--- title: "1 Samuel 21 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible" description: "Read 1 Samuel 21 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21" --- [ Read](/kjv/1-samuel/21)[ Commentary](/study/1-samuel/21)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/1-samuel/21) Audio 1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why *art* thou alone, and no man with thee?* 2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed *my* servants to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give *me* five *loaves of* bread in mine hand, or what there is present.* 4 And the priest answered David, and said, *There is* no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. 5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women *have been* kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and *the bread is* in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.* 6 So the priest gave him hallowed *bread:* for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul *was* there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name *was* Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that *belonged* to Saul. 8 ¶ And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. 9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it *is here* wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take *it:* for *there is* no other save that here. And David said, *There is* none like that; give it me. 10 ¶ And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, *Is* not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.* 14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore *then* have ye brought him to me?* 15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this *fellow* to play the mad man in my presence? shall this *fellow* come into my house? [1 Samuel 20](/study/1-samuel/20) [1 Samuel 22](/study/1-samuel/22) ## Commentary To verse 1 **Nob;** a city of priests, as it is called [1 Samuel 22:19](/kjv/1-samuel/22/19); either, 1. Because it was assigned to the priests. For though it be not expressed by this name among their cities, [Joshua 21:0](/kjv/joshua/21/0), yet it might be one of those cities there named by some other name, which name might be changed; or another new name added to the old for some reason now unknown, as was very usual among the Hebrews: compare [1 Chronicles 6:0](/kjv/1-chronicles/6/0). Or, 2. Because it was now inhabited by the priests for the service of the tabernacle, which now was here; as appears from [1 Samuel 21:7](/kjv/1-samuel/21/7),[1 Samuel 21:9](/kjv/1-samuel/21/9); for as the kings of Israel were to consult with God’s oracle in all their weighty affairs, so they endeavoured to have it in or near their own habitations. Hence it was first carried by Joshua to Shiloh in his tribe of Ephraim; and afterwards by David into his tribe and city; and now, as it seems, had been by Saul carried to Nob, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, [Nehemiah 11:32](/kjv/nehemiah/11/32), near to Anathoth, [1 Kings 2:26](/kjv/1-kings/2/26). Hither David resorted, partly for a supply of his necessities, which he supposed he might receive here, without danger of being betrayed into Saul’s hands; and principally, that in this great distress, and his resolution of going out of the kingdom, he might seek and receive comfort and counsel from the Lord. **Ahimelech the priest,** to wit, the chief priest, brother to that Ahiah, [1 Samuel 14:3](/kjv/1-samuel/14/3); and he being now dead, his successor in the priesthood, for they were both sons of Ahitub, [1 Samuel 14:3](/kjv/1-samuel/14/3); [1 Samuel 22:11](/kjv/1-samuel/22/11). *Ahimelech was afraid*; suspecting some extraordinary cause of his coming in such a manner, and fearing the worst, as men usually do in such cases. *Why art thou alone*? for though David had some servants and companions, as is manifest from [1 Samuel 21:4](/kjv/1-samuel/21/4),[1 Samuel 21:5](/kjv/1-samuel/21/5), and from [Matthew 12:3](/kjv/matthew/12/3),[Matthew 12:4](/kjv/matthew/12/4), whom Jonathan probably had sent to a place appointed to serve and guard him; yet they were left at another place, as David himself affirmeth, [1 Samuel 21:2](/kjv/1-samuel/21/2). And David was now alone, as also he was when he fled to Achish, [1 Samuel 21:10](/kjv/1-samuel/21/10). ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21","name":"1 Samuel 21 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read 1 Samuel 21 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible","name":"pooles english annotations on the holy bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel","name":"1 Samuel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/1-samuel/21","name":"21"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```