Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 134
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
1S
| 20:37–21:11
shot an arrow beyond him. When the boy had almost reached the arrow,
Jonathan shouted, “The arrow is still ahead of you. Hurry, hurry, don’t
wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master.
He, of course, suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David understood
the signal. Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him
to take them back to town.
As soon as the boy was gone, David came out from where he had been
hiding near the stone pile. Then David bowed three times to Jonathan with
his face to the ground. Both of them were in tears as they embraced each
other and said good-bye, especially David.
At last Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn loyalty
to each other in the Lord’s name. The Lord is the witness of a bond
between us and our children forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan returned to the town.
David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech
trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no
one with you?”
“The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not
to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later.
Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else
you have.”
“We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the
holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any
women recently.”
“Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women
when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary
trips, how much more on this one!”
Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy
bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the
Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.
Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord.
David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s
business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”
“I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in
the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the
ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.”
“There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!”
So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath. But the
officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David,