1 Samuel 22

1 Samuel 22

1 Samuel 22

Shawn Bumpers / General

1 Samuel

 

Introduction

V1-2

The cave of Adullam is a well known place in Judah.

It’s location is 10 miles from Gath and about 15 miles from David’s hometown of Bethlehem.

As you may recall … David has been through a lot.

As things were going downhill, David had experienced a brief but intense period of backsliding.

But as we saw in the last chapter, when he found himself in the hands of the Philistines, he had turned back to the Lord.

Psalm 34:9 NKJV

Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.

Psalm 34:4 NKJV

I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.

So, in our last chapter, David made a dramatic turn to the LORD and was delivered from the life-threatening situation he was in at the hands of the Philistines.

The Lord was merciful to David to enable him to escape back to his own land. 

What David could do is go to a humble cave and find refuge.

In the first part of chapter 22, we saw how David had made for the area he knew: Adullam (the name means ‘refuge’).

The cave was in Judah, halfway between Gath and Bethlehem.

Many others saw in David the only hope for a successful kingdom, so they came to him as well.

1 Samuel 14:29 NKJV

But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

Romans 13:8 NKJV

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Psalm 142:5 NKJV

I cried out to You, O Lord: I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.

Most archaeologists believe that the Cave of Adullam was not too far from the place where David defeated Goliath.

Psalm 142:1–4 NKJV

I cry out to the Lord with my voice; With my voice to the Lord I make my supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk They have secretly set a snare for me. Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.

Psalm 142:7 NKJV

Bring my soul out of prison, That I may praise Your name; The righteous shall surround me, For You shall deal bountifully with me.”

Psalm 57 is also associated with David’s time in the cave and from this Psalm we get an understanding of where his mind was at.

Psalm 57:1 NKJV

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.

Psalm 57:2 NKJV

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.

Psalm 57:4 NKJV

My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men Who are set on fire, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.

Psalm 57:6 NKJV

They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me; Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah

Psalm 57:9 NKJV

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations.

Psalm 57:5 NKJV

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Psalm 57:11 NKJV

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

It reminds me of Jesus, in the Garden praying to the FATHER about His coming passion and submitting Himself to the Father’s will (Matthew 26).

V3-4

David sought to make sure that his mother and father were protected, so he asked the king of Moab to shelter them until his days of exile were over.

The Moabites were the descendants of Lot. 

V5

Saul’s dealing with the prophets (such as Samuel) was almost always negative, because Saul resisted the word of God. 

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Like David, we rely on God’s power, rather than our own.

Ephesians 6:13–14 NKJV

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 6:13–14 NKJV

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

James 4:7 NKJV

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Psalm 62:2 NKJV

He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

As we move on now, we discover why the writer mentioned Doeg in verse 7 of chapter 21.

Saul was a scheming leader and of course he would have scheming workers who would do anything to gain his favor.

Psalm 52:2–3 NKJV

Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah

 

• Doeg told the truth when he said he saw David at Nob.

• And he told the truth when he said Ahimelech the high priest gave him food and the sword of Goliath.

But there’s no evidence that the high priest inquired of the LORD for David.

However, the lie made Doeg look good and David look bad.

v11-15

It was but a short distance from Gibeah to Nob.

So as soon as he heard from Doeg, Saul sent for the high priest, all his family, and the priests of Nob. 

1. Ahimelech gave David bread.

2. He provided him with a weapon.

3. He inquired of God for him, and

4. He was part of David’s “conspiracy” to kill Saul so that David could become king.

Ahimelech is unaware of the hatred Saul has for David and so he praises David before the king.

This lie is going to have terrible consequences for Ahimelech, his family, and the priests of the Lord.

1 Samuel 19:4–5 NKJV

Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”

If he had wanted to kill Saul, David certainly had plenty of opportunities to do so even before he fled.

Perhaps the priest’s words reminded the king that it was Saul who tried to kill David, not David who tried to kill Saul.

v16-19

 

Deuteronomy 24:16 NKJV

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

1 Samuel 8:10–18 NKJV

So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”

This is like the time in chapter 14 when Saul commanded the people to kill Jonathan for violating the oath, and they refused to obey him (14:41–46). 

He gave him permission to execute Ahimelech and his household, 85 priests of the Lord. 

Doeg went beyond Saul’s orders and went to Nob where he wiped out the entire population as well as the farm animals.

This slaughter of the priests goes back to Eli and chapter 2.

v20-23

So, the lone survivor was Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech.

He then became the high priest.