211 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was full of fear at meeting David, and said to him, Why are you by yourself, having no man with you? 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has given me orders and has said to me, Say nothing to anyone about the business on which I am sending you and the orders I have given you: and a certain place has been fixed to which the young men are to go. 3 So now, if you have here five cakes of bread, give them into my hand, or whatever you have. 4 And the priest, answering David, said, I have no common bread here but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women. 5 And David in answer said to the priest, Certainly women have been kept from us; and as has been done before when I have gone out the arms of the young men were made holy, even though it was a common journey; how much more today will their arms be made holy. 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread: there was no other, only the holy bread which had been taken from before the Lord, so that new bread might be put in its place on the day when it was taken away. 7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, kept back before the Lord; his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the strongest of Saul's runners.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 21:1-7
Commentary on 1 Samuel 21:1-9
(Read 1 Samuel 21:1-9)
David, in distress, fled to the tabernacle of God. It is great comfort in a day of trouble, that we have a God to go to, to whom we may open our cases, and from whom we may ask and expect direction. David told Ahimelech a gross untruth. What shall we say to this? The Scripture does not conceal it, and we dare not justify it; it was ill done, and proved of bad consequence; for it occasioned the death of the priests of the Lord. David thought upon it afterward with regret. David had great faith and courage, yet both failed him; he fell thus foully through fear and cowardice, and owing to the weakness of his faith. Had he trusted God aright, he would not have used such a sorry, sinful shift for his own preservation. It is written, not for us to do the like, no, not in the greatest straits, but for our warning. David asked of Ahimelech bread and a sword. Ahimelech supposed they might eat the shew-bread. The Son of David taught from it, that mercy is to be preferred to sacrifice; that ritual observances must give way to moral duties. Doeg set his foot as far within the tabernacle as David did. We little know with what hearts people come to the house of God, nor what use they will make of pretended devotion. If many come in simplicity of heart to serve their God, others come to observe their teachers and to prove accusers. Only God and the event can distinguish between a David and a Doeg, when both are in the tabernacle.