David, the early years - Part 9

The Lie and the Massacre at Nob

7^th January 2012

A few weeks ago, I wrote about this passage:

1 Samuel 21v1-10
David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no-one with you?"
David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No-one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what have you to hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."
But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread to hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here - provided the men have kept themselves from women."
David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!"
So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd.
David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent."
The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one."
David said, "There is none like it; give it to me." That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

I said at the time that this passage is difficult for some evangelicals, because David ate the consecrated bread and so contravened Leviticus 24v5-9, and Jesus said in Mark 2v23-28 that he was right to do so. As evangelicals, we can believe that the whole Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3v16) infallible and inerrant - and I do - but understand that we need to engage our brains when we read it. You don't have to be simplistic to accept that all of the Bible is true.

Another question arises out of this passage. We know breaking the ceremonial law (in this case, eating consecrated bread) can be right in some circumstances. But David also told at least one lie (maybe more). He said Saul had sent him on a mission, when Saul had done no such thing.

So is lying always wrong? The Bible tells us that God never lies:

Numbers 23v19
God is not a man that he should lie

Titus 1v2
God, who dies not lie

And the Bible urges not to be liars:

Exodus 20v16
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour

Psalm 34v11-14
Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Colossians 3v9-10
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Are there exceptions to this, as there is to the law on eating consecrated bread? If a homicidal maniac intends to murder your wife, and asks you where she is, is it a sin to lie about her whereabouts? If an old lady, suffering from terminal dementia, asks you if her new hat looks nice, is it a sin to say "yes"? Maybe it is, but I'm not sure. Feel free to send me an email if you have an answer to this question. Anyway, such exceptions - if there are any - should be extremely rare.

Returning to the story, when David left Nob, he ran to Achish, king of Gath, to seek the protection of the Philistines, the people he was famous for having defeated (verse 10). So he must have been really scared about staying in Israel. Then:

1 Samuel 21v11-13
But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: "'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he feigned insanity in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

Isn't this just another form of lying? David pretended to be something he wasn't. Isn't deception the same thing as lying?

David lied because he was afraid. He was on the run from a king who wanted him dead. Perhaps we should examine ourselves, and think about how we would act in the same circumstances, before we judge him too harshly. 1 Samuel 22v1 tells us that David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. 1 Samuel 22v3 says that From there David went to Mizpah in Moab. Can you sense how scared he was? But God sent him home:

1 Samuel 22v5
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

Meanwhile, Saul was getting upset:

1 Samuel 22v6-16
Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing round him. Saul said to them, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No-one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today."
But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul's officials, said, "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. Ahimelech enquired of the LORD for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine."
Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and his father's whole family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. Saul said, "Listen now, son of Ahitub."
"Yes, my lord," he answered.
Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and enquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?"
Ahimelech answered the king, "Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king's son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? Was that day the first time I enquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father's family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair."
But the king said, "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and your father's whole family."

Lying is, at least, almost always wrong. And a lie is always impossible to control. You can't know how much harm will be done as a result of your lie. David should never have lied to the priests. He should have told them the truth and asked them to judge what was the right thing to do. Now Ahimelech would be executed because he believed David's lie.

And it got worse:

1 Samuel 22v17-19
Then the king ordered the guards at his side: "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me." But the king's officials were not willing to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
The king then ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.

It wasn't entirely David's fault that this happened, but there would have been no massacre if David had been an honest man (or, at least, he would have been guiltless of it).

1 Samuel 22v20-23
But Abiathar, son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, escaped and fled to join David. He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.
Then David said to Abiathar: "That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father's whole family. Stay with me; don't be afraid; the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me."

David was a man after God's own heart. He was also a sinner. When he saw the terrible consequences of his sin, he took responsibility. He accepted the blame, and he protected the only survivor of the massacre. But he wouldn't have needed to if he'd told the truth in the first place. The town, its inhabitants and the priests were massacred, and it was his sin that started this train of events. He lied in order to persuade the priests to do something that Saul would resent, and he did so knowing that Saul would get to hear about it.

We can convince ourselves that the next lie we intend to tell is not sinful, and that it won't have any unfortunate consequences. And when we can't, we can ignore our consciences until it's too late. Or we can have the courage and integrity to tell the truth.