Chap. 21
David's Flight to Nob, and Thence to Gath - 1Sa 21:1-15
After the information which David had received from Jonathan, nothing remained for him in order to save his life but immediate flight. He could not return to the prophets at Ramah, where he had been miraculously preserved from the first outbreak of Saul's wrath, because they could not ensure him permanent protection against the death with which he was threatened. He therefore fled first of all to Nob, to Ahimelech the high priest, to inquire the will of God through him concerning his future course (1Sa 22:10, 1Sa 22:15), and induced him to give him bread and the sword of Goliath, also, under the pretext of having to perform a secret commission from the king with the greatest speed; for which Saul afterwards took fearful vengeance upon the priests at Nob when he was made acquainted with the affair through the treachery of Doeg (1Sa 21:1-9). David then fled to Gath to the Philistian king Achish; but here he was quickly recognised as the conqueror of Goliath, and obliged to feign insanity in order to save his life, and then to flee still farther (1Sa 21:10-15). The state of his mind at this time he poured out before God in the words of Psa 56:1-13; Psa 52:1-9, and 34.
Verses 1-2
1Sa 21:1-2David at Nob. - The town of Nob or Nobeh (unless indeed the form נבה stands for נבה here and in 1Sa 22:9, and the ה attached is merely ה local, as the name is always written נב in other places: vid., 1Sa 22:11, 1Sa 22:19; 1Sa 21:1; Isa 10:32; Neh 11:32) was at that time a priests' city (1Sa 22:19), in which, according to the following account, the tabernacle was then standing, and the legal worship carried on. According to Isa 10:30, Isa 10:32, it was between Anathoth (Anata) and Jerusalem, and in all probability it has been preserved in the village of el-Isawiyeh, i.e., probably the village of Esau or Edom, which is midway between Anata and Jerusalem, an hour from the latter, and the same distance to the south-east of Gibeah of Saul (Tell el Phul), and which bears all the marks of an ancient place, partly in its dwellings, the stones of which date from a great antiquity, and partly in many marble columns which are found there (vid., Tobler, Topogr. v. Jerusalem ii. p. 720). Hence v. Raumer (Pal. p. 215, ed. 4) follows Kiepert
