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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

IntroIndex©

NOB

City located on the eastern slopes of Mt Scopus opposite the Mt of Olives and northeast of Jerusalem. An important religious center, 86 priests resided there, as did the ephod (1 Sm 22:13-20). Nob was the central sanctuary in which the priests served who had fled from Shiloh when the Philistines destroyed the sanctuary there.

The episode of David and the priests of Nob (1 Sm 21:2-7) attests to the antiquity of the details of the table and the bread of the presence (Ex 37:10-16). Jesus cites David’s hunger as a just reason for breaking the ritual laws governing Sabbath observance (Mk 2:23-28). David, fleeing from Saul and needing food, went into the sanctuary at Nob and took the loaves laid out each Sabbath as an offering to the Lord.

Ahimelech, a descendant of Eli and leader of the priests of Nob, gave the showbread to David, along with the sword with which Goliath had been slain. This incensed Saul, who ordered the murder of Ahimelech and the massacre of all the priests and citizens of Nob (1 Sm 22:6-23), an act that sealed the fate of the king. Abiathar, a priest who evaded the massacre, played a prominent role in the reign of David until Solomon eventually removed him from his position (1 Kgs 2:26-27). The phrase “where God was worshiped” may refer to the sanctuary at Nob (2 Sm 15:32).