David at Nob
21 David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!”
Ahimelech went against the law to give David the bread. This bread was to be given to the priests only. Ahimelech put David’s needs and life ahead of religious ceremony and fed him the holy food. Also, David and his men were ceremonially clean, so that also was a contributing factor for the use of the holy food. Later, Jesus referred to this to show that God’s laws should be applied with compassion. Doing good and saving life is greater. Do you get too religious? Have you lost your compassion? Think about doing good and what it is to save life and do it. Doing good and saving life is the right thing to do.
