DAVID FLEES TO AHIMELECH, WHO GIVES HIM BREAD AND THE SWORD OF GOLIATH. SAUL COMMANDS ALL THE PRIESTS TO BE SLAIN. DAVID CUTS OFF A PIECE OF SAUL'S ROBE IN THE CAVE. NABAL OFFENDS DAVID, AND AFTERWARD DIES. DAVID MARRIES ABIGAIL.
DAVID came to the city of Nob, where the tabernacle was at that time, for the people had moved it from Shiloh after the ark was taken by the Philistines. And Ahimelech, the high priest, asked David why he had come? Then David was afraid to say that he fled from Saul, lest some one might send word for Saul to come and take him. So he was tempted to tell an untruth. He said that the king had sent him on a secret errand, but had commanded him to tell no one what it was. David sinned when he said this. The Lord who had saved him from the lion and the bear, and from Goliath the Philistine, was able to save him from Saul. He should have spoken the truth and trusted in him.
And some young men, who were the friends of David, had come with him. Therefore he asked Ahimelech for five loaves of bread, that they might have something to eat. Ahimelech answered, that no bread was there excepting the shew-bread, which, as we have been told, the priests placed each week on the golden table. And Ahimelech gave this to David.
Now there was at the tabernacle a man named Doeg; he was not one of the children of Israel, but had come from the land of Edom; and was hired by Saul to take care of his cattle. Doeg saw David while he talked with Ahimelech. And David said to Ahimelech, Is there not here a spear, or sword, that I can have? for I have not brought my sword or my weapons with me. The high priest answered, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine whom thou slewest, is here, wrapped in a cloth; if thou dost want it, take it, for there is no other. David said, Give it to me.
And David arose and fled from the tabernacle, because he feared that Saul would find him. And he came to the city of the Philistines, called Gath. The king of that city was named Achish. When his servants saw David, they knew him and brought him to the king, saying, Is not this David? Did not the women of Israel sing to each other, saying, Saul has slain thousands, but David has slain ten thousands of the Philistines? Then David was afraid, and pretended he had lost his senses: he scrabbled on the doors, and behaved strangely before them. And King Achish saw him, and said to his servants, You see the man is mad; why, then, have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that you have brought him? Shall such a fellow as this come into my house? So they let him go.
And he fled from Gath, and went into a great cave, called the cave of Adullam, and lived there. When his brethren and his parents heard of it, they came to him, and others who were willing to help him, came also, until he had with him about four hundred men. But David's father and mother were old, and he wished them to be in a better place than the cave where he was hidden, yet he would not send them back to their home in Bethlehem, lest Saul might do them harm. Therefore he went to the king of Moab, and said to him, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come and stay in thy land, until I shall find out what God will do for me. And the king said they might; so David brought his father and mother, and they stayed with the king of Moab as long as David was in the cave.
And a prophet, named Gad, came to David, and said to him, Stay no longer in the cave, but go back into the land of Judah. Then David went into that land, and lived in a wood. Now Saul was in the city of Gibeah; he rested there under a tree, with his spear in his hand, while his servants were standing about him. And he spoke to them, saying, that they were not his friends any longer, but his enemies, because they would not tell him what David and Jonathan were going to do against him.
Then Doeg the Edomite spoke to Saul and said, that he had seen David at the tabernacle, and that Ahimelech, the high priest, had given him bread and the sword of Goliath the Philistine. And the king sent for Ahimelech, and for all the priests who were with him; and they came to the king. And Saul asked Ahimelech why he had helped David to rise up against him, and given him bread and a sword. Ahimelech answered that he had not helped David to rise up against Saul; for he did not know, when David came to the tabernacle, that he was fleeing from Saul, or that the king was seeking to slay him.
But Saul was very angry, and said, Thou shalt surely be put to death, Ahimelech, thou and all thy relations. And he turned to the soldiers that stood near him, saying, Slay the priests, because they are on David's side, and when they knew where he had fled, they would not tell me. But the soldiers refused to obey him. Then he said to Doeg the Edomite, Do thou slay them. And that wicked man rose up and slew eighty-five men who were priests. He went to the city of Nob also, where the tabernacle was, and where the priests lived, and slew all whom he found there. But one of Ahimelech's sons, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to David, and told him what Saul had done. David answered, I knew, when Doeg, the Edomite, saw me at the tabernacle, that he would surely tell Saul. It is my fault that thy father and all thy relations have been slain. Then he asked Abiathar to stay there, and promised that no one should harm him.
After this, some one told David that the Philistines had come into the land of Judah, and were fighting against the city of Keilah, and robbing the people of their grain. Then David asked the Lord whether he should go and fight against them. The Lord answered, Go, and destroy the Philistines, and save Keilah. But the men who were with David feared to go. Then David asked the Lord again, and the Lord told him to go, for he would give him the victory. So David and his men went and fought with the Philistines, and overcame them, and saved the people of Keilah.
And it was told Saul that David had gone into Keilah. Then he said, I shall now surely take him, for my soldiers will surround the city on every side, so that he cannot escape. And Saul called all his army together to go down to take David. When David heard of it, he asked the Lord whether Saul would certainly come. The Lord said, He will come down. Then David asked whether the people who lived in Keilah, and whom he had saved from the Philistines, would fight for him against Saul, or whether they would give him up. And the Lord answered, They will give thee up.
Then David and his men (there were, by this time, about six hundred with him) went out of Keilah, to flee to any place they could find where they might hide from Saul. When Saul heard that David had fled, he did not go to Keilah after him. Yet he tried every day to find him, but God saved him out of Saul's hand. And David hid in a wood. And one day Jonathan came to him there, and spoke kindly to him, saying, Fear not, for Saul, my father, shall not find thee, and thou shalt yet be king over Israel. And again they made a covenant together, promising never to harm one another. Afterward Jonathan went away to his own home, but David stayed in the wood.
And the people called Ziphites came to Saul, and said they would show him where David was. Then Saul and his men went with them to seek him. But when they had almost taken David, a messenger came to Saul, saying, Make haste and come back, for the Philistines have brought an army into thy land. And Saul had to go to fight against the Philistines, and the Lord saved David this time also; and he fled into the wilderness.
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, it was told him where David had gone. Then he chose three thousand of his soldiers, and took them into the wilderness to hunt for David among the rocks, where the wild goats lived. And he came to a cave. Now David and his men were hidden in the sides of the cave, but Saul could not see them. And Saul walked alone into the cave. While he was there, David's men wanted him to rise up and kill Saul. But he would not, for although Saul wanted to kill David, David did not want to kill him. Instead of this he was willing to obey him, and do all that he commanded, because Saul was still king. Therefore David would not slay Saul, yet he went up softly behind him, while he was in the cave, and cut off a piece of his robe and took it away in his hand, but Saul did not know it.
When Saul went out of the cave, David followed him and cried aloud, saying, My lord, the king! And Saul looked round to see who it was. Then David bowed down with his face to the earth before him, and asked why Saul listened to the wicked men who told him that David wanted to do him harm. On that day, David said, he might have killed Saul, and some of his men wanted him to do it, but he had told them he would not kill his master, whom the Lord had made king. Then David held up the piece of robe which he had cut off, and said, See this piece of thy robe in my hand! Since I was so near thee as to cut it off, but did not kill thee, thou mayest know that I would not do thee evil. Yet thou art hunting me to put me to death. Let the Lord judge between us, and see which one is doing wrong, and let him punish thee for thy cruelty to me, but I will not do thee any harm.
When Saul heard David speaking so kindly to him, the feeling of hatred went out of his heart, and he said, Is this thy voice, my son David? and he wept. Then he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I because thou hast done good to me, but I have done evil to thee; and thou hast shown me kindness this day, for when I was in thy power thou didst not kill me. May the Lord reward thee for the good thou hast done. And now I know well that thou shalt some day be king over Israel. Promise me therefore, before the Lord, that thou wilt not slay my children after I am dead. And David promised that he would not. Then Saul went away to his own home, but David and his men stayed out in the wilderness.
And Samuel died, and all the children of Israel gathered together to mourn for him, and they buried him at Ramah, the city where he had lived.
After Samuel was dead, David went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was in that country a very rich man, who had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; his name was Nabal, and his wife's name Abigail. She was a kind and a beautiful woman, and acted wisely and prudently; but he was ill-natured and foolish, and did what was evil.
Now David and his men had their camp near the place where Nabal's flocks were feeding, and David's men were very good to Nabal, for although they wanted food to eat, they never took a sheep or a goat from him, nor allowed others to do so, neither did they harm his shepherds. And Nabal went to shear his sheep at Carmel. When David heard of it, he spoke to ten of his young men, saying, Go up to Carmel and speak kindly to Nabal, and ask if he will not give us some food? And they went and spoke as David had told them. But Nabal answered, Who is David? There are plenty of servants now-a-days that run away from their masters as he has done. Shall I take my bread, and the meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who have come from I know not where?
So David's young men came back to him and told him all that Nabal had spoken. Then David said to his men, Gird on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword, and there went up after him about four hundred men; for two hundred stayed to guard the things that were in their camp. And David was very angry, and told his men that he had kept Nabal's flocks safe all the time they were out in the wilderness, so that none of them was lost; yet now, when he spoke kindly to him and asked him for food, he would give none, but returned only evil for the good that had been done to him. And David said he would go to Carmel and punish Nabal with a very great punishment.
And he started to go to Nabal's house. But before he had come there, one of Nabal's young men went to Abigail, Nabal's wife, and told her how David had sent messengers to Nabal, and how unkindly Nabal had treated them. Yet David's men were very good to us, the young man said, when we were out in the wilderness. We were not harmed by them, neither missed we anything, but they kept us safe by night and by day, all the time we were near them keeping the sheep. Then the young man told Abigail to think what she had better do, because David would surely come and punish them for Nabal's unkindness.
Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, and two bottles of wine, five sheep, ready killed, and five measures of parched corn; one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and put them upon asses. And she said to her servants, Go on before me, I will come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came by a shady place of the hill, and there she met David and his men coming toward her. When she saw him, she got down from the ass, and bowed before him with her face to the ground, saying, I pray thee, let me speak, and hear thou what I say; but mind not the evil words that Nabal has spoken. She said also, Let this present which I have brought, be given to thy young men. And she begged that David would forgive her for coming to him. The Lord would certainly bless him, she said, and save him from Saul. And when the Lord should have done as he promised, and made him king over Israel, then, Abigail said, David would not be sorry that he had listened to her, and let her persuade him to stay away from Nabal's house, and not go there to put Nabal to death.
And David listened to her words, and, when she was done speaking, he thanked the Lord for sending her to meet him, and for the good advice she had given him, because it had kept him from going on in his anger to kill Nabal. So he took the present which Abigail brought, and spoke kindly to her, and sent her safely away; and he and his men went back to their camp.
When Abigail came to her home, Nabal was holding a great feast there and was drunken. Therefore she said nothing to him until the morning. Then, when she told him of the danger he had been in, he was greatly afraid, and all his strength went from him, so that he lay helpless and without moving, like a stone. And about ten days afterward he died. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he thanked the Lord again for keeping him from going to Nabal's house in his anger. David said, Blessed be the Lord, who has kept me from doing evil.
And David loved Abigail, and sent messengers to ask that she would be his wife. When they came to her house, they said, David sent us unto thee to take thee to him to be his wife. And she bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Let me be his servant. Then she made haste, and rode upon an ass, and five of her handmaidens went with her; and she followed after the messengers of David, and came to him and was his wife.