066. XLIV. David As A Fugitive
§ XLIV. DAVID AS A FUGITIVE 1 Samuel 20, 1 Samuel 21:1-9, 1 Samuel 22
1. David’s interview with Jonathan. Then David came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life? And he replied to him, Far be it! You shall not die. See, my father does nothing great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Not so. And David answered and said, Your father well knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he is saying to himself, ‘Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be pained.’ Nevertheless as surely as Jehovah liveth, and as you live, there is but a step between me and death. Then Jonathan said to David, What do you desire to have me do for you? And David answered Jonathan, Behold, to-morrow is the new moon and I should not fail to sit at the table with the king; therefore let me go and I will hide myself in the field until evening. If your father misses me, then say, ‘David urgently asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city; for the yearly sacrifice is there for all the family.’ If he says ‘Good,’ then it is well with your servant; but if it arouses his anger, then know that evil is determined upon by him. Now deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a sacred covenant with yourself; but if there is guilt in me, slay me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father? And Jonathan said, Far be it from you! for if I should learn that my father had determined that evil should come upon you, I would tell you. Then David said to Jonathan, Who will tell me, if your father answers me harshly? And Jonathan replied to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. So the two of them went out into the field.
2. The covenant between them. And Jonathan said to David, Jehovah, the God of Israel, be witness that I will sound my father about this time tomorrow, and if he is well disposed toward David, then I will send and disclose it to you. God do to Jonathan whatever he will, should my father be disposed to do you evil, and I disclose it not to you and send you away that you may go in peace. And may Jehovah be with you, as he has been with my father. And if I am yet alive, O may you show me the kindness of Jehovah! But if I should die, may you never withdraw your kindness from my house. And if, when Jehovah hath cut off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth, the name of Jonathan should be cut off by the house of David, may Jehovah require it at the hand of David’s enemies. So Jonathan took oath again to David, because of his love to him; for with all his heart he loved him.
3. Their plan. Then Jonathan said to him, To-morrow is the new moon and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. And on the third day you will be greatly missed. Then you shall come to the place where you hid yourself on the day of the affair, and you shall sit down there beside the heap of stones. And on the third day I will shoot arrows on one side of it, as though I shot at a mark. Then, I will send the lad, saying,’ Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the lad, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you; pick them up!’—then come; for it is well for you, and, as Jehovah liveth, there is nothing the matter. But if I say to the boy, ‘See, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for then Jehovah sendeth you away. And as to the word which you and I have spoken, behold, Jehovah is witness between you and me forever.
4. Discovery of Saul’s feeling toward David. So David hid himself in the field; and when the new moon came, the king sat down at the table to eat. And the king sat upon his seat as usual, even on the seat by the wall, and Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul’s side; but David’s place was empty. Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, It is an accident, he is not ceremonially clean, for he has not been cleansed. But when on the day following the new moon, David’s place was empty, Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or to-day? And Jonathan answered Saul, David urgently asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, for he said, ‘Let me go, since our family has a sacrifice in the city; and my brothers have commanded me. Now if I have found favor in your sight, let me slip away and see my kinsmen.’ Hence he has not come to the king’s table. Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Son of a depraved woman! Do I not know that you are associated with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he is doomed to die. Then Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done? But Saul lifted up his spear at him to smite him. So Jonathan knew that his father had determined to put David to death. Therefore Jonathan rose from the table in hot anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father reviled him.
5. The warning. But in the morning Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. And he said to his lad, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad came to the place where the arrow which Jonathan had shot lay, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan cried after the lad, Hurry, quick, do not stop! So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows, and brought them to his master. But the lad had no knowledge of anything; only Jonathan and David understood the matter.
6. The final parting. And Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city. And as soon as the lad had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap, and fell on his face to the ground and prostrated himself three times, and they kissed each other and wept long together. Then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace! As to what we two have sworn in the name of Jehovah—Jehovah will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever. Then David rose and departed and Jonathan went into the city.
7. David’s flight to the priest at Nob. And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, Why are you alone and no one with you? And David answered Ahimelech the priest, The king has entrusted me with a matter and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter upon which I am sending you and which I have commanded you’; and I have directed the young men to meet me at a certain place. Now, therefore, if you have five loaves of bread at hand, or whatever can be found, give it to me. And the priest answered David, saying, There is no ordinary bread at hand, but there is holy bread, if only the young men have kept themselves from women. And David answered the priest and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us; as always when I set out on an expedition, the weapons of the young men were consecrated, though it is but an ordinary journey; how much more then to-day shall their weapons be holy! So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before Jehovah in order to put hot bread there the day it was taken away. Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah, by the name of Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen. And David said to Ahimelech, Have you not here at hand a spear or sword? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s matter required haste. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine whom you slew in the valley of Elah, there it is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish to take that, take it, for there is no other except that here. And David said, There is none like that, give it to me.
8. David as an outlaw leader. David therefore departed thence and escaped to the stronghold of Adullam. And when his brethren and all his father’s clan heard it, they went down there to him. And every one who was in distress, and every one who was in debt, and every one who was embittered gathered about him, and he became their leader. And there were with him about four hundred men.
9. His parents with the king of Moab. And David went from there to Mizpeh in Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother dwell with you, until I know what God will do for me. And he left them in the presence of the king of Moab; and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
10. Doeg’s malicious testimony. Now when Saul heard that David and the men with him were discovered (Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk-tree on the high place, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him), Saul said to his servants who were standing before him, Hear O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse likewise give you all fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me, and no one discloses to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse, and none of you has pity upon me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant to be an enemy against me, as is now the case? Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, answered and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of God for him and gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
11. Slaughter of the priests. Then the king summoned Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob, and they came all of them to the king. And Saul said, Hear now, O son of Ahitub! And he answered, Here am I, my lord! And Saul said to him, Why have you, together with the son of Jesse, conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me as an enemy, as is now the case? Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, But who among all your servants is like David, trusted and the king’s son-in-law and captain over your retainers and honored in your household? Is this the first time I have inquired of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant nor to any one of my clan, for your servant did not know the slightest thing about all this. But the king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, together with all your clan. And the king said to the runners who stood before him, Turn about and slay the priests of Jehovah, for their hand also was with David, and, although they knew that he was fleeing, they did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hands to strike down the priests of Jehovah. Then the king said to Doeg, Turn and strike down the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned and himself struck down the priests. So he slew on that day eighty-five men who wore the ephod. And the priestly city Nob he put to the sword, both men and women, children and infants, oxen and asses and sheep.
12. Abiathar’s escape. And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the priests of Jehovah. And David said to Abiathar, I knew that day, because Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I myself am guilty of all the lives of your clan. Remain with me, fear not; for whoever seeks your life must also seek mine, since you are placed in my charge.
I. The Friendship of David and Jonathan. The history of this period is for the most part a record of intrigue and rivalry and bloodshed. It is this dark background that brings out in clearest relief the noble friendship of David and Jonathan. That friendship is unique because of the two characters who figure in it. Jonathan, the heir-apparent, had, like his father, good ground for viewing with suspicion David’s rapid rise to popularity. It was remarkable, on the other hand, that David could place his trust and life in the keeping of the son of Saul. It was clearly a case of two noble souls overleaping the seemingly insuperable barriers which separated them, and meeting under the attraction of a strong and genuine affection. Of the two friends Jonathan figures as the nobler and more unselfish, for his friendship with David cost him the more. In the face of his father’s suspicion and opposition, he persisted in being loyal to him whom the course of events was rapidly carrying toward the throne.
II. The Proof of Jonathan’s Friendship. Saul had clearly revealed his jealousy of David, while under the power of his evil malady. David, however, was loath to bid farewell to the court before he was sure that Saul’s anger was more than a passing tempest. Accordingly the two friends agreed upon a practical plan for discovering the real state of Saul’s mind. It was apparently the custom for all members of the different Hebrew clans to assemble that they might together celebrate the feast of the new moon. The reason offered for David’s absence was therefore plausible. Saul’s burst of anger clearly revealed his attitude toward his armorbearer. For David to have returned would have been to court death. Only one course remained, and that was to seek safety in flight. The danger of an open meeting between the two friends was obvious. Their plan of communicating secretly with each other proved effective. Tradition also gives a touching picture of their final parting.
III. David and the Priests of Nob. David naturally fled southward toward his home and kinsmen. As he fled, he found himself half famished near the priestly town of Nob, a little north of Jerusalem. To have confessed that he was fleeing from the jealous, half-insane Saul, would have been to warn the priests and to cut off all possibility of receiving food. David yielded to the strong temptation to deceive, and deliberately withheld the actual facts. To satisfy David’s need, Ahimelech, the priest, disregarded the ceremonial law and gave him some of the sacred showbread, which was to be eaten only by members of the priestly families. Refreshed, and armed with the sword of Goliath the Philistine, David departed to enter upon his outlaw life.
IV. David’s Followers. Adullam, with its numerous caves and its commanding position on the western headlands of Judah, which look out upon the Philistine plain, became for a time the home of David and his followers. It was within the territory of Canaan, in close touch with Saul’s court and with David’s kinsmen in the south, and yet on the border line just beyond the reach of Saul’s sword.
Here there rallied about him a heterogeneous group of followers. They included the warriors in his father’s clan—Joab probably among them—and the outcasts and refugees from Saul’s court and from the neighboring tribes and kingdoms. In the later list of his valiant warriors appear the names of Hittites, Edomites, and Philistines. They joined David doubtless because of admiration for his achievements, and because he could promise them adventure and spoil. The task of leading, controlling and satisfying the rough, mixed elements that gathered about him was a severe test even for the genius of a David, and proved a valuable training for one who was destined to become king of the jealous factions of Northern and Southern Israel. As an exile from Saul’s court, he was at liberty and in a position to make alliances with Israel’s foes. Among the Moabites he found shelter and hospitality for his father and mother, whose lives would not have been safe in Saul’s kingdom.
V. The Fate of the Priests of Nob. The narrative contains a striking illustration of the dangers and fatal consequences of falsehood. When David came as a fugitive to the priests at Nob, there was present by chance a certain Edomite by the name of Doeg, the Iago of early Hebrew history. He had evidently escaped the charm of David’s personality. His sole aim appears to have been, by fair means or foul, to ingratiate himself into Saul’s favor. Possibly he also had a personal grudge against the priests of Nob. At the moment when Saul’s suspicions were aroused against David, Doeg, with diabolical cunning, told him how the young Judean was received by Ahimelech the priest. Under the influence of his mad frenzy, Saul at once summoned the priests and charged them with conspiracy. Unfortunately, Ahimelech was unaware of the estrangement between the king and David, so that his answer only increased Saul’s fury. None of the king’s followers responded to his command to slay the innocent priests except the despicable Edomite. Abiathar the son of Ahimelech alone escaped and found refuge with David, who expressed deep contrition at the consequences of his deception.
Thus it was that Saul alienated still further the religious leaders of his kingdom. He presents a pathetic picture. At the moment when he was most in need of sane counsellors, he stood almost alone. In driving David from his court, he not only lost the services of his ablest warrior and leader, but also weakened the loyalty of the strong southern tribes. The better elements in his kingdom must have viewed his policy askance. Priests and prophets condemned his acts and refused to interpret to him Jehovah’s will. Under the mad impulse of the moment, the patriot, who was ready to die for his people, figured in the rôle of a cruel tyrant. In the presence of his powerful pitiless foes, the shadows which suggested the coming end already began to gather about Israel’s first king.