“Why did you give him food and a sword? Why have you consulted God for him?
Why have you encouraged him to kill me, as he is trying to do this very day?”
14 “But sir,” Ahimelech replied, “is anyone among all your servants as faithful as David, your son-in-law? Why he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your household! 15 This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! May the king not accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing at all of any plot against you.”
16 “You will surely die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!” the king shouted. 17 And he ordered his bodyguards, “Kill these priests of the Lord, for they are allies and conspirators with David! They knew he was running away from me, but they didn’t tell me!” But Saul’s men refused to kill the Lord’s priests.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You do it.” So, Doeg the Edomite turned on them and killed them that day, eighty-five priests in all, still wearing their priestly garments. 19 Then he went to Nob, the town of the priests, and killed the priests’ families—men and women, children and babies—and all the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.
20 Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David. 21 When he told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord, 22 David exclaimed, “I knew it! When I saw Doeg the Edomite there that day, I knew he was sure to tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all your father’s family. 23 Stay here with me, and don’t be afraid. I will protect you with my own life, for the same person wants to kill us both.”
1 Samuel 22:12-23, NLT
The deeply paranoid king is desperate; he must capture David. Saul needs information and intelligence; at times like this he must rely on his network of spies. Most leaders depend on that. Especially bad ones.
King Saul is trying hard to find David.
Saul’s consumed. He’s insane. When at last he gets a lead, he takes his army to the priestly city of Nob. Doeg the Edomite gives Saul the tip, he had seen David there, consulting with the Lord, and taking bread and a sword from Abimelech, the high priest.
Simply based on Doeg’s singular witness, Saul will order the deaths of 85 priests and the entire town of Nob, a city populated with the Levitical priesthood and their families. When Saul orders the murder, his own men refused to carry it out. They simply refused, and so he must rely on the Edomite, Doeg.
This passage is terrible and reveals all of Saul’s depraved brutality.
One by one, systematically Doeg murders each priest. The bodies keep stacking up. It’s a massacre. Doeg now begins to slaughter their families. And then to all the livestock, until the entire town is one bloody graveyard.
I admit I don’t understand exactly why?
But there is one priest who escapes. Just one man and he flees to David and carries the horrific news of the wholesale slaughter of Nob. Saul and Doeg have completely decimated the city to punish them for aiding David.
And David remembers seeing Doeg there. He also has a moment of truth as he understands his own guilt in this massacre. I suspect he now understands Saul’s cruelty, and David learns a lesson he will never ever forget.
“This is one of the worst acts in the life of Saul; his malice was implacable, and his wrath was cruel, and there is no motive of justice or policy by which such a barbarous act can be justified.”
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