21:1
David is now on the run. First of all he runs to Nob where Ahimelek the priest is. It may be that he ran there in order to seek guidance from the Lord. When Ahimelek meets David he trembles. Perhaps this was because he knew of David’s reputation as a warrior and feared for his life. He asks David why he is alone.
21:2
In this phase of his life David uses deception. The Bible does not criticise David, nor does it condone his actions. We think of David as this great man of God, but we also know from the Psalms that he went through great mental anguish at various times. To put it in today’s terms, David’s “mental health” would not be great at this point! While the Bible does not overtly criticise David, his lies did cause problems later on. So what can we learn from this? When we are under pressure we should still seek to live by the truth, but if we fail to do so from time to time, we should repent, but not consider ourselves condemned forever. God is aware of our weakness (Ps 103:14).
So David pretends that he is on a secret mission for Saul. He does say that he will meet with his men “at a certain place”.
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