Samuel 21 Let's look at the first part
of it tonight. Then came David to Nob, to Ahimelech
the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid at the
meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and
no man with thee? And David said unto Ahimelech
the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, 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. If the young men have kept themselves
at least from women, And David answered the priest and said
unto him of a truth women have been kept from us about these
three days since I came out. The vessels of the young men
are holy and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though
it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave
him hallowed bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread
that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the
day when it was taken away. So this story in these first
six verses is the story that our Lord referred to in Matthew
chapter 12, which we'll look at more closely in a little while,
but you will remember that when the Lord was with his disciples,
as David here was with some servants that were with him, our Lord
was traveling along with his disciples and they were hungry. just like these men were. And
they ate some corn out of a cornfield, and they were confronted by the
Pharisees, by the religious Jews, and the Lord defended his disciples. The Pharisees accused them of
eating that which was not lawful, and doing it on the Sabbath day,
and our Lord defended them on both points, and made a couple
of statements that we'll look at closely. At the end of our
lesson tonight But our Lord was referring to this very incident
when David was Hungry and the men with him and they ate the
showbread But here in the in the text, it says a limit a Himalaya
was afraid to meet with David and there's a Couple of reasons
this might be true. I think it's likely because he
knew as I'm sure everyone did by now Saul had openly Declared his hatred for David
told all of his servants to kill him it And I'm sure everybody
knew about the in between enmity between Saul and David and so
the Himalaya was Uncomfortable meeting with David here and wondered
what he was doing Without Anybody with him and there's another
little bit of a mystery there because David did have some men
with him And there's a couple of different I guess, ideas about
that. But I think what he means here
is that he didn't have any of the entourage, the royal entourage
that he would have had typically as the son-in-law to the king. David's part of the royal family
now. And Samuel's saying, what are you doing here, you know,
alone, basically. But though David had been anointed
king by God. And Ahimelech may well have known
that too, because he was associated, of course, with Samuel the prophet.
Ahimelech is high priest at the time. And so these things weren't
secrets, either one. And so Ahimelech knew who David
was, and he knew that there was a problem with Saul, and knew
what it was all about. And so he was afraid in a sense
to meet with David. But though David here, he told
Himalaya a lie. He said that the king has sent
me on secret business and that's what I'm doing here. Nobody's
supposed to know. And so I'm kind of traveling
incognito, so to speak, without a big entourage because nobody's
supposed to know what, what business I'm sent on here, and that's
not true, of course. We know the story here. David
has taken off because Jonathan, Saul's son, has warned him that
Saul again, though he had repented a couple of times, he's again
determined to kill you. And he tried to even kill his
own son, Jonathan, for crossing him on the matter. And so Saul
is unhinged, and Jonathan has said, You know they kissed one
another thinking they'd never see each other again and he said
you've got to go or Saul will kill you sure enough. So David's
on the run and he tells this lie but though he does we're
going to start seeing now especially and right from the beginning
of David's story he richly pictures our Lord Jesus Christ anointed
by God as king chosen when nobody else thought
anything of him. There was no beauty about him
as far as being a candidate for king and even his own father
would desire him to put him up as a candidate for that. And
yet chosen anyway, but not on the throne yet as our Lord was
the king of this universe when he came down here. but not ascended
to the throne. He humbled himself. And that's
where David is now. And of course, as the conflict
with the Philistines raged against Israel, David distinguished himself
just beyond measure when he stood up to Goliath and nobody else
would. He championed the nation of Israel. One man put his life
on the line and basically saved an entire nation. And so we've
seen David as a type of Christ. But now even in his life, in
1 and 2 Samuel, as we'll continue through these books, every little
detail of his life is just amazingly a picture of our Lord. And even
though David here is not telling the truth and something else
amazing I guess about it is throughout David's life you see what a sinner
he is. You see how foolish he is at
times. You see his failures. And even
in his failures you see the glory of the Lord. It's just
amazing because here he tells a lie to Ahimelech but But the
lie that he tells pictures Christ. Not in the sin of lying, but
that David, our David, our anointed one, our champion, was sent on
royal business into this world. Though he wasn't an anointed
king, or he was anointed king, but he hadn't ascended his throne
yet, he was on a royal mission. The king had sent him. The very
authority of heaven is what he was carrying out. Royal business. And so God is directing David
to the throne here by a very unusual path. David's getting
to the throne. It doesn't look like it. Kind
of like Joseph. He ascended to the very right hand of Pharaoh,
picturing our Lord also, but he had to go by way of a pit
and a dungeon. And lies told against him, betrayal,
a very unusual path, you would think, for someone who's meant
for royalty. And so David here, even in the
lie that he told, he pictures the Lord, sent on royal business. And he was, in a sense. And everything that happens between
David's anointing and his ascension to the throne itself is royal
business. He's God's king. He's technically not telling
the truth here, but the king of glory had sent David on royal
business. And he pictures our Lord in that.
And Himalaya says, why, what are you doing alone? Why are
you doing it without, why don't you have an army? If, if the,
King has sent you on royal business, boy, you ought to have all of
the backbone of the government behind you, you know. Why is
there not a royal entourage and bodyguards and perhaps a company
of soldiers to execute your will and things like that? That's
what you would have expected. David, as the king's son-in-law,
would have been especially protected and there would have been those
that were doing his bidding. But this too reminds us that
our Lord came on that business. He had business that only He
could do by Himself. Without any help, He must accomplish
it alone. He, by Himself, purged our sins. And now though, Christ must accomplish
redemption alone. There was business between Him
and the Father. When Abraham took his only son,
Isaac, whom he loved, up Mount Moriah, there was business to
be done between the father and the son, and nobody else. The
servant had to stay down at the bottom of the mountain. It had
no part in it. And that's David here, and that's
our Savior. But though he must accomplish
redemption alone, he must by himself purge our sins, he did
appoint servants. He did have servants. And what
did they do? Well, they preached and taught
what he did alone, what Christ alone could accomplish, what
he did accomplish, what he would accomplish. And we see that at
the end of verse two of our text, David had some servants there
with him, and it's possible that Ahimelech didn't see them. David
may have come in by himself, and that may be why he said that,
or he may have just said it just because Basically, as King's
son-in-law, he was alone. He didn't have any of the royal
entourage with him. But David here, what he's doing
is he's making sure those servants are taken care of. My men are
hungry. I've appointed these servants
in this royal business and they need provisions. Give it to me. David didn't come begging, did
he? Our Lord don't beg. He said,
give it to me. Give me some bread. Give me five
loaves. And so he's taken care of now. And we know what that
bread is. That's the hallowed bread. That's
the holy bread. That's the sanctified bread. That's that bread that came down
from heaven. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The show bread. Christ was everything in the
tabernacle. He was the golden candlestick,
the light of the world. He's the incense, the intercessory
prayers of our high priest before God. He's the bread, the bread
of life, the only sustenance that the believer has spiritually
and all we need. And so what is the Lord's provision
unto his servants? Himself. He said, unless you
eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no
life in you. When he Said I with with with
desire I've desired to eat this last supper with you and he sat
down with them before he went to the cross And he broke bread.
He said take eat. This is my body which I've broken
for you What a symbol that is what a beautiful picture that
is he feeds us himself There is no other bread spiritually
And we drink his precious blood by faith that's faith in Christ
crucified And so we see that here David says to Ahimelech,
give me five loaves. And though David is king, here
he is, now you'd think, here's God's anointed king, you'd think
from the moment, from the day he was anointed, he would never
have to ask anybody for any bread. He's the king, he's the one that
gives bread, not the one that bread is given to. But again,
we see our Lord here. As the anointed king, He would
never have lacked for anything. He would have basically been
able to, all of the bread in the whole kingdom would have
been his in a sense. Because whatever belonged to somebody
else, he could appropriate that for his own will, his own purposes. But he was humbled. Though David
was anointed king, here he is hungry. The men are starving,
he's starving. Got to have some bread and so
he comes and he's receiving. And our Lord Jesus Christ made
everything. The cattle on a thousand hills
are his. He said the silver is mine, the gold is mine, everything
is his. And yet he sat down on a well
and said to a woman of Samaria, give me some water, give me something
to drink. Our Lord, the Lord of glory, he was the water, and
yet he needed water as a man. give me to drink. He said to
her, for his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat.
And then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it that thou,
being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith
to thee, give me to drink, Thou wouldest have asked Him. So let's
remember when our Lord, our Lord became bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh, and He needed a drink of water just like I need a drink
of water. But at the same time, He is the drink of water. He
is the water of life. The only water there is. If you
knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee give
me to drink thou wouldest have asked of me of him and he would
have given thee living water so we see our Lord here too David's
king what's he doing begging bread from somebody else he wasn't
begging in a sense but in another sense he's depending on somebody
else to provide bread for him it's interesting to me here also
that at the time Ahimelech is God's high priest and here's
David anointed king of Israel and yet having to leave Israel
because the one who's sitting on the throne now is trying to
kill him. Now I just try to put myself in that situation And
knowing a little bit about myself, I think I would have been saying
to a Himalayan, what in the world is going on? Let's talk to God
about it. Let's find out. You're a man
of God. Tell me why I'm king and yet here I am. Look at me. I don't even have a crumb of
bread to eat. That's our nature, isn't it?
David never questions any of it. He never questioned it. Here's the anointed king of Israel
running fleeing a refugee starving to death and all he says is give
me some bread give me some bread not wait a minute I'm king he just journeys on does deals
with the situation the Lord has put him in at the time He's got
to eat, so he says, give me some bread. Give me some bread. And
again, the Lord Jesus Christ, now he's the king of glory. What's
he doing? Asking for bread. Our brother read from Luke chapter
24, and it's in my notes. I'm not just, I didn't just,
I'm not copying him. Luke chapter 24, let's turn over
there and look at it. Verse 32, we'll read part of
what he read. Luke 24, 32. And they said one to another,
did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by
the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose
up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven
gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord
is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what
things were done in the way, and how he was known of them
in the breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace
be unto you. Do you think that ever actually
happens here? Here's a group of believers gathered together
talking about what's been happening, you know, what the Lord has put
us through, and what he's done for us the past week, and how
he's shown us some things, maybe. Just talking about him, just
fellowshipping together. And then, here he is. And he speaks peace to our hearts,
again. And how we need that, his presence,
his comfort, his voice. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, it won't help much will it? Your heart, with the
ear of faith, you've got to hear his voice in the message. And then there's peace. They were terrified and afraid
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them,
why are you troubled and why did thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold, my hands and my feet. Sometimes we come and we're afraid,
but we know it's the, you know, even if, even if it wasn't the
Lord, it would be the Lord. Does that make sense? If we saw a ghost, the Lord would
have sent it. If it was some threat, some danger,
some mysterious thing that we didn't understand, nothing's
coming our way that the Lord doesn't send. And how does he comfort us? Behold, my hands and my feet,
that it is I. It's the one who shed his precious
blood. for you. Whatever you're afraid
of tonight, it is He. It's the one who loved you that
much. It's the one who from eternity has covered you in His precious
blood and you are safe. There's nothing to be afraid
of. You're safe. And that's how you know. You
look to His, what He did for you. Handle me and see. Can we do
that by faith when his gospel is preached? Take a hold of him. Take a hold of him. The spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And when he thus
spoke, and he showed them his hands and his feet, and while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them,
have you here any meat? Do you have anything to eat?
What is the son of God doing asking us for something to eat? Boy, we see that here in David,
don't we? The king, he's the king. He ought
to be the one making sure everybody has bread. He shouldn't have
to ask for bread. And yet, though David did ask
for bread, he was providing for some people too, wasn't he? This
is our Lord. He came down here and humbled
himself now. He put himself in this place.
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. But even as he was asking for
bread, he was providing bread. The bread of life. To these very same ones. Beautiful,
beautiful picture. So David is keen and yet humbled. Humbled here to the point of
asking bread. Starving, they were hungry. And our Lord humbled himself
and became obedient. David was being obedient and
steadfast and patient, waiting on the Lord. The Lord anointed
me. When it's time for me to sit
on the throne, I'll sit on the throne. And Ahimelech gave him five loaves. Why was it five loaves? Well,
I just know this. I know that it was five loaves
that our Lord took and broke and fed the multitude with them.
And what was he doing then? He was providing for a group
of people that were depending upon him. They had followed him
out into the desert. You remember the disciples said,
well you better send them away. They followed us out here and
there's nothing to eat. And it's getting late. He was responsible for them,
wasn't he? And what did he do? He provided for them. Abundantly. Abundantly. And so those five
loaves remind us of that. David, these servants were depending
on him. They were following him. They were there because of him.
And he's going to take care of them. They're not going to starve. They might think they're going
to. We might think we're going to. We're not going to starve.
This same David said, I've never seen the Lord's seed begging
bread. Though I'm old now, I've never seen it. And so David took those five
loaves and he fed those that were with him. And those thousands
that our Lord fed, who do they represent now? And what does that represent? That those loaves were taken.
And some people that were starving to death, that had nothing to
eat, had plenty to eat. No worries. Taken care of. Provided
for. I guess I better have you turn
to Matthew 16. Let's look at it briefly because I want to
remind us of this. Matthew 16.5. Now this is after
that happened. When his disciples were come
to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said
unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which, when Jesus
perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, Why reason
you among yourselves because you've brought no bread? They
got hungry. They didn't have anything with
them to eat and they're like, what are we going to do? There
they are with the Son of God who has just recently and who
has always from the start provided them everything they need, who
they know for a fact can make bread out of thin air. And yet, oh, you know, let's
worry a little while about it. That's us, isn't it? That's us. He's talking about the leaven
of the Pharisees, because they think that he's saying, well,
you know, you're hungry, you're going to have to have some bread,
but don't eat the bread of the Pharisees. Oh, no, you know. He's not even
talking about that. That's not even what he's talking
about. I wonder how many things we think we know what the Lord's
talking about and don't have any idea. Why do you reason yourselves
that that's why I would say that? Look at verse nine. Do you not
yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the 5,000?
And how many baskets you took up? These five loaves in our
text remind us of these five loaves. And what is he saying
to us here? Neither the seven loaves of the 4,000, he had done
it more than once in their presence. And how many baskets took you
up? Everybody ate, everybody was provided for. Everybody that
had followed the Lord and that he was responsible for had plenty
to eat and there was a bunch left over. How is it that you
do not understand that I wasn't talking about that? How can you
think I'm worried, you know, we're sitting here worrying about
how much bread we've got to eat. Look who you're dealing with
here. Remember who I am. And then he told them what he
was talking about. He was talking about the doctrine, the leaven,
the doctrine of the Pharisees. But in the process of teaching
them that, he reminded them, you are taken care of. Quit worrying about bread. Can we do that yet? Can we finally
quit worrying about it and focus instead on what the Lord is teaching
us, the doctrine that he's teaching us? The truth the gospel can
we focus on that and quit worrying about what we're going to eat
Wow, well, that's a lesson for me that one's for me Our lord is himself a supply
of every need there's not any bread here But he is here So if he's here, everything that
I could ever possibly need or want is here. Both physical and spiritual. Now look what the high priest
says to David about eating that bread. As long as the men have
been kept from women, you can eat. And this is, of course,
a picture of holiness, of being clean and pure and holy in the
sight of God. And David's answer is very interesting. Look at verse 5. David said unto
him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three
days since I came out. And the vessels of the young
men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, though it
were sanctified this day in the vessel. So David declares that
his servants, these men, these fellows, are holy. And the reason
that they are is because of three days. That's why they're holy. Three days. And you and I, as servants, as
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, are holy because of three days. Three days. Paul said of our
Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15. I deliver unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. The third
day. Because of three days we're holy. And I don't know why it had to
be three days. I'm sure there was something to do with the
law. There had to be a certain amount
of time that they were kept from women. in order to be considered
pure, and I probably should know that. I don't know exactly what
that law pertained to, but I know it had to do with holiness, and
I know he said three days, because it's been three days, they're
pure. And I know they're our Lord Jesus
Christ. I don't know what happened during those three days that
David's talking about. He may be talking about from
the day that he left Jonathan to that day. He may be talking
about three days and another sin. But we're not told what
happened in those three days. And I'll be honest with you,
I don't know what happened during the three days that our Lord
was in the grave. Not all of it. I don't understand that.
I don't know why it had to be three. Why couldn't He have just
died and risen again the next morning? I know it was prophesied
all through the Old Testament. And I know that it was the Lord's
good time and He did it the right way. What He did was right. But I know this, after those
three days, My sins were gone. He bore them on Calvary. They
were there then. They were there. But after three
days, I was pure. Gone. Holy. Spotless. Without blame. Before God. Because of three days. According to Romans, 425 our Lord was delivered for our
offenses and raised again on the third day for our justification. You know what justification means?
Holy. No guilt. No blame. No sin. These men are pure. Romans 8, 34, who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. I don't know why three days,
don't know what all exactly took place during those three days,
but I know the result of it. The result of it is I'm pure,
I'm holy before God. Our Lord taught from this passage
of scripture. And so I believe it would be
best to look at that in closing. Our Lord taught that these... He taught these Pharisees in
Matthew chapter 12. Let's turn over there and we'll
close with that. In Matthew chapter 12. He taught these Pharisees here
that the reason that his disciples were guiltless, they're accused
by the Pharisees of breaking the law. And the Lord says they're
innocent. And he gives a couple of reasons
for that. And that's what we want to look at. The reasons
that he gives, if you can see them as we read, because of mercy and because of who he is. And it's kind of the same thing.
Who he is, is mercy. He's the God of all grace. But
look at that in the text. Now, chapter 12 of Matthew, verse
one, at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the
corn and his disciples were in hunger and began to pluck the
ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have
ye not read? There's nothing that we're ignorant
of that the scriptures wouldn't remedy that. I didn't probably
say that in the clearest way possible. But anything that,
if we don't understand something or if we're wrong about something,
you know why? Because we haven't read. Because the Lord hasn't revealed
it to us. Now, it's in here. I guarantee you, it's in here,
whatever it is. Have you not read what David did? That's our text in 1 Samuel.
When he was in hunger and they that were with him, how he entered
into the house of God and did eat the showbread, which was
not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him,
but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you, here's why,
here's why his disciples are innocent, that in this place
is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this
meaneth, if you understood this statement, I will have mercy. I will have mercy. If you had
any idea what that meant, you wouldn't be so bad gum ignorant. Listen to it. I will have mercy
and not sacrifice. Now sacrifice was according to
the law. That was the right thing to do
in certain ways. Sacrifices were brought in different types of
sacrifices on different days and things like that. That was
the law. That was right. But God is not going to be satisfied
with your law keeping. Sinners are never going to be
innocent based on that. Whether you eat corn on the Sabbath
or don't eat corn on the Sabbath, you're still guilty before God.
Does that make sense? Whether you keep the law, the
outward law, the written law, or don't keep the outward written
moral law. Either way, you're guilty before
God. The only way you're not going
to be guilty before God is mercy. I hope that we, by God's grace,
understand a little something of what these Pharisees did not.
They thought that by not doing this on the Sabbath day, they
would have been, the disciples would have been Guiltless they thought they were
because they didn't do stuff like that Our Lord said that
only happens one way mercy mercy You would not have condemned
the guiltless Neither these disciples who are guiltless nor the one
their Lord their substitute their Savior who is guiltless who he's
talking about in the past tense and as having been condemned.
They had already condemned him. He just hadn't given himself
into their hands yet. You would not have condemned
the guiltless, for the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath
day. So a couple of reasons there,
right? Mercy and who he is. And really they're both the same.
Because of who he is now, he's able to show mercy to those who
don't eat corn on the Sabbath day and those who do, they both
need it just as much. The law was never given to make
people righteous. It was given to show how badly
you need mercy. I will have mercy. And not your
offerings and sacrifices and law keeping. I will have mercy. That's how the guiltless become
guiltless. And he does that as he pleases
because he's Lord even of the Sabbath day. And so that's the simple lesson
of what David is picturing here. He pictured that. It wasn't strictly
lawful for David and his men to eat. But our Lord's answer
to that had to do with mercy and who he is. I will have mercy
and not sacrifice shows that people, sinners are righteous
and blameless in the sight of God, not based on strict adherence
to the law, but by the mercy of God. Without the law, the
righteousness without the law that Paul spoke of in Romans
chapter 3. Mercy. Mercy for sinners. In his statement about being
Lord of the Sabbath, tells us that he shows that mercy to whoever
he wants to. That's our hope. That's why we're
guiltless. That's why David was guiltless.
That's why his men were guiltless. That's why all of the disciples
of the Lord are guiltless. Because he is the Lord and he
has mercy on who he wants to have mercy on. And bless his
holy name, he wanted to have mercy on a worm like me and like
you. We are blameless, holy, just,
and right before God right now because of his mercy and because
of who it is that shows it. He is himself the tabernacle. There's one greater than the
tabernacle here. The tabernacle was a shadow.
I'm the one who casts the shadow. That's what he's saying. He's the tabernacle, He's the
temple, He's the high priest, He's the sacrifice, and He's
the God that requires it all. Boy, may we finally, once and
for all, learn that. If He says, I'm blameless, I'm
blameless. And because of who He is and
what He did, I am. Let's pray.