Reflections on 1 Samuel 22:1-22:5
Have you ever found yourself in a desperate situation?
You know the feeling. Circumstances seem to be spiralling out of control. Things are happening faster than you can process them, and you’re not quite sure what to do next. Sometimes, just thinking about the situation brings back some very tough emotions.
Whenever I go shopping, that’s how I feel!
But seriously, there are times when life becomes genuinely desperate. Perhaps you’ve experienced something traumatic yourself. Friends of mine experienced a home invasion. Suddenly, the place that is supposed to be your safe place doesn’t feel safe anymore.
In 1 Samuel 21:1–22:5, we see David in precisely that kind of situation.
David is God’s anointed king. Back in chapter 16, God chose him and anointed him to replace Saul. But Saul—the rejected king—is determined to kill him. By chapter 20, David discovers that Saul really does intend to take his life, and David has to flee.
God’s chosen king is now a man on the run. Where does he go?
He goes to Nob, where the priests live. He probably assumes that the priests will help him. Perhaps they don’t know about Saul’s murderous plans. Whatever David is thinking, he arrives in a desperate situation.
And yet, remarkably, God is still at work.
God provides for his King
David arrives at Nob and meets Ahimelech the priest.
“Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, ‘Why are you alone, and no one with you?’” (1 Samuel 21:1)
There is something strange about David being alone. He is a king-in-waiting, yet he is travelling like a fugitive.
And then David tells a lie. He claims that Saul has given him a secret mission and that his men are waiting for him somewhere else. It isn’t true.
David is desperate.
He asks Ahimelech for some food because, presumably, he is starving. But there is a problem: there is no ordinary bread available. The only bread is the holy bread that had been placed before the Lord.
There were twelve loaves in the tabernacle, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. They were replaced every Sabbath and eaten by the priests. The regulations concerning this bread were part of the Old Testament laws designed to teach God’s people about the holiness of God, and the seriousness and pervasiveness of sin.
Yet, Ahimelech gives David the bread. Then comes a sinister surprise.
Verse 7 tells us:
“Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day…”
His name was Doeg the Edomite.
He is like a snake in the grass. And we’ll hear much more about him in the next chapter.
David is also unarmed. So he asks Ahimelech if there is a weapon available. There is one – Goliath’s sword. The sword of the giant whom David himself killed!
What an incredible irony. David is now carrying the sword of the man he once defeated as he runs for his life from Saul.
David is in a desperate situation. He is frightened, alone, hungry, and even resorting to deception.
But God is with his king. David is provided with food and a weapon. God is still at work even when everything looks like it is falling apart.
Perhaps you’ve experienced something similar. Looking back on difficult periods in your life, you can see ways in which God provided—sometimes through unexpected people, unexpected circumstances, or unexpected means.
God provides for his people, even in desperate times.
God protects his King
David now has food and a weapon. But where does he go next?
Gath.
But Gath was the home town of Goliath! This seems like a terrible idea.
David is desperate. He needs to get out of Israel, so he heads into Philistine territory, perhaps hoping that nobody will recognize him.
But they do. In fact, they recognize him immediately.
“Is not this David the king of the land?” (1 Samuel 21:11)
Not only do they recognise David, but they know his reputation.
They’ve heard the song:
“Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
David is famous—even in Philistine territory. And now he is in their hands. So what does David do?
He pretends to be insane. He starts acting like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
It’s a desperate plan.
Achish, the king of Gath, is not impressed:
“Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence?” (1 Samuel 21:15)
And he sends David away and David survives.
Interestingly, Psalm 56 reflects on this period in David’s life. David describes his fear and desperation, but he also expresses deep trust in the Lord.
His circumstances are terrifying, but his God is trustworthy.
That’s an important lesson for us.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we will never experience frightening circumstances. It doesn’t mean that desperate situations won’t come our way. It means that when they do, we know that God is with us.
God’s King welcomes the broken
David escapes from Gath and ends up in the cave of Adullam. And now something very interesting happens. His family comes to him, but they aren’t the only people who gather around David.
Ch. 22 verse 2 says:
“And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him.”
Who are these people?
They’re not the rich and famous, or the successful and impressive.
They’re distressed. They’re in debt. They’re bitter in soul.
They’re people who are struggling with life. And David becomes their commander.
What a motley crew! And yet this is the beginning of David’s army.
The future king gathers the broken, the desperate, the disillusioned, and the struggling around himself.
Isn’t that a wonderful picture of the kind of King Jesus is?
Jesus doesn’t build his kingdom by gathering the impressive.
Jesus welcomes broken people, those who know they don’t have it all together, those who are weary and burdened.
People who have messed up.
People who are disillusioned with the status quo.
In fact, recognizing that we are broken and need a Saviour is a prerequisite for belonging to Jesus. The church isn’t a gathering of people who have their lives sorted out. It is a gathering of sinners who have found a Saviour.
God’s King is governed by God’s providence
David now needs to think about the safety of his parents. He takes them to Moab and asks the king of Moab to allow them to stay there.
Why Moab?
It might seem like a random choice.
But it isn’t. David’s great-grandmother was Ruth—the Moabite woman who famously left Moab and came to Israel with Naomi.
And now, generations later, David is returning to Moab for protection.
God has been working through history to bring about his purposes.
Even in David’s desperate circumstances, God’s providence is at work. David may not understand everything that is happening. He may not be able to see where this is all heading. But God can.
God’s King is guided by God’s Word
So where does David go next?
He’s in hiding. He’s surrounded by desperate people. He’s trying to avoid Saul.
How does he know what to do?
God sends a prophet to speak His Word.
Verse 5 says:
“Then the prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.’”
God speaks and David obeys.
He leaves the stronghold and goes back into Judah. That must have been frightening. Surely David would have preferred to stay somewhere safe.
But God had a plan and God’s Word directed his king.
This is hugely important for us.
When we’re in desperate situations, we often want God to give us some kind of new, special revelation about exactly what we should do next.
“God, just tell me what to do!”
But notice how God guides David.
He gives him his Word.
And for us, we have something even more wonderful: the completed Word of God in the Bible.
We don’t expect prophets to come along and give us fresh instructions from God. God has given us his Word.
When life feels out of control, God’s Word remains trustworthy.
When we’re desperate, God’s Word remains true.
When we don’t know what to do, God’s Word gives us the guidance we need.
But how does this point us to Jesus?
It would be easy to read this passage and come away thinking:
“Be like David. Get some bread. Pretend to be crazy if necessary. And perhaps consider moving to Israel!”
But that isn’t the point.
The big question is: How does David point us to Jesus?
David is God’s anointed king, but he is only pointing forward to God’s ultimate Anointed King—Jesus.
Like David, Jesus was opposed by the leaders of his day.
Like David, Jesus faced incredibly difficult circumstances. Think about the opposition he experienced throughout his ministry. Think about the hostility he faced when preaching in the synagogue. Think about the plots against his life.
Like David, Jesus gathered a motley crew around himself.
Fishermen. Tax collectors. Zealots. Sinners.
Ordinary, broken, struggling people.
And those people would become the beginning of the worldwide army of Jesus’ followers.
Like David, Jesus welcomes the broken. He welcomes the distressed, the disillusioned, the people who know that they need help.
Like David, Jesus was guided by God’s will and God’s Word.
But there is one enormous difference. David was eventually delivered from his desperate situation. Jesus wasn’t.
At least, not in the way we might have expected. God did not rescue Jesus from the cross. Jesus went all the way to death, and yet God did deliver him when He raised him from the dead on the third day and exalted him to heaven.
God didn’t deliver Jesus from death, but delivered Jesus through death.
God did not deliver Jesus from death so that we could be delivered from death.
The cross was not God’s failure to protect his King. It was God’s plan to save his people. Even on the cross, God was with Jesus in the midst of his suffering.
And this becomes the pattern for everyone who follows Jesus:
Suffering before glory.
Hardship before victory.
The cross before the crown.
So when you find yourself in a desperate situation, don’t assume that God has abandoned you.
He may be providing in ways you cannot yet see.
He may be protecting you in ways you don’t recognise.
He may be working out his purposes through circumstances that seem completely chaotic.
And he has given you his Word to guide you.
Most importantly, he has given you his King.