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You can turn in your Bibles to 
1 Samuel 21. 1 Samuel chapter 21. Remember the 
story of Saul and David takes place in 16.1 to the end of the 
book, 31.13. And here in 1 Samuel 21, we'll 
read from verse 1 to 22.5. And essentially what we have 
is David on his escape from Saul. As I said with reference to chapter 
19, if there was a one-word summary of that chapter, it would be 
deliverance. God delivered David from threat 
to His person. In chapter 20, that one-word 
summary would be covenant. It was the covenant with Jonathan 
that brought comfort and encouragement and strength to David in the 
midst of these trials. And here in chapter 21, that 
one-word summary would be provision. God indeed provides for His man. even when he's on the run for 
his life. So beginning in chapter 21 at 
verse 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? 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. Now therefore, what have you 
on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever 
can be found.' 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. 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 
man are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though 
it was consecrated in the vessel this day. So the priest gave 
him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread, 
which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot 
bread in its place on 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 chief 
of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. And David said to Ahimelech, 
is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I brought neither 
my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business 
required haste. So the priest said, the sword 
of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, 
there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will 
take that, take it, for there is no other except that one here. 
And David said, there is none like it, give it to me. Then 
David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to 
Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said 
to him, Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not 
sing of him to one another, and dances sang? Saul has slain his 
thousands, and David his ten thousands. Now David took these 
words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king 
of Gath. So he changed his behavior before 
them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors 
of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then 
Achish said to his servants, look, you see the man is insane. 
Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you 
have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall 
this fellow come into my house? David therefore departed from 
there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers 
and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 
And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and 
everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became 
captain over them. And there were about 400 men 
with him. Then David went from there to 
Mizpah of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, 
please let my father and mother come here with you till I know 
what God will do for me. So he brought them before the 
king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the time that David was 
in the stronghold. Now the prophet Gad said to David, 
do not stay in the stronghold, depart and go to the land of 
Judah. So David departed and went into 
the forest of Herod. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for the Word of God. Again, we pray for forgiveness 
as we approach the Scriptures. We pray for the ministry of the 
Holy Spirit, who takes the things of Christ and makes them alive 
and real to us. May we know that power of illumination 
that comes from on high. We ask that you would bless this 
time together, that we would learn the lessons concerning 
your provision. that we would learn something 
or two about the Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious gospel. And 
we ask in his most blessed name, amen. Well, as we read through 
this particular chapter, it seems like basically a description 
of geography and topography, all these different places and 
all these different names and all these different locations. 
But if we see it only as a statement concerning geography or topography, 
we will miss the theology that the author has for us concerning 
God's provision of David in the midst of his escape from Saul. 
And there are several places that we need to focus on this 
morning. First, the escape to Nob in 21 verses 1 to 9. Secondly, the escape to Gath 
in 21, 10 to 15. Third, the departure to the cave 
of Adolam in 22, 1 and 2. Fourth, the departure to Moab 
in 22, 3 and 4. And then fifthly, the departure 
to the forest of Hereth in 22, 5. So again, a lot of name places, 
a lot of locations. a lot for geography buffs, but 
hopefully there are some nuggets here for theology buffs, because 
what is conspicuous in this chapter is that it's about God. It is 
about the Lord Most High as He looks with favor upon His servant 
David. When David is tried, when David 
is afflicted, when David is tested, when there are all manners of 
difficulties that have come upon him, Nevertheless, he confesses 
that the God of heaven and earth has delivered me from all of 
my afflictions. So let's first go to Nob. In 
verses 1 to 9, there is a request for bread. Now, Nob is probably 
the sanctuary city. It is described in 2219 as the 
city of priests. The high priest is Ahimelech, 
the son of Ahitab, and the brother of Ahijah. Remember that Shiloh 
is no longer the central sanctuary. This is most likely the place 
before Jerusalem being the center of Israel's religious life. And notice that a Himalak seems 
to have some indicator that things are not well between Saul and 
David. When Ahimelech sees David, according 
to verse 1, it says that he was afraid when he met David and 
said to him, why are you alone and no one is with you? He probably 
didn't know all the ins and outs, he probably didn't know every 
jot and tittle, he probably didn't know all of the details, but 
he certainly had some understanding that things were not right between 
Saul, the sitting king, and David, this man who gained victory in 
the battle in the Valley of Elah. So he's afraid and he asks David, 
what are you doing here? Why are you alone? And now notice 
David's response here. What David does is he lies. I don't want to sugarcoat it, 
I don't want to candy coat it, I don't want to make it any more 
pleasant, but what David does is lie. John Gill says that David 
pretended he was upon a secret expedition. Now, some would say, 
well, it's not a lie if somebody's trying to hunt your life down 
and kill you and all that sort of thing. We could deal with 
the ethics another time, another place, another situation. Notice here, though, it's just 
told us. The Bible's not recommending it, it's simply reporting it 
for us. But Gill says that he pretended he was upon a secret 
expedition by the order of Saul, which none were to know of. No, 
not one, not his own servants, and that was the reason why he 
came to him alone, which was a downright lie, and was aggravated 
by its being told only for the sake of getting a little food, 
and especially told to an high priest and at the tabernacle 
of God, and when he was come to inquire of the Lord there, 
and was attended with a dreadful consequence the slaughter of 
the Lord's priests there, which afterwards lay heavy on David's 
mind. and is the very sin he is thought 
to refer to in Psalm 119, 28. He says this, "...this shows 
the weakness of the best of men when left to themselves. David, 
who has much hated lying as any man did, nevertheless fell into 
it himself." Again, if we want to discuss the ethics of lying, 
I'm happy to do that. That's not the point in 21. It's 
not the point in Joshua 2 when we see that Rahab lied. It's 
not the point in some of these passages that we fixate upon 
and try to engage in a discussion of Christian ethics. I'm not 
saying that lying and not lying and all those things are unimportant, 
but that's not the point of the narrative and we mustn't miss 
it. The narrator simply tells us what the case is. And notice 
what David then requests. Or David says, he says 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. It is intriguing and 
we considered this at our Wednesday night Bible study. David's not 
real good at this. You've got to be careful when 
lying becomes really good or your lying becomes really easy. 
David's story is pretty well shot through with holes. Why 
would David go on a mission by the king himself and not take 
a weapon? And how is it the case that his 
young men are ritually pure? Remember, what Israel engaged 
in was holy war. And because they engaged in holy 
war, it was looked at as a sacred act. And in order to be prepared 
for a sacred act, one had to be consecrated. And in the case 
of these men, they had to be ritually or ceremonially pure. David's men had the ability to 
be three days prepared for this mission, but they were too rushed 
to grab a sword, David's not really good at this, and that's 
a good sign. It's not like certain politicians, 
for instance. I don't want to cloud anybody's 
mind with such a suggestion, but there have been those who 
have been known to lie. And they do it with great easiness 
and facility, and they even seem to believe their own lies. David's 
not like that. He's a man on the run, he's a 
fugitive, he is on the hunt by Saul, and arguably, again, this 
is a case of self-defense. What ends up happening in Nob 
is pretty horrific, and David does shoulder the responsibility. 
But God willing, we'll look at that in another time, in another 
setting. But he requests bread for he 
and his men. There's no bread there except 
for the table of showbread. Remember when you walked into 
the tabernacle, and you went into the holy place, not the 
holy of holies, If you were not a high priest, you didn't go 
into the Holy of Holies. And if you were the high priest, 
you only went there on the Day of Atonement. But in that holy 
place on the north wall was a table of showbread. And there were 
12 loaves of bread, probably symbolic of and typological of 
God's provision for Israel. When they were in the wilderness, 
God's people needed to eat, and God provided that food for them. Perhaps as well emblematic of 
the necessity of God's word, because when God fed them manna 
from heaven, it was to underscore the reality that man does not 
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth 
of God. And the placement of the table of the showbread was 
right next to the Holy of Holies. That is where God dwelt. That was the presence symbolized 
or signified by this table of showbread. And so the priest 
says, the only thing that we have here is the food that is 
consecrated for the priest. And what they would do is on 
the Sabbath day, they would replace the old loaves with new loaves. 
And then the priest would eat the old loaves. You can read 
more. about this in the book of Exodus. You can see all of 
this set forth there. But notice, very specifically, 
David then underscores that truly women have been kept from us, 
verse 5, 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. So the priest 
gives him the food. You say, well this is all very 
You know, sort of mundane, right? This is all very simple. This 
is all, you know, just a geography report. Just a traffic report. We're just going to the city 
of Nob and sort of surveying things here from afar. Well, 
notice what's at stake here. God provides bread for David. And a not completely righteous 
David, I might add. If David had, in fact, lied, 
and David secured bread by this lie, it might rise up on some 
of us or in some of us in the church to say, well, that's not 
right. That isn't legit. I have to go out and work very 
hard to get my provision of daily bread. It doesn't seem legit 
that David just got this handout from the priest. The bread is 
exchanged, the old loaves that were for the priest are now given 
to David, and he gets to eat and fill his belly. I love what 
Ralph Davis says concerning this observation. He says, some scrupulous 
reader may object and complain that David, in all his finagling 
and deception, does not deserve this provision. He says, so what 
else is new? Who would have daily bread if 
it rested on our desserts? Do you deserve the soup you're 
going to go home to? or the burritos, or the chicken, 
or the hamburgers, or whatever it is that is going to be on 
your table. Can you say with judgment day 
honesty, I have a right and an entitlement to this food? Not 
if you know anything about the holiness of God in your own sin. 
If you know anything about the holiness of God and your own 
sin, you will know the only thing that you deserve, the only thing 
you have entitlement to, the only thing you have merited or 
earned is a place in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. That is your portion, that is 
your lot, that is what you deserve. Back to Davis. He said, we'd 
all be skeletons. We can only second Jacob's position. I am not worthy of the least 
of all the mercies and of all the truth which you have shown 
your servant. Davis says, when everything is scraped down to 
the bone, I receive my daily bread, not because I am godly, 
but because Yahweh is gracious. This little stop in Knob underscores 
something that Jesus will later tell his disciples to pray. Give 
us this day our daily bread. This is God's provision of David's 
daily bread. This is God's goodness and kindness 
to his servant in the midst of his trials, his escape from Saul. Now brethren, you may be tried 
and you may be afflicted and you may be going through severe 
hardship, but when you go home today and when you ladle that 
soup into your bowl, never forget the reality that God is making 
good on His blessing to His people. The fact that we have daily bread. There are certain places where 
I would preach this sermon and I couldn't say it with as much 
gumption, if you will. I certainly couldn't make this 
point as strenuously in Ethiopia or in the Sudan. We have an abundance. Maybe a trip to Nab every once 
in a while to see how David is provided for by the gracious 
hand of our God will cause us to stop in our tracks and say, 
praise God from whom all Costco's flow. Because we have been blessed 
tremendously. We don't just buy a little bag 
of something, we get gunny sacks full of it. We've probably got 
enough food in our pantries to sustain villages for weeks. And what we find here is whether 
it is the bread that was on the table in the city of Nob or it 
is Costco that you go to, it is as a result of God's goodness 
and God's provision and God's kindness and God's grace to his 
undeserving people. We would all be skeletons, as 
Davis says, if our daily bread rested upon our daily merit. Notice this statement concerning 
Doeg. The narrative would flow perfectly 
from 6 to 8, but there's this snapshot of an Edomite named 
Doeg. Now, Doeg is absolutely crucial 
to chapter 22. It's Doeg who's going to drop 
dime on David. It is Doeg who's going to come 
to Saul when he's having his pity party in Gibeah and say 
to Saul, well, I know of a truth that David went to the priest 
at Nod. So Doeg, notice verse 7, a certain 
man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before 
the Lord, and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of the 
herdsmen who belonged to Saul. Robert Alter says this seemingly 
intrusive notation is a piece of ominous foreshadowing. 22.9 and 10. Again, we'll probably 
continue in that chapter and then head back to Matthew. But 
I want you to see that this is, as Alter says, an ominous foreshadowing. The ghastly consequences of David's 
visit to Nob will pivot on Doeg's fatal presence. His identity 
as an Edomite reflects the enlistment of foreign mercenaries in the 
new royal bureaucracy. It also marks him as a man who 
will have no inhibition in what he does to Israelites, even Israelite 
priests. 22 is terrible. What we didn't 
read in chapter 22, for those of you who are not familiar with 
the story, Doeg tells Saul that David went to the priest and 
knocked. And Saul said, oh, isn't that 
wonderful? Isn't that just great? No, Saul 
said, I want my servants to go and exterminate the priests. 
None of them would even do it. Praise God for a little civil 
disobedience there. Not everything the king tells 
you to do, you should necessarily do. When the king tells you to 
go execute priests in Nob, you don't do that. You must obey 
God rather than men. Now, I don't suppose that that's 
what really sort of inspired those servants, but nonetheless, 
they didn't do it. But what about Doeg? Doeg the 
Edomite didn't mind massacring priests in Gibeah and their families 
in Nob. It's truly an amazing situation. 
Notice, David asks for a weapon and he gets the sword of Goliath. 
Let's move on to Gath. Where's the worst place David 
could possibly go, wielding the sword of Goliath? Gath, you say, 
right? Wake up, brethren. What do we 
see in chapter 17? Who did David fight? Who did 
David disenfranchise of his head? Who did David meet in the battle 
of the Valley of Elah? It was Goliath. He was a champion 
from where? From Gath. David's movement here 
is really difficult to get one's mind wrapped around, other than 
to say the persecution leveled at him by Saul was such that 
David would go to Gath carrying the very sword that he used to 
kill their champion. It doesn't make a lot of earthly 
sense on one level. It doesn't make any sense on 
certain levels. Davis says it would be akin to 
a cow. If he knew what was going on 
in a slaughterhouse, nevertheless wandered in there. You wouldn't 
do that if you were a cow, would you? You'd want to avoid such 
places, wouldn't you? If you knew you had never had 
chicken pox and you happen to be an adult, for children it's 
not that severe. For adults it's very severe. 
But if you know that a certain family has chicken pox infestation, 
I don't know if that's legit or correct, the plague of chicken 
pox, you wouldn't go in there as a non-chicken pox having person. Right? Why does David go to Gath? Why does he go to Philistia? 
Why in his escape from Saul? Does he see this as a viable 
option? Again, I don't know the particulars, but I know this 
much, that what he was facing from Saul was such that he would 
rather go into Gath carrying the very sword of the man that 
he had bested on the field of battle. Hometown boy loses it 
in the Valley of Elah. That would have been the headlines 
in Gath. Now, David comes there to seek refuge. Isaac made a 
good observation on a Wednesday night. You know, when David comes 
out to Goliath, Goliath says, this is a ruddy young man. Probably 
his face was glowing red. Well, here David has a beard, 
so there's a bit of period of time that has passed here. You 
know, we look at this, it didn't happen on Monday and then Tuesday 
and then Wednesday and then Thursday. When we get back to our Wednesday 
night studies, we see that Samuel dies. And the time between Saul's 
installation as the king to Samuel's death is about 21 years. So there's 
a period of time going through here. Now notice the men of Achish 
have never seen David, unless they were personally witnessed 
in the Valley of Elah, but they don't have pictures. They don't 
have internet. They don't have a selfie of David 
by Goliath. They just don't have that. There's 
no Facebook. There's no Twitter. There's no 
social media where David says, I want the battle in the Valley 
of Elah. They don't have that. They are 
a bit perplexed. They say, is this not David? 
Is this not the king of the land? Is this not the one of whom we 
heard the song? We heard it. They didn't have 
radio, they didn't have internet, but they had heard this particular 
song. And it goes like this. Saul is 
slain as thousands, and David is ten thousands. Is this not 
him? We don't want him here. He's 
a bad guy. He bested Goliath. He took out 
our champion. He destroyed our livelihood with 
reference to Israel. So what happens with David? David's 
afraid. That's what the text says. David took these words to heart 
and was very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. This is the 
cow who's wandered into the slaughterhouse and starts to see what happens 
here. He doesn't want to be there. He understands his plight. He 
understands the challenge. He understands the difficulty. 
If these men are able to eyewitness me, the king of Achish is not 
going to take this happily. He's not going to look and say, 
oh wow, he's carrying the sword of Goliath. Good on you. No, 
they're going to neutralize David. So what does David do? He changed 
his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched 
on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his 
gate. It looks like a good plan. Doesn't it? Think about it, just 
from the perspective of wisdom. It's you there. You see what's 
happening. You understand the score. Would 
you think to feign madness? Would you start letting drool 
go down into your beard? Would you start scratching at 
the doors as if you were a cat or a dog that wanted to get out? 
Would you do this? Probably not. I don't know how 
many of us would conceive of such a ploy. So on the one hand, 
it looks somewhat wise. On the other hand, this is the 
man who's gonna sit on the throne of Israel as David himself, acting 
like a fool, acting like a madman. You know, it is at this instance 
that David writes Psalms 34 and 56. The superscriptions for both 
those Psalms indicate that he wrote those Psalms at this particular 
time. Again, I want to lean on Davis 
here for a moment. He says, we must not call, or 
merely call this episode, David's folly and sigh about how lucky 
he was to get out. When we read Psalm 34, David 
is extolling the goodness of God for delivering him from all 
his afflictions. You mean God delivers us from 
all our afflictions even when we do things like these? Yeah. Yeah, He does. See, at some point, 
we really have to come to grips with Romans 8.28. At some point, 
we've got to take it off the fridge magnet and put it in the 
heart. God does cause all things to work for good. We interpret 
all things there as when I'm reading my Bible, when I'm praying, 
when I'm keeping myself in the love of God, just like you said 
from Jude 20 and 21. All things there is comprehensive. 
It's the bad things too. And probably in the context, 
that's the emphasis of the Apostle Paul. Everybody knows good things 
work out when we're doing good, don't we? I mean, at least we 
all believe they should. It's in the difficulties and 
in the trials and in the seasons of affliction and distress. So 
back to David's. We must not merely call this 
episode David's folly and sigh about how lucky he was to get 
out. I suggest our response be governed by David's own response. 
According to the headings of Psalm 34 and 56, those psalms 
arose in the wake of this fiasco in Gath. You may look at 1 Samuel 
21, 10-15 and wonder, can anything good come out of Geth? Here is 
David, foolish, desperate, confused, awed. But it's the stuff Psalms 
are made of. So David does not say, I am lucky, 
but God is for me. He sees men not as frightful, 
but as flesh. His deliverance from all his 
fears and all his troubles is the pledge that Yahweh will follow 
suit for other believers and the basis for his continuing 
praise. Along with desperation there 
is nevertheless praise. He says this is an instance of 
David's desperation. Could it be anything less? He's 
standing before an enemy king. The enemy king is being alerted 
by his servants that this is David. This is the man wielding 
Goliath's sword. The man who killed our champion. 
This is a time of desperation. Davis says, I do not mean that 
we should act foolishly in order that praise may come, but only 
that we should never forget God's mercies given us even in our 
foolishness. Back to that whole bread thing. 
If we only are worthy of our bread when we do the exemplary 
things and never sin, we're gonna die as skeletons. If God only 
delivers us when we're absolutely composed, We're towing the line. We're doing everything right. 
This was a time of desperation for David. And instead of saying, 
wow, I got lucky, they bought my feigning of madness, he says, 
God has delivered me. God has delivered me. I love 
the response of the king. We'll just spend a second here. 
He says, have I need a madman that you have brought this fellow 
to play the madman in my presence? This is Akish. The original seems 
to suggest, do I have need of another madman? He's got enough 
madmen there in Philistia. He's got enough Gathites that 
are out of their minds. He certainly doesn't need this 
Israelite. Get him out of here. So where's our next stop? He 
goes to the cave of Adullam. What do we see in the cave of 
Adullam? This is the occasion of Psalms 57 and 142. Isn't that amazing? When you 
are tried, when you are afflicted, when you are pressed, when you 
see hardship, when you are down, is your response to praise? Maybe there's a lesson as we 
survey this theological geography on how to respond to the various 
problems we face. If there's a continual theme 
in the heart and in the mind of David, it is to respond with 
praise, with thanksgiving, and with worship. And for David, 
it meant to compose the very psalms that we would sing in 
our church today. And even one better, Psalm 34 
is an acrostic. That means that each verse starts 
with an A, a B, a G, and all the way through the Hebrew alphabet. I've got to tell you, brethren, 
if I am running from a king that wants to kill me, probably the 
last thing I'm going to do is sing a psalm, and certainly the 
last thing I'm going to do is write a psalm, and if I was going 
to write a psalm, it wouldn't be an acrostic. David's the real 
deal. That's how you respond to trial 
and affliction. That's how you respond to the 
sorrows of the Christian life. This text underscores that there 
will be, but it highlights the consistent response of God's 
people. It's not to freak out. It's not 
to lose it. It's not to say forget it. It's 
not to absent yourselves from that place of keeping yourself 
in the love of God. See, that's the tendency. There's 
a quitter mentality among us. It's too hard. It's too difficult. There's too many challenges. 
You don't know what it's like. You don't know my problems. You 
don't know how it is to live with such a guy or such a girl. 
You don't know what the temptation of the Internet is like. You 
don't know what I'm like when I get around that drink. You 
don't know what I'm like when I get around that drug. You don't 
know what it's like to have these sorts of things. No, but I do 
know what it's like to have a God who is our refuge and our strength. I do know what it's like to see 
a man like David who's running for his life, hunted like an 
animal, who nevertheless stops to praise God. You see, maybe 
the reason why we continue in this sorrowful, dreadful, tried, 
afflicted state is because we never say, stop, that's enough, 
break out the Psalms, and let's sing. You see, brethren, some 
of the fixes in the Christian life are very simple. Because they're so simple, we 
think, oh, that'll never help. What's more helpful than gathering 
together in the Lord's house on the Lord's day? If you haven't 
seen the value of the Church of God on the Sabbath day yet, 
hang around, you will. Talk to people who haven't been 
in good churches, or talk to people that have been in deserts, 
or talk to people who have had no means like you have. Value it, praise it, and praise 
God in the midst of it. This is what we learn from David. 
Notice, when he goes to Adullam, what does he do there? It says, 
when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they 
went down there to him. This was a very strategic and 
wise move. David is being hunted like a 
dog, right? David rightly concludes that 
if Saul is against me, it won't be long until he turns his attention 
to my father. Remember, Saul reneged on his 
promise. Saul said that whoever kills 
Goliath, he gets to marry my daughter and his father gets 
tax-free exemption in Israel. Well, now his father and his 
mother have to run to the cave of Adullam along with the rest 
of his family. You see, even here, Think about 
it, theologically. Think about it from a Christian 
life point of view. Who do you think David needs 
to see in this moment? Who's always good to see? Your 
mom, right? Even if she's not a Christian, 
even if she's not a believer, isn't it always good to see your 
mom? Is there a bigger fan of yours in this world than your 
mom? Mothers love some pretty terrible human beings. They have 
a capacity for it. I mean, maybe even Charles Manson's 
mother loved him. There's some beastly people out 
there and their mothers typically love them. This is a blessing 
from God in the midst of a run, in the midst of an escape, in 
the midst of now hightailing it out of Gath, he goes to the 
cave of Adullam. And who is he joined by? He's 
joined by his family. That's a great encouragement 
from the hand of God in a time of affliction. But notice, he's 
not joined only by his family. He's joined by the distressed, 
the indebted, and the discontent. That's who hangs out in the cave 
of Adullam. That's what it says. Notice, 
verse 2, and everyone who was in distress, everyone who was 
in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. 
So he became captain over them, and there were about 400 men 
with him. Those 400 men would prove crucial 
in the coming events. You see, God doesn't leave his 
man on his own. You see a theme, provision of 
bread in Nob. Provision of safety in Gath. Provision of family and friendship 
in the cave of Adullam. Maybe this isn't where you'd 
go to find friendship and family, but this is where he found it. 
You say, well, we'd rather rent a hall. And we'd rather have 
a feast, and we'd like to have everything just so. Now, it might 
be the cave of Adullam, but you'll get some benefit. You'll get 
some encouragement there. Now, notice from here, they go 
to Moab. This is quite a journey. This 
is quite a ways to go. This is on the east side of the 
River Jordan. Notice in verse 3. You see, David 
needs a safe haven for his parents. David is on the run. Let's please 
not forget that. Saul wants to kill David. And David rightly concludes that 
if Saul wants to kill me, he's probably going to destroy my 
family. And David was right to conclude this when we get to 
the rest of chapter 22 because Saul destroys the city of priests. So David goes to Moab and he 
says, let my father and mother come here with you till I know 
what God will do for me. So he brought them before the 
king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the time that David was 
in the stronghold. Now you say, wait a minute, that 
seems odd, wasn't Moab An enemy of Israel. Didn't they have friction? Didn't they have tension? Didn't 
they have dispute and trial and difficulty one with another? 
Why in the world would David, first of all, go to Gath, end 
up in the cave of Adullam, and now he goes to Moab? If we were 
to be Monday morning quarterbacks, we'd be saying, David, don't 
go to Moab. They're not going to take kindly 
to you. Oh, but you see, God has prepared the way. This is 
beautiful. God has prepared the way. Who 
is David's great-grandmother? She's a Moabitess by the name 
of Ruth. So when David appeals to the 
king of Moab, and he says, by the way, my great-grandmother 
had Moabite blood running through her veins. The king of Moab says, 
certainly, your parents can stay here. Now brethren, think about 
this. God's provision when we don't 
even recognize it. God's provision when we're not 
even ready for it. God's provision when it truly 
is a surprise. In this instance, several, several 
years prior, God prepares for this. Again, David's. He says in David's case, all 
the unusual arrangements had been made over a century before. God plans his kindnesses long 
beforehand. He directed circumstances long 
in advance in order to bring a ray of relief in David's present 
distress. It was not something David set 
in place, it was a gift. Yahweh arranged it long before. Nor is it something he does only 
for chosen kings. A great number of his saints 
have stories to tell about desperation and providence. You see, who 
would have thought? God. Who would have prepared? God. Who would have planned? God. Who would have decreed? God. Those four brief chapters 
in the book of Ruth, as beautiful a story as they are in terms 
of the love and the commitment and the fidelity and the good 
things that we see spelled out, the point of it is Gil reminds 
us is Christ. He is the scope of the whole, 
that book and all of scripture. It is the genealogy at the end 
of the book of Ruth that tells us everything. Ruth the Moabitess 
was the great-grandmother of David, king of Israel. This is 
why Ruth the Moabitess is found in Matthew chapter 1. This is 
how God works. God uses means and God employs 
things that we would never ever imagine. It in many ways is exhilarating 
and breathtaking to see on display the providence of God as he governs 
all his creatures, as he governs all their actions, as he gives 
favor to David by the king of Moab so that they will indeed 
be kept safe. God is glorious. And notice David's recognition 
of providence, till I know what God will do for me. Now notice 
in verse 5, the departure to the forest of Herod. David no 
sooner says, till I know what God will do for me, now the prophet 
Gad said to David, where did Gad come from? Notice there's 
not a parenthetical statement, and the prophet Gad, he'd gone 
to this school, he'd married this woman, he fathered these 
children, he was a well-likes, but the prophet Gad said to David, what do we learn here? We learn 
the blessedness and the excellence of God's giving of his word, 
right? David says, until I know, until 
I know what God will do for me. In the very next statement it 
says, now the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the 
stronghold, depart, go to the land of Judah. So David departed 
and went into the forest of Herod. Again, we've got a Bible sitting 
on our laps. We've got Bibles in these pews. We've got Bibles on our phones. 
We've got Bibles everywhere. And we can take for granted the 
presence of the Word of God. You see, Saul couldn't take that 
for granted. As a result of Saul's sin and 
Saul's rebellion and Saul's rejection of the living God, God no longer 
spoke to Saul. That's something underscored 
in this section. Saul is not getting divine revelation. He's not getting a word from 
the Lord. By the time we get to chapter 28, Saul is asking 
a medium for help. Why is that? He says it specifically. Because the Lord will not answer 
me. He doesn't speak to me in word. He doesn't speak to me 
in prophet. I no longer have the priest and 
the ephod. And he doesn't even speak to me through the Urim 
anymore. David doesn't have that problem. God tells David, go 
to the forest of Aaron. Go to Judah. Why? That'll all be unfolded as we 
move through the rest of the book. But the blessing to underscore 
here is that in the midst of trial, in the midst of affliction, 
in the midst of difficulty and hardship, what do we nevertheless 
have? The provision of God's word. 
The provision of God's Word. Brethren, that ought to be enough 
for us to just stop here and sing praises to our God. Do we 
value and prize the Word as we ought? Always reminded, when 
we consider certain things like these, that account, and Ian 
Murray's Puritan Hope. There was a Puritan by the name 
of, I think it was John Rogers. He was preaching. He personified 
God to the people, and then the people to God. And from God to 
the people, he said, I'm going to take your word. I'm going 
to take your Bibles. You neglect them. You don't read 
them. You don't come to the house of 
prayer. You do not meet. You don't gather. You don't use 
the means. So the man is preaching, and 
he personifies God, speaking as God to the people. And then 
he says, on behalf of the people to God, Basically, forgive us. We have neglected your word. 
Forgive us. We have neglected the means. 
Forgive us. We have rejected those good things 
you've given to us. And then he says on behalf of 
the people to God, take our houses, take our jobs, take our stuff, 
even take our children, but take not thine word from us. Brethren, we have all these Bibles 
and all this access and I wonder at times if it's just become 
old hat. We're just so familiar with it. 
We've become somewhat Bible hardened. Well, Saul understood the lack 
that he had such that when he gets to 28, he wants to find 
a witch that will bring up Samuel so that he can have a private 
session. David's got the word. Gad speaks for God. The prophet 
is the mouthpiece. And this, in the midst of trial, 
in the midst of affliction, in the midst of hardship and grief, 
brethren, this is a lifeline from God Most High to His suffering 
saints. Don't neglect it. Don't stay 
away from it. Don't put it down. Is it not 
the devil's logic when you feel down to say, well, I'm not going 
to read and I'm not going to pray because it won't do any 
good anyway. Guess what? You're not simply 
to read and pray so it'll do good. You're to read and pray 
because God tells you to. We're utilitarians. If it doesn't 
help me or benefit or make me better, I'm not going to use 
it. No, we need to be obedient. Do what God says. Brethren, isn't 
this one of the things that happens? Or, I'm not going to go to church 
today because I don't want to be around people. That's from 
the devil. It's not from God. It's from 
the devil. It's not from God. God commands 
you on the Sabbath day to be in his house. Guess where you 
should be? Not Taco Bell. not hanging with 
the devil, should obey God. It's a blessing for the people 
of God in the midst of their trials and afflictions, and it's 
a blessing that oftentimes is neglected because we'd rather 
have pity parties like Saul and Gibeah than man up or woman up 
and do what we're supposed to do. Well, in conclusion, I think 
this chapter sufficiently underscores that there is, in the first place, 
the presence of trials in the Christian life. Robert Vannoy 
describes Chapter 21 in a useful overview. He says, Chapter 21 
provides a wake-up call to God's believing people of all times 
and places. It is a reminder that, one, living 
as a Christian in a fallen world is inherently dangerous. In case 
you needed reminding of that, just look at David. Two, our 
own foolish behavior often heightens the dangers of this hostile environment. You see, if it was just a hostile 
world that we were to deal with, I mean, that would be one thing. 
But do we always respond to that hostile world in the bestest 
possible ways? No, we wander into Gath with 
Goliath's sword. We go to the priest and nob and 
we don't tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so 
help us God. Sometimes we compound living 
in this world by our own foolish and oftentimes sinful conduct. Now again, I'm not saying this 
so that we'll go out and sin and be fools so that God will 
deliver us. But just the point that when we look at the way 
God works in the midst of His people, even through those things, 
the Lord proves faithful. Vandewey says, thirdly, God's 
mercies are new each day in spite of our failures. And fourth, 
God's purposes for His people cannot be frustrated by the designs 
of the ungodly. You need to appreciate that. 
From Nob to Gath to Adullam to Moab back to Herod, what's happening? God is going to station David 
on the throne. Saul, the rejecter of the word 
of God, Saul, the one who has engaged in a sin that is as bad 
as witchcraft, is going to be destroyed and the kingdom of 
God is going to advance. Never forget that. David's greater 
son tells us in these terms, I will build my church in the 
gates of Haiti, shall not prevail against it. And then what he 
says at the end, it is important that God's people are reminded 
of the dangers that are endemic to their own journey through 
life as strangers and pilgrims on earth, and that these dangers 
do not just arise from without, but also from within. In the second place, we have 
seen, I hope successfully, God's provision in the midst of trials. 
David interprets it this way. Many are the afflictions of the 
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all, whether 
it's the need for bread, whether it's protection from hostile 
enemies, whether it's for friendship and fellowship and family and 
encouragement. whether it's a safe haven for 
one's parents, or whether it is the Word of God through the 
prophet Dad. The Lord is with David every 
step of the way. Brethren, read your Old Testament. Certainly read the New. Read 
the entirety of the Bible. You need to see the life of God's 
people flushed out in the midst of Israel, in the Old Covenant 
community. To see David go from place to 
place and to see how in the world is he continuing. How in the 
world does he get up out of bed every day? I mean, brethren, 
one affliction oftentimes is enough to bury some of us. David 
has it over and over and over and over again. I mean, when 
he gets the Spirit, in chapter 16, the troubles begin. When 
he gets the Spirit, all these things fall upon him, just like 
his greater Son. As soon as we see that Spirit 
descend upon the Lord Jesus in his baptism, and the Father's 
voice say, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, 
you think the Spirit is upon him. Not that it was devoid, 
but this is a public manifestation to confirm the reality that he 
is always servant of the Lord. But when he has the Spirit, you 
think, well, everything's going to be good from here on out, 
right? Just like you do with David. He has the Spirit now. 
Everything's going to be good from here on out. Just like with 
us. We have the Spirit now. Everything's going to be good 
from here on out. Well, we know with David, as 
soon as the Spirit comes upon him, all the troubles come. When 
David's greater son receives the Spirit, what happens? That 
self-same Spirit drives him out to the wilderness to be tested 
by Satan for 40 days and 40 nights. In the same manner, brethren, 
when we receive the Spirit, there are times and seasons and instances 
where trouble and trial and hardship and affliction come. It's just 
the reality of the Bible. The health, wealth, prosperity 
gospel is so wrong. It is so contrary. It is so far 
removed from anything scriptural. And yet, that health, wealth, 
prosperity gospel, if it isn't proffered by big-haired men, 
with big-haired women, with big cars, and big houses, and big 
everything, it still seeps down into the evangelical mind. And 
persons even in Reformed churches, and persons in good evangelical 
churches think, Well, I'm a good guy, so everything should go 
well, right? I'm a believer in Jesus, so why 
do I have these trials? Nowhere in the Bible does it 
say believers in Jesus won't contract cancer. Nowhere in the 
Bible does it say that believers in Jesus won't lose children. 
Believers in Jesus won't lose their way. Believers in Jesus 
won't lose their jobs. These are the trials and afflictions 
that God uses to conform us unto the image of His Son, of whom 
it was said He learned obedience, there's suffering. Hebrews 5a 
is a standing testimony to each and every one of us that if we 
would be conformed unto Christ, that conformity is not going 
to come through ease and through a lack or absence of trial. It's 
going to come through hardship. This section provides, as well, 
the occasion for worship. If David didn't go through these 
situations, we wouldn't have Psalms 34, 56, 57, and 142. And I want to end on a note that 
points us to David's greater son. Look back to Adullam in 
chapter 22, verse 2. And see if you don't hear the 
echoes of David's greater son in that cave. And everyone who 
was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who 
was discontented gathered to him. Doesn't that describe us? Aren't we in distress? Aren't 
we in debt? And aren't we discontent? Now 
note what happened. So he, David, became captain 
over them. Who? The distressed, the indebted, 
and the discontented. I love what John Gill says in 
this connection. He says, in this, he, David, 
was a type of Christ who receives sinners distressed with a sense 
of sin, discontented in their present state, and in debt, and 
unable to pay their debts. Isn't David here, functioning 
in a typical capacity, pointing forward to the one who would 
one day say, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, 
and I will rest. In other words, Christ comes 
to the cave of Adullam and he bids us flee. He bids us come. He bids us to believe. And he 
becomes captain over them. It is a most blessed picture, 
or illustration, or emblem of what Christ and the Gospel does. And if you are not a believer 
in Christ today, if you are outside of Christ, if you have not come 
to Him, received Him, and rested upon His Gospel, then you find 
yourself described in this section. You are distressed by sin. You are indebted to God because 
of sin, and there is a discontentment. You won't acknowledge it. The 
persons of our day who are not Christians say, well, I have 
greater peace and greater freedom, greater quality of life not being 
a believer. No, deep down inside, you know 
in your heart of hearts things are not right with you and God. 
That produces discontent. John Owen said something to the 
effect, when men hear thunderings, and they see the lightnings, 
and they see the tempests, they fear not so much at what the 
phenomena shows, but in their secret thoughts that God is nigh, 
and that He is a consuming fire. I think Owen's right on the basis 
of Romans chapter 1. Men know, you know that God is 
and you suppress that truth and unrighteousness to all of your 
boasting and your bragging and your self-sufficiency to say, 
well, I'm happy and I'm content and the atheist or the agnostic 
life is most satisfying to me. At heart, there is a discontentedness 
because God made us for communion with him. And when we don't have 
that communion with Him, things are not right. You see, there's 
hope, there's safety, there's forgiveness for Adulamites. There is hope, safety, and forgiveness 
for those who are in debt, those who are in distress, and those 
who are discontent. And it's in the person and in 
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him. Repent from your 
sins. And by God's grace, you will 
know what it's like to have him as the captain. There's no greater 
joy, is there, than to have the one the bride calls altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000. No greater joy than to call him 
captain. There ought not to be any place 
we don't want to follow that blessed captain, our beloved 
Savior, our Redeemer, and our Lord. Let us pray. Our Father 
in Heaven, we thank you for the Word of God, we thank you for 
the story of Saul and David and what it tells us concerning you. 
We thank you for your deliverance, your provision, your covenant, 
your kindness to your people in their trials and afflictions. 
I pray that this would not just stay in 1 Samuel 21 and 22, but 
we would see it in our own lives, that we would appreciate the 
providence of God, that we would thank you for the revelation 
that you've given us in the Old and New Testaments. Give us grace, 
Lord God, to go from this place to honor and to praise you. Bring 
us together tonight so that we may hear the word of God, that 
we may see the word of God in this ordinance of the Lord's 
Supper. And we pray these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.