1 Samuel 21:4 Commentary and Bible Study

The young men are hungry, and David feels responsible for providing for them, since they are suffering from hunger for his sake, in that they have joined with him in his flight from Saul and not deserted him. He asks Ahimelech for bread and makes a modest request. He is not asking for extravagant delicacies, but for five loaves, the bare necessity of life to keep them alive and strong so that they can continue their journey. The priest is in a dilemma because there is no time to make fresh bread, and the only bread readily available is the hallowed or holy bread. This was the showbread which Moses had been commanded to place on the table on display in the temple (Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-6; Numbers 4:7). This represented the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread from heaven which the Father gives to all who believe. It was not permitted according to the law for anyone other than Aaron and his sons to eat this bread (Leviticus 24:9), so how could Ahimelech now give it to David’s men, just to satisfy their hunger, when the law gave it a much higher status than that? But Ahimelech has already seen the principle at stake and has made his decision. We read here that David had taken three days to get there: three days to cover about four and a half miles, from Saul's palace to Nob. He lets that slip. This too would have aroused Ahimelech’s suspicions. Whatever was he doing over three days? Well, he couldn't go down the main highway. There were lookouts posted there. He was under the sentence of death from King Saul, and so they had to take a very circuitous route. He asks whether the men have at least kept themselves from women. There were two issues for Ahimelech to consider. Hall comments: ‘Ahimelech was no perfect casuist: these men might not famish, if they were ceremonially impure. But this question bewrayed [revealed] the care of Ahimelech in distributing the holy bread. There might be in these men a double incapacity; the one as they were seculars [they were not priests], the other as unclean [they might have been ceremonially unclean]: he saw the one must be [there was no avoiding it], he feared lest the other should be; as one that wished as little indisposition as possible might be, in those which should be fed from God's table.’ He was about to rule that they could take the showbread, but because it was holy bread, set apart by the ceremonial law for special use, he wanted the men at least to be ceremonially clean, in order to minimise the violation of the ceremonial law. There is not uncleanness in marital relations, but Moses had made the same stipulation (Exodus 19:15) to ensure ceremonial cleanness, and Ahimelech was being as careful in the circumstances as he could be. So ceremonial correctness gave way to need. The men may on this occasion eat the holy bread because of their great hunger. To let them go hungry in such extreme circumstances was not the intention of the ceremonial law. It was given to teach lessons through symbolic pictures, not to endanger life. The Lord Jesus turns to this passage to teach this very lesson. The Pharisees have accused his disciples of breaking the sabbath by plucking ears of corn on the sabbath day to satisfy their hunger (Exodus 20:10). The Lord gives the perfect answer and shows Scripture’s approval of what David did in a very similar situation, and yet was blameless. He was blameless because he put human life above the requirements of the ceremonial law, and that was correct. The law was given to teach, not to endanger life. A child may be taught not to go in a certain room in the house, but if the child’s safety is in danger, then the rule is quickly relaxed for safety’s sake. It was pride and self-righteousness that made the Pharisees want to apply this law in the strictest possible way. They set themselves up as guardians of the letter of the law, without understanding its spirit, and so showed themselves to be of a completely different mind to the Author of the law. He gave it with a right understanding of its relative value, and where it should and should not be applied. They made themselves to be more zealous than the Lord himself.