Here is one where lessons are learned:
Mark 2:
25 But He said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need
and hungry, he and those with him.
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest,
and ate the show-bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also
gave some to those who were with him?
What is Jesus up to here? David did not go into the house of God to eat show-bread.
1 Samuel 21:
1 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when
he met David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no one is with you?
He was outside a village called Nob, and runs into a priest named Ahimelech. Why was the
priest afraid to see David? Could it be because he left the sanctuary that morning with loaves
of holy bread under his robe Is that lawful? No, that is awful!
Leviticus 24:
5 And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah
shall be in each cake.
6 You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord.
7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for
a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from
the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place;
for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire,
by a perpetual statute.
So rather than sacrificed to the Lord, the priests were to eat it in the holy place.
Here is the intent of the Spirit. When the show-bread was changed out on the Sabbath,
the old bread was consumed by the priests. There would be an off-going and an on-coming
duty as a minimum. All that was expected would be that they would "break bread" together
on the Sabbath. So what was the state of things that this priest Ahimelech, now answering
David deviously, would have several under his robe, rendering them defiled from the status
of holy bread?
2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has ordered me on some business,
and said to me, Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you,
or what I have commanded you. And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.
David here misrepresents himself, as he is actually fleeing from Saul for his life, thereby,
showing himself to be shrewd.
3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or
whatever can be found.
Suspicions are confirmed, the priest is carrying bread "underhandedly". So now,
watch the dodge.
4 And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.
Where did he come up with that? Search the scriptures and there is only one place where
that would serve as reference. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, Moses instructs all the men to keep
themselves from their wives, for tomorrow the Lord would appear to them. Clever, except
that David has just led his group on an all night hard march to put distance between himself
and Saul, and therefore quickly responds.
5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, Truly, women have been kept from us
about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and
the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.
What a shrewd and diplomatic response! The bread was worse than "in effect common",
it is defiled, having been taken from the holy place, in violation of the Lord's command.
Furthermore, why does Jesus say "in the days of Abiathar the high priest", when in
actuality, David's dealings were with Ahimelech? In the following chapter, Saul calls for
Ahimelech and accuses him of treason upon the report of Doeg the Edomite. All of the
house of Ahimelech are tragically slaughtered, with one exception.
1 Samuel 22:20 Now one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
escaped and fled after David.
So we see horrible consequences when dealing treacherously with the things of God.
And here is the spiritual principle involved.
Psalm 18:
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
So was someone being devious here? And did not Jesus therefore show himself shrewd.
