Week 20 Day 6 On the Run

I Samuel 21-22
David is on the run.

Running from Saul.

Saul who has lost his mind.

Where should he go? What should he do?  Where does one hide from the almighty king?

David runs to the safest place he can find... to a priest.

Good place to go. 

After all, Saul has turned away from God.

Why would he need a priest?

The priest Ahimilech prays over David and feeds David.

Meanwhile, one of Saul's men comes to visit Ahimilech.

David is in trouble once again.

He asks for (and receives) a sword...the sword of Goliath.

And then he is on the run again.

The next thing you know he is standing before the king of Gath, Achish.

I can't imagine the panic he must have felt. He must have wondered who would defend him if needed. Who he could trust. Who was on his side.

So he stands in front of the king of Gath, hoping that this is right place to be.

Until he hears the servants of the king talking about who David is or who people think he is.

Then he gets those butterflies in his stomach.  He gets nervous. He feels unsettled.

So he acts like a madman.

One of my favorite parts made me giggle.

The king looks at David who is acting like a madman and says, "I have enough madmen. I don’t need you to bring him here to act like this in front of me! Don’t let him in my house!”

Hmmm, I feel like that some days at my house. :)

Meanwhile, David is on the run again.

Elsewhere, Saul is just kind of hanging out.  He starts to hear rumors that David is still alive and well.

And then his servant mentions, 'Oh, yeah, I saw him visiting Ahimilech."  Well, he said it something like that.

And Saul is a little upset.

I personally think he would be upset with the servant who hadn't mentioned that earlier.

But, no. He is upset with Ahimilech.  

He calls Ahimilech to him and questions him.

I love how Ahimilech answers.

He could lie. Feign ignorance.  Throw God's big name around (not that it would matter with Saul). 

But he is honest.

He tells Saul that David has been faithful to Saul, that he often prays for/over David, and reminds Saul that David is his own son-in-law.

Saul doesn't like any of these answers.  He is angry.  Red hot with anger.

And he decides that all priests should be killed.

Except his men won't do that...kill the priests?  Um, no thank you.

Except for one.

The very one who had visited Ahimilech when David had.

He has no trouble killing the priests, killing families, killing animals.

Except for one who escaped. 

One son of Ahimilech.

And where did he go?

To join David in hiding.

The plot thickens...

Reba
Tomorrow's reading:
I Samuel 23-24