ness, and hath said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present." And the priest answered David, and said: "There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread,1- if only the young men have kept themselves from women." And David answered the priest, and said unto him: "Of a truth women have been kept from us, as in former days, when I went forth, and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey; how much more then to-day shall their vessels be holy." So the priest gave him hallowed bread; for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.

And David said unto Ahimelech: "And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste." And the priest said: "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it; for there is no other save that here." And David said: "There is none like that; give it me."

David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the stronghold of Adullam: 3 and when his brethren and all his father's

1 hallowed bread. Bread consecrated by being set before Jehovah in the sanctuary. The custom was practised (perhaps originally) by the Babylonians. In later Israel the shew bread could be eaten only by the priests, and in the sanctuary.

2 "In the Old Testament, war and warriors are often spoken of as consecrated, - a phrase which seems to be connected, not merely with the use of sacred ceremonies at the opening of a campaign, but with the idea that war is a holy function. . . . That the taboo on sexual intercourse applied to warriors in old Israel cannot be positively affirmed, but is probable. . . In this passage David says, 'Nay, but women are forbidden to us, as has always been my rule when I go on an expedition, so that the gear (clothes, arms, etc.) of the young men is holy even when it is a common (not a sacred) journey; how much more so when to-day they will be consecrated, gear and all." W. Robertson Smith: Religion of the Semites, p. 455. David thus hints that a formal consecration will take place as soon as he joins his men.

8 stronghold of Adullam. The rendering 'cave of Adullam,' which has become a popular expression, was due to a scribal error.

house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab: "Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, be with you, till I know what God will do for me.' "And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. And the prophet Gad said unto David: "Abide not in Mizpeh; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah." Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.

Saul's Revenge on the Priests of Nob (1 Sam. xxii. 6–23). When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him (now Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him) then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him: "Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds; that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant to be an enemy against me, as at this day?" Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said: "I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he enquired of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. And Saul said, "Hear now, thou son of Ahitub." And he answered, "Here I am, my lord." And Saul said unto him: "Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, as at this day?" Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said: "And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king's son in law, and

captain over thy bodyguard, and is honorable in thine house? Did I then begin to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more." And the king said, "Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou and all thy father's house." And the king said unto the footmen1 that stood about him: "Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me." But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg: "Turn thou and fall upon the priests." And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Abiathar: "I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house. Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh thy life seeketh my life: for with me thou shalt be in safeguard."

David Spares Saul's Life (1 Sam. xxiii. 11-14; xxvi.). Then they told David, saying: "Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing-floors." Therefore David enquired of the Lord,' saying, "Shall I go and smite these Philistines?" And the Lord said unto David: "Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah." And David's men said unto him: "Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?" Then David enquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him and said: "Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand." So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And

1 footmen. The runners who went before the king's chariot.

2" When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand." vs. 6.

Saul said: "God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars." And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. And David knew that Saul devised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring hither the ephod." Then said David: "O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant." And the Lord said, "He will come down." Then said David: "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the Lord said, "They will deliver thee up." Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth. And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph.

And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying: "Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?" Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.1 And Saul pitched in

1 A second account of David's magnanimity to Saul is preserved (chap. xxiv.):

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. And the men of David said unto him: "Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee." And he said unto his men: "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord." So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord the king." And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.

And David said to Saul: "Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt? Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee to-day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth

the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come from Keilah. And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.

Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah1 brother to Joab, saying: "Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with thee." So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: 2 but Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai to David: "God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time." And David said to Abishai: "Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?" David said furthermore: "As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go." So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither waked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them.

:

Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, "Answerest thou not, Abner?" Then Abner answered and said, mine hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it."

1 According to 2 Chron. ii. 16, Zeruiah was David's sister.

2 A spear standing upright in the ground is still the sign of the sheikh's tent in a Beduin camp.