1 Samuel 22 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

This chapter continues the part of the book that describes how David became king ([chapters 16–31](../16/01.md)). It describes how David fled from the Philistine city of Gath when he no longer felt safe there. He brought his parents to the king of Moab for safety and stayed in Moab himself for a while. But then Yahweh’s prophet Gad told him to return to the land of Judah. There he gathered a force of 400 men, including his older brothers, and became their commander. This chapter also describes how Saul accused the Israelite priests of conspiring with David against him and had one of his officials kill all of them.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Saul and the chief priest and his family

One of Saul’s officials, Doeg the Edomite, tells Saul that Ahimelech the high priest gave David food and a sword and asked Yahweh to guide him. Saul summoned the priests and accused them of encouraging David to rebel against him. This was a serious accusation. The priests had an obligation to represent Yahweh and support his purposes. They would have been rebelling against Yahweh’s king if this accusation had been true. But it was not. Nevertheless, Saul had Doeg kill all the priests and their families. Only one young man escaped to tell David. (See: highpriest)