1 Samuel 22:20 Kommentar

David, being driven from Achish, returns into the land of Israel to be hunted by Saul. I. David sets up his standard in the cave of Adullam, entertains his relations (Sa1 22:1), enlists soldiers (Sa1 22:2), but removes his aged parents to a more quiet settlement (Sa1 22:3, Sa1 22:4), and has the prophet Gad for his counsellor (Sa1 22:5). Saul resolves to pursue him and find him out, complains of his servants and Jonathan (Sa1 22:6-8), and, finding by Doeg's information that Ahimelech had been kind to David, he ordered him and all the priests that were with him, eighty-five in all, to be put to death, and all that belonged to them destroyed (Sa1 22:9-19) from the barbarous execution of which sentence Abiathar escaped to David (Sa1 22:20-23).

Here is, 1. The escape of Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, out of the desolations of the priests' city. Probably when his father went to appear, upon Saul's summons, he was left at home to attend the altar, by which means he escaped the first execution, and, before Doeg and his bloodhounds came to Nob, he had intelligence of the danger, and had time to shift for his own safety. And whither should he go but to David? Sa1 22:20. Let those that suffer for the Son of David commit the keeping of their souls to him, Pe1 4:19. 2. David's resentment of the melancholy tidings he brought. He gave David an account of the bloody work Saul had made among the priests of the Lord (Sa1 22:21), as the disciples of John, when their master was beheaded, went and told Jesus, Mat 14:12. And David greatly lamented the calamity itself, but especially his being accessory to it: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house, Sa1 22:22. Note, It is a great trouble to a good man to find himself in any way an occasion of the calamities of the church and ministry. David knew Doeg's character so well that he feared he would do some such mischief as this when he saw him at the sanctuary: I knew he would tell Saul. He calls him Doeg the Edomite, because he retained the heart of an Edomite, though, by embracing the profession of the Jewish religion, he had put on the mask of an Israelite. 3. The protection he granted to Abiathar. He perceived him to be terrified, as he had reason to be, and therefore bade him not to fear, he would be as careful for him as for himself: With me thou shalt be in safeguard, Sa1 22:23. David, having now time to recollect himself, speaks with assurance of his own safety, and promises that Abiathar shall have the full benefit of his protection. It is promised to the Son of David that God will hide him in the shadow of his hand (Isa 49:2), and, with him, all that are his may be sure that they shall be in safeguard, Psa 91:1. David had now not only a prophet, but a priest, a high-priest, with him, to whom he was a blessing and they to him, and both a happy omen of his success. Yet it appears (by Psa 28:6) that Saul had a high priest too, for he had a urim to consult: it is supposed that he preferred Ahitub the father of Zadok, of the family of Eleazar (Ch1 6:8), for even those that hate the power of godliness yet will not be without the form. It must not be forgotten here that David at this time penned Psa 52:1-9, as appears by the title of that psalm, wherein he represents Doeg not only as malicious and spiteful, but as false and deceitful, because though what he said was, for the substance of it, true, yet he put false colours upon it, with a design to do mischief. Yet even then, when the priesthood had become as a withered branch, he looks upon himself as a green olive-tree in the house of God, Psa 52:8. In this great hurry and distraction that David was continually in, yet he found both time and a heart for communion with God, and found comfort in it.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 22 This chapter gives us an account of the flight of David from place to place, from Gath to the cave of Adullam, where his relations came to him; from thence to Mizpeh in Moab, where he got leave of the king of Moab for his father and mother to dwell there; and from thence, by the advice of Gad the prophet, departed into the land of Judah, and came to the forest of Hareth, Sa1 21:1; and of the complaint of Saul to his servants of their unfaithfulness to him, and indolence and unconcern at the behaviour of Jonathan and David to him, Sa1 22:6; when Doeg the Edomite informed him of David being seen by him at Nob, and of his receiving food and a sword from Ahimelech the priest, who inquired of the Lord for him, Sa1 22:9; upon which Saul sent for Ahimelech and all the priests at Nob, and charged them with a conspiracy against him; and notwithstanding the defence the priest made, Saul ordered him and the rest of the priests to be slain by his guards; which they refusing, Doeg became the executioner of them, and of all the inhabitants of the city of Nob, and the cattle in it, Sa1 22:11; only Abiathar a son of Ahimelech escaped and fled to David with the sorrowful news; which greatly affected David, looking upon himself to be the occasion of this sad disaster, and he took Abiathar under his protection, and promised him safety, Sa1 22:20.

And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped,.... Who very probably was left by his father to take care of the sanctuary, and the holy things in it, when he and the rest of the priests were summoned to appear before Saul; who having heard of his bloody execution of them, before his messengers could get to Nob, took, the ephod, with the Urim and Thummim, and made his escape, as appears from Sa1 23:6; this man succeeded his father in the high priesthood, and continued in it until the times of Solomon: and fled after David; who was now removed, or removing from the forest of Hareth to Keilah, whither Abiathar followed him, and came to him there, Sa1 23:6, and with whom only he could be safe, and therefore it was right to flee unto him.

One son of Ahimelech escaped, Abiathar, etc. Just as Doeg the Edomite, one who struck down the priests, symbolized the sword of all executioners, so Abiathar, the one who escaped the sword of the striker, represents all the confessors of Christ who could survive that most severe persecution. Therefore, Abiathar is rightly interpreted as "superfluous father," signifying those who, glorious in the paternal title in the Church, survived such a turmoil. He fled to David and announced to him the priests of the Lord who were killed by Saul: just as the pious devotion of those remaining, after the killing was completed, turned to the Lord, ardently commemorating the memory of their slain brethren under his testament through prayer or by offering sacred sacrifices. To this, he himself replies through his own gospel that he had foreseen and predestined long ago that all who wish to live piously in him would suffer persecution for his name's sake; therefore, as a sure debtor of a certain reward, he would bring all souls released by such a death to the joys of eternal life. "I knew," he says, "that while there would never be lacking false brothers in the Church, without a doubt, they would aid external enemies through internal scandals. I knew that while in this whole world there would never be lacking evil ones, by whom the wisdom of the disputing good or the patience of those contending would be exercised and tested, without a doubt, tribulations and temptations would always await the pilgrim Church here. But I am the one who will eternally crown each soul of the elect with a heavenly crown after their struggles on earth."

David flees to the cave of Adullam, where he is joined by four hundred men of various descriptions, Sa1 22:1, Sa1 22:2. He goes afterwards to Moab; and by the advice of the prophet Gad, to the forest of Hareth, Sa1 22:3-5. Saul, suspecting his servants of infidelity, upbraids them, Sa1 22:6-8. Doeg informs him of David's coming to Nob; of his being entertained by Ahimelech; on which Saul slays Ahimelech and all the priests, to the number of eighty-five, and destroys the city of Nob, Sa1 22:9-19. Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, only escapes; he joins with David, by whom he is assured of protection, Sa1 22:20-23.

Abiathar, escaped - This man carried with him his sacerdotal garments, as we find from Sa1 23:6, Sa1 23:9.

DAVID'S KINDRED AND OTHERS RESORT TO HIM AT ADULLAM. (Sa1 22:1-8) David . . . escaped to the cave Adullam--supposed to be that now called Deir-Dubban, a number of pits or underground vaults, some nearly square, and all about fifteen or twenty feet deep, with perpendicular sides, in the soft limestone or chalky rocks. They are on the borders of the Philistine plain at the base of the Judea mountains, six miles southwest from Beth-lehem, and well adapted for concealing a number of refugees. his brethren and all his father's house . . . went down--to escape the effects of Saul's rage, which seems to have extended to all David's family. From Beth-lehem to Deir-Dubban it is, indeed, a descent all the way.

ABIATHAR ESCAPES AND FLEES AFTER DAVID. (Sa1 22:20-23) one of the sons of Ahimelech . . . escaped--This was Abiathar, who repaired to David in the forest of Hareth, rescuing, with his own life, the high priest's vestments (Sa1 23:6, Sa1 23:9). On hearing his sad tale, David declared that he had dreaded such a fatal result from the malice and intriguing ambition of Doeg; and, accusing himself as having been the occasion of all the disaster to Abiathar's family, David invited him to remain, because, firmly trusting himself in the accomplishment of the divine promise, David could guarantee protection to him. Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 23

The only one of the whole body of priests who escaped this bloody death was a son of Ahimelech, named Abiathar, who "fled after David," i.e., to David the fugitive, and informed him of the barbarous vengeance which Saul had taken upon the priests of the Lord. Then David recognised and confessed his guilt. "I knew that day that the Edomite Doeg was there, that he (i.e., that as the Edomite Doeg was there, he) would tell Saul: I am the cause of all the souls of thy father's house," i.e., of their death. סבב is used here in the sense of being the cause of a thing, which is one of the meanings of the verb in the Arabic and Talmudic (vid., Ges. Lex. s. v.). "Stay with me, fear not; for he who seeks my life seeks thy life: for thou art safe with me." The abstract mishmereth, protection, keeping (Exo 12:6; Exo 16:33-34), is used for the concrete, in the sense of protected, well kept. The thought is the following: As no other is seeking thy life than Saul, who also wants to kill me, thou mayest stay with me without fear, as I am sure of divine protection. David spoke thus in the firm belief that the Lord would deliver him from his foe, and give him the kingdom. The action of Saul, which had just been reported to him, could only strengthen him in this belief, as it was a sign of the growing hardness of Saul, which must accelerate his destruction.