1 Samuel 21:5

1 Samuel 21:5

3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”

4 And the priest answered David and said, “There is no¹ common bread on hand; but there is ^aholy bread, ^bif the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”

5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And¹ the ^avessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated ^bin the vessel this day.”

6 So the priest ^agave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread ^bwhich had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. And his name was ^aDoeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

8 And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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these three days—as required by law (Exodus 19:15). David and his attendants seem to have been lurking in some of the adjoining caves, to elude pursuit, and to have been, consequently, reduced to great extremities of hunger.

the bread is in a manner common—that is, now that it is no longer standing on the Lord's table. It is eaten by the priests, and may also, in our circumstances, be eaten by us.

yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel—that is, though the hallowed bread had been but newly placed on the vessel, the ritual ordinance would have to yield to the great law of necessity and mercy (see on Matthew 12:3; also see Mark 2:25; Luke 6:3).

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 1 Samuel 21:5:**

Leviticus 24:5-9
1 Samuel 21:1
Psalms 52:1
Matthew 12:3

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1 Samuel 21:6 >>

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