1 Samuel 22:6-23

1 Samuel 22:6-23

As David continued to remain as far away as possible from Saul, Saul began his search for David. He first discovered that Jonathan and David had made a covenant, in which Jonathan had promised to do his best to protect David. Saul was obviously upset that this deal was made, knowing that his son had betrayed. Furthermore, no one had told him about it, and that gave David more time to escape before Saul began his pursuit. As he was discussing these things with his men, a man found Saul and told him that he had last seen David with Ahimelech (when David had received Goliath’s sword).


Saul immediately went to find Ahimelech and questioned him about what he had given David. Ahimelech defended his decision to feed David and offer him a form of protection. He knew of David’s faithfulness to God, to Saul, and to the nation of Israel. He reminded Saul of how great soldier David had been, and he made a good case for David. However, Saul did not want to hear it. Just like before, he ignored all the great things David had done for him and for Israel and allowed his jealousy and anger take over. So he commanded his soldiers to murder Ahimelech and all the priests. Although they had done what they felt God would have them do and had protected a man who was following after God, Saul wanted them dead.

Ahimelech and the priests were killed, but not by Saul’s soldiers. Either they knew that all David had done had been for God and for Israel or they were convinced by Ahimelech. Either way, they refused to kill God’s priests. They chose to protect them and David, defending the men who were following God rather than obeying Saul. The situation that Ahimelech and the soldiers found themselves in is similar to what people ask about obeying the governments of the world today. Some may ask what we should do if laws are set in place that would order us to disobey God’s commands. These men provide us that answer. In those instances, we should be sure to follow what the Bible teaches rather than what the governing officials command. The Christians in the book of Acts faced this same dilemma, and they rightfully chose to follow God rather than the government. Wherever we live, we should make sure that we follow all the laws set before us, but if those laws begin to conflict with what God would have us do, we must choose to “obey God rather than men.”

After these soldiers chose to disobey Saul, another man stepped up to kill Ahimelech and his family, but one of Ahimelech’s sons was able to escape. He found David and told him all that Saul had done. He informed David that Ahimelech and 85 other men were dead, and that Saul would surely come after him soon. David took this man, Abiathar, in and they went into hiding together.

Matt