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Commentary on 1 Samuel 22 verses 6–19
We have seen the progress of David's troubles; now here we have the progress of Saul's wickedness. He seems to have laid aside the thoughts of all other business and to have devoted himself wholly to the pursuit of David. He heard at length, by the common fame of the country, that David was discovered (that is, that he appeared publicly and enlisted men into his service); and hereupon he called all his servants about him, and sat down under a tree, or grove, in the high place at Gibeah, with his spear in his hand for a sceptre, intimating the force by which he designed to rule, and the present temper of his spirit, or its distemper rather, which was to kill all that stood in his way. In this bloody court of inquisition,
I. Saul seeks for information against David and Jonathan, Sa1 22:7, Sa1 22:8. Two things he was willing to suspect and desirous to see proved, that he might wreak his malice upon two of the best and most excellent men he had about him: - 1. That his servant David did lie in wait for him and seek his life, which was utterly false. He really sought David's life, and therefore pretended that David sought his life, though he could not charge him with any overt act that gave the least shadow of suspicion. 2. That his son Jonathan stirred him up to do so, and was confederate with him in compassing and imagining the death of the king. This also was notoriously false. A league of friendship there was between David and Jonathan, but no conspiracy in any evil thing; none of the articles of their covenant carried any mischief to Saul. If Jonathan had agreed, after the death of Saul, to resign to David, in compliance with the revealed will of God, what harm would that do to Saul? Yet thus the best friends to their prince and country have often been odiously represented as enemies to both; even Christ himself was so. Saul took it for granted that Jonathan and David were in a plot against him, his crown and dignity, and was displeased with his servants that they did not give him information of it, supposing that they could not but know it; whereas really there was no such thing. See the nature of a jealous malice, and its pitiful arts to extort discoveries of things that are not. He looked upon all about him as his enemies because they did not say just as he said; and told them, (1.) That they were very unwise, and acted against the interest both of their tribe (for they were Benjamites, and David, if he were advanced, would bring the honour into Judah which was now in Benjamin) and of their families; for David would never be able to give them such rewards as he had for them, of fields and vineyards, and such preferments, to be colonels and captains. (2.) That they were unfaithful: You have conspired against me. What a continual agitation and torment are those in that give way to a spirit of jealousy! If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked (Pro 29:12), that is, they seem to be so in his eyes. (3.) That they were very unkind. He thought to work upon their good nature with that word: There is none of you that is so much as sorry for me, or solicitous for me, as some read it. By these reasonings he stirred them up to act vigorously, as the instruments of his malice, that they might take away his suspicions of them.
II. Though he could not learn any thing from his servants against David or Jonathan, yet he got information from Doeg against Ahimelech the priest.
1.An indictment is brought against Ahimelech by Doeg, and he himself is evidence against him, Sa1 22:9, Sa1 22:10. Perhaps Doeg, as bad as he was, would not have given this information if Saul had not extorted it, for had he been very forward to it he would have done it sooner: but now he thinks they must be all deemed traitors if none of them be accusers, and therefore tells Saul what kindness Ahimelech had shown to David, which he himself happened to be an eye-witness of. He had enquired of God for him (which the priest used not to do but for public persons and about public affairs) and he had furnished him with bread and a sword. All this was true; but it was not the whole truth. He ought to have told Saul further that David had made Ahimelech believe he was then going upon the king's business; so that what service he did to David, however it proved, was designed in honour to Saul, and this would have cleared Ahimelech, whom Saul had in his power, and would have thrown all the blame upon David, who was out of his reach.
2.Ahimelech is seized, or summoned rather to appear before the king, and upon this indictment he is arraigned. The king sent for him and all the priests who then attended the sanctuary, whom he supposed to be aiding and abetting; and they, not being conscious of any guilt, and therefore not apprehensive of any danger, came all of them to the king (Sa1 22:11), and none of them attempted to make an escape, or to flee to David for shelter, as they would have done now that he had set up his standard if they had been as much in his interests as Saul suspected they were. Saul arraigns Ahimelech himself with the utmost disdain and indignation (Sa1 22:12): Hear now, thou son of Ahitub; not so much as calling him by his name, much less giving him his title of distinction. By this it appears that he had cast off the fear of God, that he showed no respect at all to his priests, but took a pleasure in affronting them and insulting them. Ahimelech holds up his hand at the bar in those words: "Here I am, my lord, ready to hear my charge, knowing I have done no wrong." He does not object to the jurisdiction of Saul's court, nor insist upon an exemption as a priest, no, not though he is a high priest, to which office that of the judge, or chief magistrate, had not long since been annexed; but Saul having now the sovereignty vested in him, in things pertaining to the king, even the high priest sets himself on a level with common Israelites. Let every soul be subject (even clergymen) to the higher powers.
3.His indictment is read to him (Sa1 22:13), that he, as a false traitor, had joined himself with the son of Jesse in a plot to depose and murder the king. "His design" (says Saul) "was to rise up against me, and thou didst assist him with victuals and arms." See what bad constructions the most innocent actions are liable to, how unsafe those are that live under a tyrannical government, and what reason we have to be thankful for the happy constitution and administration of the government we are under.
4.To this indictment he pleads, Not guilty, Sa1 22:14, Sa1 22:15. He owns the fact, but denies that he did it traitorously or maliciously, or with any design against the king. He pleads that he was so far from knowing of any quarrel between Saul and David that he really took David to have been then as much in favour at court as ever he had been. Observe, He does not plead that David had told him an untruth, and with that had imposed upon him, though really it was so, because he would not proclaim the weakness of so good a man, no, not for his own vindication, especially to Saul, who sought all occasions against him; but he insists upon the settled reputation David had as the most faithful of all the servants of Saul, the honour the king had put upon him in marrying his daughter to him, the use the king had often made of him, and the trust he had reposed on him: "He goes at thy bidding, and is honourable in thy house, and therefore any one would think it a meritorious piece of service to the crown to show him respect, so far from apprehending it to be a crime." He pleads that he had been wont to enquire of God for him when he was sent by Saul upon any expedition, and did it now as innocently as ever he had done it. He protests his abhorrence of the thought of being in a plot against the king: "Be it far from me. I mind my own business, and meddle not with state matters." He begs the king's favour: "Let him not impute any crime to us;" and concludes with a declaration of his innocency: Thy servant knew nothing of all this. Could any man plead with more evidences of sincerity? Had he been tried by a jury of honest Israelites, he would certainly have been acquitted, for who can find any fault in him? But,
5.Saul himself gives judgment against him (Sa1 22:16): Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, as a rebel, thou and all thy father's house. What could be more unjust? I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, Ecc 3:16. (1.) It was unjust that Saul should himself, himself alone, give judgment in his own cause, without any appeal to judge or prophet, to his privy council, or to a council of war. (2.) That so fair a plea should be overruled and rejected without any reason given, or any attempt to disprove the allegations of it, but purely with a high hand. (3.) That sentence should be passed so hastily and with so much precipitation, the judge taking no time himself to consider of it, nor allowing the prisoner any time to move in arrest of judgment. (4.) That the sentence should be passed not only on Ahimelech, himself, who was the only person accused by Doeg, but on all his father's house, against whom nothing was alleged: must the children be put to death for the fathers? (5.) That the sentence should be pronounced in passion, not for the support of justice, but for the gratification of his brutish rage.
6.He issues out a warrant (a verbal warrant only) for the immediate execution of this bloody sentence.
(1.)He ordered his footmen to be the executioners of this sentence, but they refused, Sa1 22:17. Hereby he intended to put a further disgrace upon the priests; they may not die by the hands of the men of war (as Kg1 2:29) or his usual ministers of justice, but his footmen must triumph over them, and wash their hands in their blood. [1.] Never was the command of a prince more barbarously given: Turn and slay the priests of the Lord. This is spoken with such an air of impiety as can scarcely be paralleled. Had he seemed to forget their sacred office or relation to God, and taken no notice of that, he would thereby have intimated some regret that men of that character should fall under his displeasure; but to call them the priests of the Lord, when he ordered his footmen to cut their throats, looked as if, upon that very account, he hated them. God having rejected him, and ordered another to be anointed in his room, he seems well pleased with this opportunity of being revenged on the priests of the Lord, since God himself was out of his reach. What wickedness will not the evil spirit hurry men to, when he gets the dominion! He alleged, in his order that which was utterly false and unproved to him, that they knew when David fled; whereas they knew nothing of the matter. But malice and murder are commonly supported with lies. [2.] Never was the command of a prince more honourably disobeyed. The footmen had more sense and grace than their master. Though they might expect to be turned out of their places, if not punished and put to death for their refusal, yet, come on them what would, they would not offer to fall upon the priests of the Lord, such a reverence had they for their office, and such a conviction of their innocence.
(2.)He ordered Doeg (the accuser) to be the executioner, and he obeyed. One would have thought that the footmen's refusal would awaken Saul's conscience, and that he would not insist upon the doing of a thing so barbarous as that his footmen startled at the thought of it. But his mind was blinded and his heart hardened, and, if they will not do it, the hands of the witness shall be upon the victims, Deu 17:7. The most bloody tyrants have found out instruments of their cruelty as barbarous as themselves. Doeg is no sooner commanded to fall upon the priests than he does it willingly enough, and, meeting with no resistance, slays with his own hand (for aught that appears) on that same day eighty-five priests that were of the age of ministration, between twenty and fifty, for they wore a linen ephod (Sa1 22:18), and perhaps appeared at this time before Saul in their habits, and were slain in them. This (one would think) was enough to satiate the most blood-thirsty; but the horseleech of persecution still cries, "Give, give." Doeg, by Saul's order no doubt, having murdered the priests, went to their city Nob, and put all to the sword there (Sa1 22:19), men, women, and children, and the cattle too. Barbarous cruelty, and such as one cannot think of without horror! Strange that ever it should enter into the heart of man to be so impious, so inhuman! We may see in this, [1.] The desperate wickedness of Saul when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. Nothing so vile but those may be hurried to it who have provoked God to give them up to their hearts' lusts. He that was so compassionate as to spare Agag and the cattle of the Amalekites, in disobedience to the command of God, could now, with unrelenting bowels, see the priests of the Lord murdered, and nothing spared of all that belonged to them. For that sin God left him to this. [2.] The accomplishment of the threatenings long since pronounced against the house of Eli; for Ahimelech and his family were descendants from him. Though Saul was unrighteous in doing this, yet God was righteous in permitting it. Now God performed against Eli that at which the ears of those that heard it must needs tingle, as he had told him that he would judge his house for ever Sa1 3:11-13. No word of God shall fall to the ground. [3.] This may be considered as a great judgment upon Israel, and the just punishment of their desiring a king before the time God intended them one. How deplorable was the state of religion at this time in Israel! Though the ark had long been in obscurity, yet it was some comfort to them that they had the altar, and priests to serve at it; but now to see their priests weltering in their own blood, and the heirs of the priesthood too, and the city of the priests made a desolation, so that the altar of God must needs be neglected for want of attendants, and this by the unjust and cruel order of their own king to satisfy his brutish rage - this could not but go to the heart of all pious Israelites, and make them wish a thousand times they had been satisfied with the government of Samuel and his sons. The worst enemies of their nation could not have done them a greater mischief.
So the king sent to summon Ahimelech, etc. Calling on the Lord’s priests, Saul calls the friendship and reception of David a crime of conspiracy conceived against him. The impious Jews, apprehending those consecrated to Christian piety, will immediately seek revenge for whatever they see done for the faith of truth, thinking it done against them, and rightly so; for to a sinner, religion is an abomination.
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SUMMARY
1 Samuel 22:11 records King Saul's decisive and ominous summons of Ahimelech the high priest and his entire priestly household from Nob. This pivotal moment reveals Saul's escalating paranoia and abuse of royal authority, as he acts swiftly on a malicious and false report from Doeg the Edomite. The verse sets the stage for a tragic and unjust massacre of God's consecrated servants, highlighting the king's descent into tyranny and the innocent priests' unwitting walk into a deadly trap.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse is a direct and furious response to Doeg the Edomite's malicious report to King Saul concerning Ahimelech's unwitting assistance to David. In the preceding chapter, 1 Samuel 21, David, fleeing Saul's relentless pursuit, sought provisions from Ahimelech in Nob, a priestly city. Ahimelech, unaware of David's desperate flight and the true nature of his mission, provided him with the consecrated showbread and Goliath's sword. Doeg, present at the time, twisted these facts into a grave accusation of conspiracy against Ahimelech, as detailed in 1 Samuel 22:9-10. Verse 11 initiates the tragic chain of events that culminates in the horrific massacre of the priests of Nob, described later in 1 Samuel 22:18-19, marking a significant escalation in Saul's persecution of David and his increasing alienation from God's anointed.
Historical & Cultural Context: King Saul's reign was characterized by a deepening spiritual decline, particularly after the Spirit of the LORD departed from him (1 Samuel 16:14). His actions here reflect the unchecked power of an ancient Near Eastern monarch, who could issue decrees and exact collective punishment based on suspicion, often without due process or sufficient evidence. Nob was a significant priestly city, serving as a temporary location for the Tabernacle and its sacred implements after the destruction of Shiloh, making it a vital center for Israel's worship and connection with God. The priests of Nob were direct descendants of Eli, holding a sacred office vital to the nation's spiritual life. Saul's targeting of this priestly family was not merely an attack on individuals but an assault on the very institution of divine worship and a direct affront to God's ordained ministry, demonstrating his profound spiritual rebellion and disregard for sacred office.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully illustrates the Abuse of Power, as King Saul, driven by paranoia and a desperate desire to eliminate perceived threats to his throne, uses his royal authority to unjustly summon and condemn innocent religious leaders. It also highlights the devastating Consequences of False Witness, demonstrating how slander and misinformation, epitomized by Doeg's report, can incite immense injustice and lead to tragic outcomes. The theme of Innocence Under Threat is profoundly evident, as Ahimelech and the priests, simply fulfilling their duties and showing hospitality, become victims of a king's irrational fear and political vendetta. Furthermore, it underscores the stark contrast between Divine Ordination and Human Malice, where those serving God's sacred purposes are subjected to the wrath of a king who has been rejected by God, revealing the intense spiritual conflict underlying the narrative of 1 Samuel.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several powerful literary devices. Foreshadowing is prominently used, as the summons of the priests clearly anticipates the horrific massacre that will follow in the same chapter, building a profound sense of dread and impending doom for the innocent. Irony is deeply embedded, particularly in the name Ahimelech ("my brother is king"), which stands in stark contrast to the actions of the earthly king, Saul, who is acting against God's will and His servants, effectively becoming an anti-king. There is also significant Dramatic Irony, as the audience is fully aware of Doeg's treachery and Saul's irrational paranoia and murderous intent, while Ahimelech and the priests appear to be largely unaware of the true danger they are walking into. This creates a powerful sense of Pathos, evoking profound sympathy for the innocent victims caught in the web of royal madness and malicious slander.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse serves as a chilling testament to the dangers of unchecked power and the devastating consequences of false witness. Theologically, it highlights the sanctity of the priestly office, a divinely ordained institution that Saul so brazenly disregards, demonstrating his complete alienation from God's covenant and his descent into tyranny. It underscores the sobering reality that even those who faithfully serve God can become targets of unjust persecution in a fallen world. Yet, it also implicitly points to God's ultimate justice, as Saul's actions here further cement his rejection as king, paving the way for David, God's chosen one, to ascend the throne. The innocent suffering of the priests of Nob, though tragic, foreshadows a greater, ultimate act of innocent suffering for the sake of God's people, pointing to a redemptive purpose beyond human understanding.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
1 Samuel 22:11 stands as a somber reminder of the fragility of justice when power is corrupted and truth is distorted. It compels us to reflect on the immense responsibility that comes with authority, whether in leadership, family, or community, and the profound damage that can be inflicted when that authority is wielded without integrity, compassion, or a fear of God. For believers, this passage also offers a sobering perspective on suffering: even those who walk blamelessly and serve God faithfully may face unjust accusations and persecution. In such moments, like the priests of Nob, we are called to trust in God's ultimate sovereignty and justice, even when earthly systems fail and human power seems to triumph. This passage challenges us to be vigilant against the spread of misinformation, to stand for truth, and to advocate for the innocent, recognizing the catastrophic ripple effect of slander and unchecked malice in our own contexts. It calls us to cultivate discernment, courage, and a deep reliance on God's character in a world often marked by injustice.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did Saul target Ahimelech and the priests?
Answer: Saul's actions were driven by extreme paranoia and a deep-seated fear of losing his throne, particularly to David, whom he perceived as a rival. Doeg the Edomite's malicious and twisted report in 1 Samuel 22:9-10—claiming Ahimelech had conspired with David by giving him consecrated bread and Goliath's sword—fueled Saul's already unstable mind. Saul saw Ahimelech's unwitting act of hospitality as an act of treason, a conspiracy against his kingship, and thus sought to eliminate not just Ahimelech but his entire priestly family as a means of stamping out any perceived disloyalty or support for David.
What was the significance of Nob as a priestly city?
Answer: Nob was a crucial priestly city, serving as the temporary location for the Tabernacle and its sacred implements after the destruction of Shiloh. It was a primary center of worship, sacrifice, and priestly activity, where the high priest and his family resided and performed their duties for the nation of Israel. Saul's attack on Nob was therefore not just an assault on individuals but a direct affront to God's ordained ministry and a sacrilegious act against a holy place. This demonstrated the extent of Saul's spiritual rebellion and his profound disregard for divine authority and the sanctity of God's chosen servants.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The innocent suffering of Ahimelech and the priests of Nob, summoned and condemned by a tyrannical king on the basis of false witness, powerfully foreshadows the ultimate innocent suffering of Jesus Christ. Just as Saul, the rejected king, sought to destroy God's consecrated servants out of fear and malice, so too did the religious and political powers of Jesus' day conspire against the true Anointed One, the ultimate High Priest. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, was unjustly accused, condemned, and led to slaughter, like a lamb silent before its shearers (Isaiah 53:7). He came to His own, yet His own did not receive Him (John 1:11), mirroring the rejection and persecution of God's servants in Nob. Unlike Ahimelech, whose death brought only tragedy, Christ's unjust suffering and death on the cross became the means of salvation for all humanity, transforming an act of profound injustice into the greatest act of divine love and redemption. He is our great High Priest, who sympathizes with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:14-15), an ultimate example of suffering injustice without retaliation (1 Peter 2:23). Thus, the dark episode in Nob, while tragic, points forward to the divine reversal where innocent suffering, in Christ, brings ultimate redemption and eternal victory.