March 3, 2024

David visited the Tabernacle before his exile. He had left his home in haste to escape Saul and had taken no provisions or weapons. While there, he asked the priest for food, but all he had was the shewbread. However, it was unlawful for him to eat it because David wasn’t a priest. Anyway, he gave it to him and his men with the caveat that they couldn’t have been with a woman for at least three days, and David assured him they hadn’t. The priest had no weapons to give David other than the sword of Goliath that David had taken, so he took it. He then fled to Gath, but the servants of Achish, the king, recognized him, and he became afraid and acted like a madman so he wouldn’t harm him. Desperate times call for desperate measures, much like when Jesus and his disciples were walking through a cornfield and were hungry for a snack and picked corn to eat, but it was the Sabbath. Jesus had to school the Pharisees on the truth that it was okay for them to do good on the Sabbath and, therefore, it was okay for the priest to feed David when he was hungry. 

Don’t be so caught up in legalism that you forget to be good to other humans. Better yet, take on the mind of Christ, rid yourself of any legalistic ways, and be kind to others, loving them as Christ loves the Church. 

So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 1 Samuel 21:6