Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
David flees to Ahimelech the high priest at Nob, and from him asks for and receives the bread of the Presence and the sword of Goliath. Then, at v. 10, seeing that in Judea, being subject to Saul, he cannot hide, he flees to Achish king of Gath, before whom, being betrayed and accused, he feigns madness, and thus escapes free.
Vulgate Text: 1 Kings 21:1-15
1. And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech was astonished at David's coming. And he said to him: Why are you alone, and no one with you? 2. And David said to Ahimelech the priest: The king commanded me on a matter and said: Let no one know the reason for which I have sent you, or what orders I have given you; for I have directed my servants to such and such a place. 3. Now therefore, if you have anything at hand, give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find. 4. And the priest answered David and said: I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread -- if the young men have kept themselves clean, especially from women? 5. And David answered the priest and said: Indeed, if it is a matter of women, we have abstained since yesterday and the day before, when we set out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Moreover, this journey is profane, but it too will be sanctified today through the vessels. 6. So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the Lord to be replaced with hot bread. 7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen. 8. And David said to Ahimelech: Do you have here at hand a spear or a sword? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business was urgent. 9. And the priest said: Behold, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck in the Valley of the Terebinth, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the Ephod. If you want to take it, take it; for there is no other here besides it. And David said: There is none like it; give it to me.
10. So David arose and fled that day from Saul, and came to Achish king of Gath. 11. And the servants of Achish said to him, when they saw David: Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in dances, saying: Saul has struck his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12. And David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13. And he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands, and scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. 14. And Achish said to his servants: You see the man is mad. Why have you brought him to me? 15. Do we lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?
Verse 1: David Comes to Nob
AND DAVID CAME TO NOB, TO AHIMELECH THE PRIEST -- the high priest, that is, the Pontiff. For Ahimelech was the son of Ahijah, son of Ahitub, son of Phinehas, son of Eli the High Priest. St. Mark 2:26 says that David came to Abiathar, either because Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, was performing his father's duties in his absence, or because both names were common to father and son. David at the beginning of Saul's persecution fled but returned a second and third time, hoping to reconcile him. But when he learned from Jonathan that his hatred was implacable, he fled and never returned to Saul.
AT NOB. This city was assigned to the priests on the occasion of the tabernacle of the covenant being transferred there. The Mosaic tabernacle, after the ark was captured by the Philistines, seems to have been brought to Nob; when Nob was destroyed by Saul, as we shall hear in the next chapter, it was transferred to Gibeon; thence Solomon brought it into the temple.
AND AHIMELECH WAS ASTONISHED THAT DAVID HAD COME -- because he saw him alone and unarmed, as if a wanderer and fugitive, and did not know the cause, namely Saul's anger.
Verse 2: David's Lie to Ahimelech
THE KING COMMANDED ME ON A MATTER. David tells an officious lie to protect his life: lest, if he said he was fleeing from the hostile Saul, Ahimelech, fearing Saul's wrath, would not dare to give him bread; and lest he create a danger to Ahimelech's life. For Doeg was there, devoted to Saul, who nevertheless accused Ahimelech before Saul, and was the cause of so many priests being killed, as we shall hear in the next chapter.
AND I HAVE DIRECTED MY SERVANTS TO SUCH AND SUCH A PLACE. David entered alone, with his face covered lest Doeg recognize him, but had ordered his servants to wait at an agreed place near Nob. He received bread from Ahimelech and brought it to his companions, for all were suffering from a two-day journey without food. All of them satisfied their hunger with the consecrated bread, as Christ says in Matthew 12:3, because David could not obtain common bread for fear of Saul. For necessity knows no law.
Verse 4: The Showbread
IF THE YOUNG MEN HAVE KEPT THEMSELVES CLEAN, ESPECIALLY FROM WOMEN -- how much more in the new law is it fitting that husbands abstain from the use of their wives on the day when they wish to receive not the bread of the Presence, but divine bread, namely the Eucharist? So the theologians.
Verse 5: The Vessels Were Holy
AND THE VESSELS OF THE YOUNG MEN WERE HOLY. "Vessels," that is, bodies, were clean from women and undefiled. Thus the Apostle, 1 Thessalonians 4:4, commands that each one "possess his vessel," that is, his body, "in honor and sanctification."
MOREOVER THIS JOURNEY IS PROFANE, BUT IT WILL BE SANCTIFIED TODAY THROUGH THE VESSELS. In Hebrew, derech, "way," is often taken for custom and habit. The meaning is: this lay custom is unclean -- that laymen eat the bread of the Presence, which by law only priests may eat. But this holy bread will not be profaned; it will be received purely in pure bodies, in this grave necessity of hunger, in which even laymen are permitted to eat the holy bread. So St. Jerome, Lyranus, and Abulensis.
Symbolically, St. Augustine on Psalm 51 teaches that David here represents not only the person of a king, but also of a priest, and thus represents Christ, who was a priest as well as a king.
Verse 6: No Bread but the Showbread
FOR THERE WAS NO BREAD THERE EXCEPT THE SHOWBREAD. How is it that Ahimelech the High Priest did not have common bread in his house? Abulensis answers that the reason was that he had already placed fresh bread on the table of the showbread, and therefore according to the law had removed the old bread for the sustenance of himself and his household; nor had he baked others, because those sufficed. But the showbread could be eaten only by the priests and their male children (as I said on Leviticus 24), not by women and daughters: therefore for them Ahimelech must have had common bread, which he could and should have given to David. Therefore it is more clearly said that David conducted his business with Ahimelech not in his house, but in the tabernacle, where there was no bread other than the showbread. For David was feigning haste and urgent business, lest his flight become widely known, and he himself be captured or killed by Saul's servants.
Verse 7: Doeg the Edomite
NOW A CERTAIN MAN OF SAUL'S SERVANTS WAS THERE, DETAINED BEFORE THE LORD; AND HIS NAME WAS DOEG THE EDOMITE. He was bound by a vow to remain in the Tabernacle for some days, to devote himself to prayer and hearing the law of God. This Doeg betrayed David and Ahimelech to Saul, and therefore was a type of Judas the traitor who betrayed Christ to the Jews. So says St. Augustine on Psalm 51.
Verse 9: The Sword of Goliath
BEHOLD, THE SWORD OF GOLIATH IS HERE, WRAPPED IN A CLOTH BEHIND THE EPHOD. David had consecrated this sword to God in the tabernacle as a memorial of his victory. It was kept behind the wardrobe in which the Ephod and priestly vestments were stored. From this Abulensis concludes that it is right to dedicate in churches swords, weapons, banners, and similar votive offerings in memory of victories and benefits received from God.
AND DAVID SAID: THERE IS NONE LIKE IT; GIVE IT TO ME. From this it is clear that David was of tall and robust body, since he could use and fight with Goliath's sword.
Verse 10: David Flees to Achish of Gath
DAVID AROSE AND FLED THAT DAY FROM SAUL, AND CAME TO ACHISH KING OF GATH. David, having sent his servants elsewhere, fled alone to Achish, so he might better remain hidden. For Goliath, slain by David, was from Gath, whose king was Achish. Gath in Hebrew means "wine-press," and this is aptly applied here, for David was pressed as if in a wine-press of dread and anguish.
Verse 11: The Servants of Achish Recognize David
IS THIS NOT DAVID, THE KING OF THE LAND -- who everywhere fights, conquers, and dominates? Or, as Vatablus says, "king of the land," that is, of this region of ours: for the kingdom of our land seems to belong to him because of his defeat of Goliath. For the terms of the combat were that the victor would possess the region of the vanquished, as if to say: Since the kingdom seems to belong to David, O Achish, why do you not admit him to it?
Verse 12: David Fears Achish
NOW DAVID TOOK THESE WORDS TO HEART -- pondering the way and means of escaping so present a danger. He prayed and composed Psalm 55, in which he asks to be freed from evil-speaking enemies, and shortly after composed Psalm 33, which begins: "I will bless the Lord at all times."
Verse 13: David Feigns Madness
AND HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOR BEFORE THEM. In Hebrew, taamo, that is, "his taste," meaning his sense -- David, who had previously been sensible, pretended to be insane. He distorted, contracted, and widened his facial expression, transforming his mouth, eyes, nostrils, and lips into various shapes and gestures, as fools do.
AND HE COLLAPSED IN THEIR HANDS -- flailing his arms, spreading his legs, staggering, and falling to the ground, he pretended to be insane or epileptic.
AND HIS SALIVA RAN DOWN INTO HIS BEARD -- as happens with epileptics and the frenzied.
Allegorically, St. Augustine explains this about Christ: "He showed affection, that is, He had compassion on us from on high; and because one who is crucified is stretched out on wood -- and a drum is made when skin is stretched on wood -- He was crucified, He was stretched out on wood. He was opening the hearts of mortals by the cross."
St. Augustine also translates the Septuagint reading as: "He was carried in His own hands" -- applying this to Christ at the Last Supper: "Christ was carried in His own hands, when, eating His own Body, He said: This is My Body. For He was carrying that Body in His own hands."
You ask whether David sinned by pretending to be a fool. More gently and more truly, Abulensis and others judge that David did not sin, both because he seems to have been moved to this by God -- whence shortly after he composed the elegant Psalm 33 -- and because to simulate in this way is not a lie, but merely a silence about the truth, or a dissimulation for a just cause to escape danger.
So Samuel pretended to go to sacrifice at Bethlehem, when he was going to anoint David (ch. 16:2). So Joshua pretended to flee from Ai (ch. 8:5). So Gideon, with three hundred men, pretended to have a great army (Judges 7:20). As Horace says: "Mix a brief folly with your counsels. It is sweet to be silly in the right place." And Cato: "To feign folly in the right place is the highest wisdom."
Verse 15: Do We Lack Madmen?
DO WE LACK MADMEN? For just as there is never a lack of those sick in body, so neither of those sick in mind: especially because mental illness depends on illness of the body and the brain, which, if even slightly injured, produces epilepsies, frenzies, deliria, and delusions.