1 Samuel 22:17

1 Samuel 22;17 says, And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.  Saul then ordered his footmen to kill the priests.  He then falsely accused them of knowing where David was, siding with him against Saul,  and hiding him.  If people don't have legitimate reasons to persecute or kill Christians today, they will do so based on lies.  After all, they are under the leadership of Satan, the great Deceiver.  To their credit, even though it put them in great danger, the footmen refused to do as Saul ordered.  If there ever comes a time when we as Christians are ordered to take any harmful action against our fellow Christians, we must refuse to do so, even if this puts us at risk.  Verse eighteen adds, And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.  When the footmen refused to kill the priests, Saul turned to Doeg and told him tokill them.  He was more than willingly to do so, and killed eighty-five priests.  We could say that Doeg had no choice since Saul had ordered him to do so, but he had the same ability say no as the footmen did, and he might have been in a more powerful position than they were.  We can never justify sinful actions by saying someone in authority told us to take them.  If there had been a priest helping David, it would have likely been only Abimelech himself, but eighty-five priests were slain.  This was  because of Saul's imagined guilt of all the priests by association.  If the time comes when Christians are openly persecuted, we should not be surprised if many are just pronounced guilty by association if one is charged with some crime.  Verse nineteen continues, And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.  Saul didn't stop with having the priests killed, but he had all the people and animals of Nob, the city of the priests, killed as well.  This was Saul, the king that the people demanded, acting as Samuel had warned them a king might.  He was more interested in his position than he was in the welfare of his people.  There are still many leaders in the world today who are the same way.  Verse twenty states, And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.  Ahiathar, one of the sons of Abimelech survived the massacre and fled to David.  If we are in a place where persecution is taking place, I believe that all we can do ultimately is place our life in the hands of God.  Of course, if we are truly open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, He may lead us to a temporary place of safety but it will never be permanent, because this world is not our permanent home.  Verse twenty-one adds, And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the LORD’s priests.  Abiathar told David what Saul had done to the priests and the city of Nob.  Even when the news is bad, all we as Christians can do is tell the truth, even if it is painful to us to tell it or to the ones we are telling it to.  Verse twenty-two continues, And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house.  David at least took responsibility for his part in what had happened.  By lying to Abimelech, David didn't even give him a choice as to whether or not to help him in defiance to Saul.  David said when he saw Doeg there that he knew he would go to Saul and tell him what had happened, or at least what he thought had happened.  If he knew that David had lied to Abimelech, he certainly did not tell Saul so.  We cannot expect those who are out destroy Christians to be completely truthful in their accusations against Christians, if they are truthful at all.  Verse twenty-three concludes, Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.  David told  Abiathar to stay with him, because the one that wanted Abiathar dead also wanted David dead and this was Saul.  David said that he would safeguard Abiathar, even though at this time David was fearful for his own life.  Even if we are living in fear, which I don't believe that we as followers of Christ should ever do, we need to support our fellow Christians when they are in danger also.  Of course, I believe that if David had been relying on the guidance of God, he would have made different choices.