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<\/a> <\/p>After David defeated Goliath, you would think he would be living a life of honor and celebration.<\/p>\n
Instead, because he became too successful, King Saul grew jealous and wanted him dead.<\/p>\n
Every day, Saul had only one thing on his mind:<\/p>\n
“I have to kill David.”<\/p>\n
So David had no choice but to run for his life.<\/p>\n
One day, after fleeing for quite some time, David arrived at a town called “Nob”, where God’s priest, “Ahimelech”, lived.<\/p>\n
When Ahimelech saw David, something immediately felt strange.<\/p>\n
He thought to himself,<\/p>\n
“That’s odd. David is usually surrounded by soldiers. Why is he here all alone? Has something happened?”<\/p>\n
So he carefully asked,<\/p>\n
“David, why are you here by yourself? Where are your men?”<\/p>\n
David knew that if he told the truth\u2014<\/p>\n
“King Saul is trying to kill me. I’m running for my life.”<\/p>\n
\u2014the priest might also be put in danger.<\/p>\n
So David told a lie.<\/p>\n
He replied,<\/p>\n
“The king has sent me on a secret mission. No one is supposed to know about it. My young men are waiting for me somewhere else.”<\/p>\n
After saying that, David realized how hungry he was.<\/p>\n
So he asked,<\/p>\n
“Do you have anything to eat? Five loaves of bread would be great\u2014or anything that’s available.”<\/p>\n
The priest looked troubled.<\/p>\n
He answered,<\/p>\n
“I don’t have any ordinary bread. The only bread I have is the holy bread that was offered before the Lord.”<\/p>\n
Normally, only the priests were allowed to eat this bread.<\/p>\n
But Ahimelech asked one more question.<\/p>\n
“If your men have kept themselves ceremonially clean and have not been with women recently, then you may eat it.”<\/p>\n
David replied,<\/p>\n
“Don’t worry. We’ve remained ceremonially clean these past few days.”<\/p>\n
So the priest gave David the “Bread of the Presence”, the holy bread that had just been removed from before the Lord.<\/p>\n
Years later, Jesus referred to this very event, teaching that God values human life and genuine need more than a rigid, legalistic application of rules (see Matthew 12).<\/p>\n
But there was one man who saw everything that happened.<\/p>\n
His name was “Doeg”.<\/p>\n
He wasn’t an Israelite.<\/p>\n
He was an “Edomite”.<\/p>\n
He served under King Saul and was the chief overseer of Saul’s shepherds.<\/p>\n
He watched everything carefully and remembered it all.<\/p>\n
Later, because of his report to Saul, a terrible tragedy would take place.<\/p>\n
(We’ll get to that story later.)<\/p>\n
After David had eaten, another thought suddenly crossed his mind.<\/p>\n
“Oh no… I escaped so quickly that I didn’t even bring a weapon.”<\/p>\n
So he asked,<\/p>\n
“Do you have a sword or a spear I can borrow?”<\/p>\n
The priest answered,<\/p>\n
“Actually, I do.”<\/p>\n
He walked behind the sanctuary and unwrapped a large cloth.<\/p>\n
Inside was a massive sword.<\/p>\n
The priest said,<\/p>\n
“This is the sword of Goliath, the Philistine you killed. We’ve kept it here ever since. If you want it, you can have it.”<\/p>\n
The moment David saw it, his spirits lifted.<\/p>\n
He said,<\/p>\n
“There is no sword like this one. Please give it to me.”<\/p>\n
Once again, David held the very sword that had defeated Goliath.<\/p>\n
But this time, he wasn’t the nation’s celebrated hero.<\/p>\n
He was a fugitive running for his life.<\/p>\n
David continued traveling south.<\/p>\n
Eventually, he arrived in “Gath”.<\/p>\n
That was no ordinary place.<\/p>\n
It was Goliath’s hometown.<\/p>\n
In other words, David had just walked into Philistine territory.<\/p>\n
At first, no one seemed to recognize him.<\/p>\n
But before long, King Achish’s servants looked at him more closely.<\/p>\n
One of them suddenly said,<\/p>\n
“Wait… isn’t this David?”<\/p>\n
Another replied,<\/p>\n
“The one who killed Goliath?”<\/p>\n
Then someone else added,<\/p>\n
“Isn’t he the one people used to sing about? ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands!”<\/p>\n
The moment David heard those words, his heart nearly stopped.<\/p>\n
He thought,<\/p>\n
“Oh no… They’ve recognized me!”<\/p>\n
If King Achish simply gave the order,<\/p>\n
“Kill him!”<\/p>\n
that would be the end of him.<\/p>\n
What could he do?<\/p>\n
Run?<\/p>\n
It was already too late.<\/p>\n
Then David came up with an idea.<\/p>\n
He pretended to be insane.<\/p>\n
He stared blankly.<\/p>\n
He acted strangely.<\/p>\n
He scribbled all over the city gates.<\/p>\n
He mumbled nonsense.<\/p>\n
He even let saliva run down into his beard.<\/p>\n
He looked nothing like the fearless warrior everyone once admired.<\/p>\n
King Achish watched him for a moment and finally said with disgust,<\/p>\n
“What’s wrong with you people?”<\/p>\n
“Don’t I already have enough madmen around me?”<\/p>\n
“Why did you bring this crazy man to me?”<\/p>\n
“Get him out of here!”<\/p>\n
And just like that, David’s life was spared…..<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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