1 Samuel 22:1-23

22:1-4 | David’s great-grandmother Ruth was a Moabite (Ruth 4:13-17) and the king of Moab warred against Saul (14:47), so Moab was naturally a place for David to seek refuge for his family.

22:1-2 | Samuel had warned the people that a king would tax the people and make use of their resources for his own work (8:10-18). It is possible that Saul had levied a heavy tax upon the inhabitants of Israel, and that many of these victims – in debt and discontented and in distress – decided to join David when they heard that he was in exile. The cave of Adullam was where David composed Psalm 142.

22:7-8 | As Samuel predicted, and just as the kings of other nations did, Saul took the people’s land and gave it to his commanders. Despite Saul’s bribes, his commanders remained loyal to David and would not give him up.

22:9-19 | David wrote Psalm 52 because of this incident. Doeg was a Gentile who tried to win Saul’s favor by betraying Ahimelech and slaughtering the priests at Nob.

22:20-23 | Abiathar escaped with his life. From this point forward, the priesthood left Saul in support of David. Abiathar remained with David until David’s death (2 Sam. 20:25).

22:22 | By being deceitful and trying to arrange his own plan, David set in motion a chain of events that led directly to the slaughter of 85 innocent people – a sorry that he had to live with for the rest of his life.