing that they were deprogrammed, and they let sh Robert free. It was none other than the Lord’s protection of sh Robert. 

In the same way the Lord gives us his protection from fear of death. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28-31.

Matthew 10:28-31 “²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.^{[ HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:28-31&version=NIV" \l "fen-NIV-23447a" \o "See footnote a" a] 30} And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Jesus helped his disciples not to fear men but to fear God and trust God who will deliver them. In this way he protected them. The Lord also delivered David from the hands Achish, king of Gath.

Now how much does the Lord provide us? How much does the Lord give us?

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Now why does the Lord give such hardship to David when David was only faithful to the Lord and Saul? The Lord wants David to know Jesus and become a king like Jesus when he becomes a king. Jesus is merciful but he had no place to lay his head.

And the Lord is merciful.

Matthew 12:19-20. ^“19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. ²⁰ A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.”

Matthew 9:27

“As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

After going through all these David became a merciful man. Jesus had no place to lay his head.

Jesus said in Matthew 8:19-20 “¹⁹ Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

When Jesus served God wholeheartedly he had no place to lay his head. As far as security goes Jesus was worse than foxes and birds. Although he was the Son of God, and God himself, he did not have even place to day his head. Do you think that is happening only to Jesus because he is the Son of God? No! It is given for all of Jesus’ followers because whatever the world would respond to Jesus it will happen to Jesus’ disciples. 

Jesus said in John 15:18-20 “¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^{[ HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015:18-20&version=NIV" \l "fen-NIV-26720a" \o "See footnote a" a]} If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

 HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy+3:12&version=NIV" 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”

Jesus revealed the truth that if one follows Jesus wholeheartedly he will be like him who does not have place to lay his head. God plainly tells the truth that everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. The word ‘everyone’ shows that there is no exception. 

David also became an exile when he served the Lord and Saul wholeheartedly.

Now does to be like Jesus a blessing? Yes. Why? Because to be like Jesus is the only way for us to share his glory.

Job knew this and that is why he said in Job 2:10 “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

Romans 8:17-18 “¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

The way God designed for us to receive his blessings is together with Jesus. That is why in the bible the phrase ‘In Jesus’ or ‘through Jesus’ or ‘in him’ or ‘through him’ is repeated. So only through Jesus and together with Jesus can we receive all of God’s glory and blessings. How much is Jesus glorious? According to John 17:5 his glory is the glory of the Creator God which Jesus had with God before the world began.

So there is no greater blessing than to be like Jesus. The Lord loved David so much when David was faithful to him and Saul, and the Lord blessed David to be like Jesus. 

Now in conclusion, 1) How does the Lord provide for David? – The Lord gave David the bread, sword, and protection. We need to seek the Lord’s provision instead of trying to provide for us. The Lord also gave us Jesus, the bread of life, the sword of the Spirit, (word of God), and protection from fear.

2) Why does the Lord give such hardship to David when he was only faithful to the Lord and Saul?  - The Lord wants David to know Jesus and become a king like Jesus when he becomes a king. Jesus is merciful but he had no place to lay his head. David became like a king. 

One word: So the priest gave him the consecrated bread.

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