Ep. 90 – Saul Kills the Priests

Last we left our story, David had just left Gath. After Jonathan found out for sure that Saul was trying to kill David, David went on the run. First, David went to the high priest. And when the high priest asked him why he was there all alone, David lied about why he was there…saying that he was on a top secret mission for King Saul. And so, the high priest gave David some food and (interestingly) Goliath’s sword. Then, not knowing where to go or what to do, David fled to Gath, one of the 5 main Philistine cities. Maybe the Philistine king (King Achish) take him in. But David quickly realized that he’d made a huge mistake. Too many people in the Philistine king’s court wanted David dead. So, again not knowing what to do, David pretended to be crazy. David put on a big show…scratching the city gate…drooling into his beard. Even though by all accounts King Achish should killed David, for some reason, he…let David go. It was a miracle. And a thankful David scampered out of Gath as quickly as he could. And as David headed back to Israel, he realized that he’d been making some foolish decisions. In the moment, they’d seemed like good decisions…at least to him…but in the end they’d all turned out badly. And what David should have been doing was trusting God. David resolved that from now on, that was what was going to happen. So…where was David going to go next? And would David really start depending on God and letting God the decisions? Well, let’s find out.

Now while David had indeed returned to Israel, he didn’t go very far into Israel. David decided to stay very close to the border with the Philistines, and he hid in a cave called the cave of Adullam. The cave of Adullam was just on the eastern side of the valley of Elah. Which if you kidzos will remember, the valley of Elah was where David had killed Goliath all those years ago. Staying on the Philistines border was actually kinda smart. First, Saul would have a harder time finding him there. And second, even if Saul did find David, Saul wouldn’t be in a rush to march a huge army right up to the border…because those are the kinds of things that started unplanned wars. And so, David hunkered down in the cave, all alone, keeping himself hidden much as he could, and waited to see what God would do next.

Now even though it might have been a good idea for David to hide near the border, he wasn’t able to keep it a secret for very long. At some point word did get out where David was…at least to some people. And then the strangest thing happened. Instead of people telling Saul where David was (at least at the beginning), people started to…gather to David. At first, it was just David’s family. As the Bible says, “When his brothers and his father’s house heard it, they went there to him.” (22:1) By now, it was public knowledge that Saul was trying to kill David. And David’s family realized that if Saul was having a hard time finding David…he may well go after the next best thing – David’s family. So as soon as his family found out where David was hiding, they came and joined him. But it didn’t stop at David’s family. As the Bible says, “And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was discontented gathered to him.” (22:2) All of a sudden, anyone who was in trouble, or anyone who was in big debt, or anyone who had become really upset with all the crazy things that Saul had been doing…showed up at cave wanting to join him. Which makes sense. Because if you were on the outs with King Saul, the safest place you could be was probably by God’s anointed. And as the days and weeks went by, more and more people gathered to David…until there were 400 men with him in the cave (boy it must have been a huge cave, eh kidzos?). Even a certain young prophet named Gad came to stay with David in the cave…a prophet who will be coming up a lot in future stories about David.

The Bible doesn’t say how long David stayed in the cave of Adullam. It might have been weeks or even months. But however long it was, David never forgot that Saul was trying to get him. While in the cave, David composed Psalms chapter 57. And in Psalms 57, David talks about how he feels like his soul was among lions, that nets have been prepared for his steps, and that traps are being set for him. It seems that at some point Saul found out that David was in the cave of Adullam…and was busy making plans to capture him. And at some point, he decided that it was time to go. So, David, his family, and his 400 men packed up and somehow made their way all the way to…Moab. Now you kidzos remember Moab, right? The country whose king hired Balaam to curse the Israelites as they made their way to the Promised Land? The country that Naomi and Ruth came from? Yah…that Moab. But why did David go to Moab of all places? It was definitely an enemy country to the Israelites…Saul had even defeated Moab recently. Well…we don’t know for sure. But if you kidzos will remember from the story of Ruth, Ruth (who was a Moabite) was David’s great grandmother. So maybe David thought there was at least a chance that the Moabites would have taken him in since he had some Moabite blood in him. And even more so for his father Jesse…who don’t forget…was with him. And this is probably why when David saw the king of Moab that he focused on his parents, saying, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” (22:3) And it seems that the king of Moab accepted this…and maybe even let David and his men stay in a Moabite stronghold or fortress for a time. But David didn’t stay there very long, because at some point the prophet Gad gave David a message from God, saying “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” (22:5) And so David, continuing to rely on God’s judgement and not his own, immediately left Moab (probably leaving his parents there) and went back to Judah…this time to a place called the forest of Hereth. It seems that David had finally gotten away from making his own decision and was letting God direct him step-by-step. (Which BTW kidzos if it's a bit overwhelming keeping track of all these places that David is going – Nob, the valley of Elah, Moab, the forest of Hereth…I put a map up on the website to help you guys out. Just go to papasbiblestories.com, click on “Blog”, then click on “Maps”, and then find the post called “Map – David Flees Saul”. I know these kinds of things really help me…so, go check it out.)  

Now while David was doing all this moving around and hiding, back in Gibeah, a certain King Saul was getting more and more frustrated. Indeed, Saul had eventually found out that David was in the cave of Adullam. But just as Saul was preparing to make his move, suddenly, David disappeared. And when this happened, the only explanation that crazy Saul could think of, was that someone…one of Saul’s servants…had tipped David off. So, Saul called a big meeting with all his servants on a big hill under a tamarisk tree. And with soldiers at his side and a spear in his hand, Saul addressed his servants, saying, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servants against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.” (22:7-8) So what Saul is basically saying to his servants is – “Listen…I know you guys are all against me. I mean, none of you even told me about how my son Jonathan sided with David. But think this through guys, especially all of you from my tribe of Benjamin. Do you guys think that David, a guy from the tribe of Judah, is going to give you the positions and the stuff that I’m giving you? Not a chance. So, do yourselves a favour and think about your futures!”

Now sitting there along with all of Saul’s servants was Doeg the Edomite…the man whom David had recognized while visiting Ahimelech in Nob. And Doeg piped up, and said to Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” (22:9) Now the Bible doesn’t say why Doeg was so quick to rat out Ahimelech, but you can imagine Doeg thinking that if Saul wasn’t given someone to focus his anger on, Saul just might make an example of one of them standing on that hill that day. I mean, Saul was sitting there surrounded by soldiers with a spear in his hand after all. And if that had been Doeg’s plan, well he succeeded in spades. Because immediately the king called for Ahimelech the high priest to come to Gibeah. And not just Ahimelech, but all of his family…all 85 priests who were serving the Tabernacle in Nob. Because Nob was quite close to Gibeah, before long, Ahimelech and his family arrived. And Ahimelech said to Saul, “Here I am, my lord.” (22:12) And then Saul said to Ahimelech, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?” (22:13)

Now Ahimelech was totally caught off guard by this. Yes, he’d given David some bread and a sword…but so what? Wasn’t David one of Saul’s most faithful servants? Wasn’t David the king’s son-in-law? So why was helping David a big deal? And Ahimelech answered Saul, and said, “And who among your your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honourable in your house? Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it form me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.” (22:14-15) But King Saul wasn’t having any of it. As far as he was concerned, Ahimelech was the enemy. And the paranoid king, bristling at the chance to finally do something about David, pronounced judgement on Ahimelech, and said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.” (22:16) And then Saul turned to the soldiers standing next to him and said, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell me.” (22:17)

Now, when Saul’s soldiers heard this command from Saul, they hesitated. Kill the priests? Really? Saul might have lost all reverence for the holy things of God, but the soldiers hadn’t. And so, even though the king had given them a direct command, the soldiers stood right where they were…refusing to obey. Seeing the soldiers’ refusal, Saul looked around at the rest of his servants who were there with him on that hill…was there anyone else here who might kill the priests? And then Saul’s attention landed on Doeg. Oh yah…Doeg. He was an Edomite, right? Maybe Doeg didn’t know quite as much about the priesthood and the tabernacle and all that other stuff. And so, Saul said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” (22:18) And sadly, Saul turned out to be right about Doeg. And as the Bible says, “So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod.” (22:18) Doeg obeyed the king’s horrible command. Doeg drew his sword and killed all 85 priests right on the spot, including Ahimelech.

And unfortunately, Doeg didn’t stop there. As the Bible says, “Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep – with the edge of the sword.” (22:19) Doeg, undoubtedly with Saul’s blessing, went on to wipe out the entire city of Nob. Women, children…even oxen, donkeys, and sheep. Absolutely horrible. (And on a side note, how crazy is it that Saul was willing to wipe out all the livestock of God’s priests…but when God told him to do the same thing to the Amalekites…Saul had refused. Just goes to show you where Saul’s heart was by this point.) By doing this, Doeg and Saul weren’t just killing all the men of the priesthood but they were trying to wipe out an entire bloodline. And they would have succeeded, except that one of the priests somehow managed to escape all this destruction – a priest named Abiathar…the son of Ahimelech the high priest. Abiathar ran from Nob all the way to where David was, in the forest of Hereth, and told David everything that had happened. And when David heard Abiathar’s story, he replied to Abiathar, and said, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father’s house.” (22:22) David felt responsible for Ahimelech’s death…and for all the deaths of Ahimelech’s family. And in truth David was right. Do you kidzos remember how we talked about how lying always catches up with you? Well…that’s exactly what’s happening here. If David had told Ahimelech the truth, Ahimelech would have at least known what he was getting himself into if he helped David. Ahimelech could have run, or hid, or at least sent some of his family away somewhere safe. At the very least…when Saul called on him, Ahimelech would have known what was waiting for him. But because David lied to Ahimelech, and hid the real situation from him, Ahimelech was totally caught off guard when he appeared before Saul. And because of that lie…many people died. Lying always catches up with us kidzos. A simple lie can go on to cause things that you would never expect. It’s why we never lie…no matter what is going on.

After Abiathar finished telling David everything that had happened, David took Abiathar into his little band. And David said to Abiathar, “Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.” (22:23) And indeed Abiathar would stay with David for a long time. And despite everything that had happened, Abiathar would serve David for the rest of David’s life.

But what was next for David and his growing band of discontents? Would David stay in the forest of Hereth? Would Saul find David in his new hiding spot? Would David keep moving from place to place? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.