Growing Malice

In 1 Samuel 22:6, the narrative shifts from David to Saul. It soon becomes clear that these men are on vastly different arcs. “We have seen the progress of David’s troubles; now here we have the progress of Saul’s wickedness,” Matthew Henry writes.

It appears that Saul is focusing on only one thing now—getting rid of David. The author of 1 Samuel pictures him sitting under a tree with spear in hand and servants at the ready—all prepared to spring into action as soon as David is located. But when Saul learns that David is hiding in wilderness strongholds and gathering men, he is frustrated. So he turns to his servants and delivers an angry lecture in which he accuses every one of them of coming together in a conspiracy of silence against him. First, he says, they failed to tell him that his son, Jonathan, had made a covenant with David. This is understandable; it is quite possible that none of the servants knew of this covenant. Second, Saul charges that his servants failed to alert him that Jonathan was encouraging David to ” ‘lie in wait’ ” for Saul. This is sheer nonsense. Jonathan has never encouraged David to take any action against Saul, and David has never plotted any action. Saul also tries to put his servants on a guilt trip (“not one of you … is sorry for me”). And he even tries to buy their loyalty—he points out that they got their positions because they are Benjamites like himself, but David no doubt will fire them in favor of Judahites. Thus, he suggests, their “support” for David is against their self-interest.

None of Saul’s Israelite servants responds to this tirade. They are caught in the middle: They are loyal to Saul but have high esteem for David. Besides, what can they say to these wild charges? Saul will believe what he wants to believe. But one of Saul’s servants does speak up—Doeg the Edomite. Rather than be seen as the king’s enemy, Doeg looks to curry favor, and he tells of seeing David pass through Nob and depart with divine guidance, provisions, and a sword, all courtesy of the high priest Ahimelech. His report is technically truthful, but it fails to note the fact that Ahimelech acted on the basis of David’s untruth. Predictably, however, Saul is filled with wrath that anyone would help his enemy, and he immediately calls for Ahimelech to be brought before him, along with “all his father’s house.”