Day 84. 1 Samuel 21-24

In our reading for today David, fleeing from the wrath of King Saul, comes to the priest Ahimelech at Nob looking for food for himself and his companions. The priest has no bread except the bread of the presence, which according to Leviticus 24:5-9 only the priests are allowed to eat. But after assuring himself that sexual intercourse has not made them ritually unclean (21:4). Ahimelech gives the famished men the holy bread, ignoring the law to satisfy the hungry. Jesus uses this story as an example of the principal at the center of his gospel morality—that the needs of people are more important than strict adherence to ritual laws.
At this point in his career David is an outlaw, living by his wits. Again and again, he displays his cunning, as with the performance he puts on for the king of Gath, scratching on doors and drooling to convince his enemies that he is a harmless madman (21:13).
But David is crazy like a fox. No one knows this better than King Saul, who says, "I am told he is very cunning." He gathers around him a band of outlaws, Robin Hood style (22:2), and leads Saul on a merry chase. But his cleverness only serves to deepen the king's paranoia (22:8). Saul is obsessed with catching David, and in his desperation he knows no bounds. When he discovers that the priest Ahimelech has given David aid and comfort, he has a henchman kill "eighty-six who wore the linen ephod" (22:18). Only Ahimelech's son Abiathar escapes the slaughter to join David's outlaws (22:18).
We are led to understand that now the LORD has utterly departed from Saul and he has no means to reconcile himself with God. But Abiathar the priest is with David and his "merry men," a symbol of the LORD's favor.
David gives safety to the priest. "You are safe with me," David tells him (22:23). And God keeps David safe, through one close call after another (23:27). He is now the Chosen One, and again and again he demonstrates why the LORD is with him. When God puts Saul into his hands (24:3), his men urge David to kill his enemy. It is a sort of test, we are led to understand, and David passes with flying colors. He refuses to raise his hand against the LORD's anointed (24:6). Even when he is given an opportunity, he refuses to take matters into his own hands (24:12). That for the writer of 1st Samuel is what makes David of model of faith, his obedience. Unlike Saul, who again and again does take matters into his own hands, David trusts in the LORD, and that is why Saul has been rejected and David has been chosen as Israel's rightful king (24:20). Saul is driven to admit his one inferiority in this regard "You are more righteous than I," Saul tells
David, "for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil" (24:17).
And that higher righteousness that commands returning good for evil is what we recognize as the heart of the moral teaching of Jesus, loving your enemies and doing good to those who hate you. In his treatment of Saul, David exemplifies that.