1 Samuel 22:21

22:20-23 David greatly lamented the calamity. It is great trouble to a good man to find himself any way the cause of evil to others. He must have been much pained, when he considered that his falsehood was one cause of this fatal event. David speaks with assurance of his own safety, and promises that Abiathar should have his protection. With the Son of David, all who are his may be sure they shall be in safeguard, Ps 91:1. In the hurry and distraction David was continually in, he found time for communion with God, and found comfort in it.

Abiathar - He may have remained at Nob to take care of the sanctuary when the other priests went to Saul, and so escaped. He continued David's faithful friend throughout his reign 1 Samuel 23:9 ; 1 Samuel 30:7 ; 2 Samuel 15:24 , 2 Samuel 15:29 , 2 Samuel 15:35 , but gave offence by taking Adonijah's part against Solomon 1 Kings 1:7 , 1 Kings 1:19 , 1 Kings 1:42 , and in consequence was deprived of the high priesthood 1 Kings 2:26-27 . In Mark 2:26 , he is spoken of as the High Priest who gave the showbread to David. Perhaps he was the instigator of this act of kindness to David; and for this cause, as well as his constancy to David, is mentioned by our Lord instead of Ahimelech. It is also possible that, as sagan to his father, he may have performed most of the priestly functions, as Hophni and Phinehas did in the lifetime of Eli. Abiathar did not actually join David until he went to Keilah (marginal reference).

Nob was a city of the priests, the high priest resided there, and the tabernacle was pitched there 1 Samuel 21:4 , 1 Samuel 21:6 , 1 Samuel 21:9 ; 1 Samuel 22:10 . It was situated on the road from the north to Jerusalem, near Anathoth, and within sight of the holy city Isaiah 10:32 ; Nehemiah 11:32 . But the site has not been identified with certainty.

1Sa 22:20-23. Abiathar Escapes and Flees after David. 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 (1Sa 23:6, 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.

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 ( Exodus 12:6 ; Exodus 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.

1 Samuel 21:2 . The king hath commanded, &c. — This is a plain lie, extorted from him by fear, and one that was very pernicious to all the priests there. Whence David afterward declares his repentance for it, ( 1 Samuel 22:22 ,) and prays against the sin of lying, Psalm 119:29 . To such and such a place — To certain places which, he insinuates, it was not proper to mention, because the whole business required concealment.