1 Samuel 21:1 says, Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? When David came to Abimelech the priest at Nob, Abimelech was afraid. This was evidently because David came alone, which made Abimelech wonder why. As a priest of God, if he was being faithful, there should have been no situation that lead him to be afraid, much less simply the appearance of David by himself. As followers of Christ, we are a part of the priesthood of believers, and we should not be afraid no matter what is happening, but we especially shouldn't be afraid simply because something out of the ordinary that is non-threatening happens. Verse two adds, And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. When David was asked what he was doing there, he lied to Abimelech. This is not what we would expect from a man who was said to be after God's own heart. I don't know if David did this totry to protect Abimelech if Saul were to find out that he had helped David or not, but whatever the reason, neither Abimelech nor David seemed to be putting a lot of faith in God. I believe that as Christian we should stand by faith and always tell the truth about what we are doing 8n the world and for God, and especially with our fellow believers. Verse three continues, Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. David then asked Abimelech for five loaves of bread, or for however much he could spare if he didn't have five loaves. We should not be ashamed to ask our fellow Christians for help if we need it. Verse four states, And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. Abimelech told David that he had no common bread, but only hallowed bread, or bread considered sacred and set aside for God. Still, he told David that they could have it if they were sexually pure. What we as Christians must understand is that everything we own should be sacred to God, which means it should be dedicated to Him. Why Abimelech chose this particular qualification to determine whether he would give them the shewbread or not I'm not sure, but he may have thought it would disqualify them from eating it. Verse five adds, And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. David only addressed the status of the young men for the last three days, and said that they had remained pure, or holy to God, so even if the bread had been consecrated to God, in the current situation it could be used as common bread. If the bread were holy, so were they. If we are followers of Christ, we are holy, or set apart from the world, and all things under God's guidance are lawful to us. Verse six continues, So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. Abimelech gave David the showbread because it was all he had. We may have things dedicated to God today, but if so and someone needs whatever it is for their well-being, under God's guidance we should give it to them. I personally don't believe that God wants us to simply store up the things he blesses us with, but expects us to use them to further His work and to help our fellow Christians and even non Christians if they need help. Verse seven says, Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. One of Saul's servants named Doeg was there while this was happening. He was Saul's chief herdsman, and we would assume he was loyal to Saul. We should not be concerned with who sees us doing God's work today, even if we might think they could be a threat to us. Verse eight adds, And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. David then asked Abimelech for a spear or sword, again lying and saying that in his haste, he had forgotten his. I believe that he may have forgotten what he had done to Goliath with a sling and a stone. As long as we are faithful to God, He will always meet our needs, though He may not always keep us from harm in this world. Verse nine continues, And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me. Abimelech said the only sword available was the sword of Goliath, and he offered it to David. It had been on display, but there was now a better use for it. There may be better uses for things that we may be just putting on display for God today, and we as followers of Christ should always be armed with the sword of tha Spirit.
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