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Return to Learning to Wait on God Series Return to Wed. Bible Study Series 1
Samuel 21 “When God Doesn't Make Sense”[1] Series:
“Learning to Wait on God: The Life of David Before He Became King”
1 Samuel 16-31 Think
about it:
Just because God's activities in my life may not make sense to me doesn't
mean He is not in control.
David learned this lesson in the experience described in 1 Samuel 21.
We looked at this text this past Sunday morning for it provides the
backdrop for Psalm 52. Background:
Apparently, David was a young man of no more than 20 when he was forced
to flee from Saul (BKC). As the Bible
Knowledge Commentary points out: "David lived out a "Robin
Hood" existence for nearly 10 years. This period of time is reckoned from
the fact that David was 30 when he began to rule over
At
the end of 1 Sam 20, David left Jonathan, and fled for his life.
Q: Where did he go?
V 1 To Nob
Q: Where is Nob?
See map--It was halfway between Jerususalem and Gibeah.
Q: Why would David head
there? Two reasons...
1. He was familiar with it. It
was the region where he grew up (the hill country of
2. There was a man of God
there, Ahimelech. Nob
was a "city of priests" (22:17). Apparently
the tabernacle was there at this time. The
ark was captured in battle in 1104 B.C., and rested at Kiriath Jearim since
then. In 1 Sam 21, the ark is
presumed to be at Nob.
Discuss: In ch 19, when
fleeing from Saul, David fled to be with Samuel in Ramah.
In ch 20, he's with Jonathan. In
ch 21, he flees to Ahimelech at Nob. If
who you associate with reveals a lot about a person, what does this tell us
about David? Outline
of 1 Samuel 21: I.
Scene #1: David at Nob with
Ahimelech (1-9)
What happened at Nob?
A. David met with Ahimelech
(1-2).
1. Ahimelech was afraid (1).
2. David assured the priest
(2).
B. David made two requests.
1. He asked for bread (3-6).
2. He asked for a sword
(8-9).
C. David was seen by a
servant of Saul (7). II.
Scene #2: David at
A. David's reputation
preceded him (10-11).
B. David's response was
instinctive (12-13).
1. He was afraid (12).
2. He pretended to be insane
(13).
C. David's enemy wrote him
off (14-15). Lessons: 1.
Some of the best lessons in life are learned when...
...we're alone
...we're facing a great trial
...we may feel that God doesn't make sense 2.
Someone has well said, "We must never doubt in the darkness what God
has revealed to us in the light." I.
Scene #1: David at Nob with
Ahimelech (1-9)
What happened at Nob? Three
events...
A. David met with
Ahimelech (1-2).
Q: How did Ahimelech react?
1. Ahimelech was afraid (1).
Q: Why was he afraid?
2. David assured the priest
(2).
Q: How did he do it?
What did he tell him? V 2
He fabricated a story about being on a top-secret mission (another
misrepresentation of the truth...).
B. David made two
requests.
Q: What was the first, in v
3?
1. He asked for bread (3-6).
Q: What was the difference
between "common bread" and "hallowed bread" (4)?
It had to do with the ceremonial law (Lev 24:5-9).
The hallowed bread was for the priests, but Ahimelech said he would give
it to David.
Q: What stipulation did the
priest say David must have kept? V 4 kept from women (Ex 19:14-15).
So the priest gave him the showbread (6) (note:
God didn't intend His people to become legalists who kept the letter but
missed the intent of the law).
We'll come back to v 7...
2. He asked for a sword
(8-9).
Q: Why did David say he
needed a sword? He left in haste.
Discuss: Wouldn't this have
sounded a little strange to Ahimelech? Perhaps,
but he had no reason to doubt David, a man of great integrity (see 22:14).
Q: What sword did he have?
Goliath's (9) (Why was this sword at Nob?
It had great religious significance, as a reminder of one of God's
greatest interventions in behalf of His people).
C. David was seen by a
servant of Saul (7).
Q: Who was it?
Doeg
Q: What was his occupation?
The chief of Saul's herdsmen; Is that significant?
What was David's former occupation? Shepherd
(Any jealousy lurking in Doeg's heart?)
Why are we told Doeg was there that day?
We'll find out in ch 22. II.
Scene #2: David at
Q: David fled to
Q: Why, acc to v 10, did he
go there? Fear.
What did he find when he arrived?
A. David's reputation
preceded him (10-11).
This was too good to be true for the inhabitants of
Q: How did David respond?
V 12 David went from fear to
fear!
B. David's response was
instinctive (12-13).
David did some instinctive, fast thinking.
He knew his life was in jeopardy.
1. He was afraid (12).
2. He pretended to be insane
(13).
Q: How?
He acted like a madman, made marks on the gate, and let saliva run down
his beard. What a sight!
Q: What effect did his
behavior have on Achish, the king of
C. David's enemy wrote him
off (14-15).
The NIV is vivid, "Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring
this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me?"
Discuss: What is the purpose
of 1 Samuel 21? Why did God record
this story?
Clue: What is God trying to
teach David? Lessons: 1.
Some of the best lessons in life are learned when...
...we're alone
...we're facing a great trial
...we may feel that God doesn't make sense 2.
Someone has well said, "We must never doubt in the darkness what God
has revealed to us in the light."
At this point in David's life, life was a big contradiction.
On the one hand, he knew God had said he was chosen to be king; he had
seen God work through him to destroy Goliath; God allowed him to marry into the
royal family; God had given him a great friend in Jonathan.
But on the other hand, he was being hunted like an animal, a condemned
criminal, by his own father-in-law! Life
seemed like a big question-mark. The
promise of God seemed to be in contradiction with reality.
Q: What did David do?
The psalms he wrote tell us. He
affirmed God (see Ps 7:1, 17). So
must we. How do we do it? [1]
These are unedited
teaching notes used initially for a Wednesday evening Bible study at |