Read 1 Samuel 21 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
20:42b-21:4 {p} David went to the house of God at Nob and asked bread of Ahimelech the priest of Nob
21:5-8 {s} Ahimelech gives the showbread to David; he also asks weapons of him
21:9a {s} The sword of Goliath the Philistine the only weapon in the house of God
21:9b-13 {s} David fled to Achish, king of Gath, and feigned madness
21:14-15 {p} Achish refuses David the hospitality of his house
The Strong themes:
21:5-15 {sx3+p} The house of God supported David, but the house of Achish the king of Gath refused him
1 Samuel 20:42b-21:15 Chiastic Structure:
Notice that David asked bread from Ahimelech the priest, but all the bread they had was the showbread.
“And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before YHVH. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to YHVH. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before YHVH continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of YHVH made by fire, by a perpetual statute.” Lev 24:5-9
The showbread could only be eaten by the priests. Jesus references this incident:
But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” Mat 12:3-4
When Saul offered the sacrifices, in 1 Samuel 13, Samuel rebuked him for presuming to do what was only lawful for the priests to do. Samuel prophesied that Saul’s kingdom would not continue. But when David ate the showbread, there was no similar censure.
I believe it is because Scripture is continuing to spotlight David as a Prophetic Type for Messiah, who operates in all the offices of divine authority: King, Priest, and Prophet.
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