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1 Samuel 21 Bible study: Holy bread and a sword
When Jesus' disciples were accused over the Sabbath, he answered with this chapter: the priest gave David the show bread, "taken from before the LORD" (21:6), bread Jesus calls "not lawful to eat except for the priests alone" (Luke 6:4). Then, in Gath, Achish's servants quoted the women's song about David, and he was "very afraid" (21:11-12).
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“So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the LORD, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“On the day David came to Nob, a servant of Saul named Doeg the Edomite was there.”
Is that in 1 Samuel 21, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"Why are you alone?"
The last chapter ended with Jonathan sending David away: "Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the LORD’s name" (20:42). "Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest" (21:1). "Ahimelech came to meet David trembling" (21:1) (tap trembling), and his first question is, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?" (21:1). David answers, "The king has commanded me to do something" (21:2), and he speaks of the young men sent "to a certain place" (21:2) (tap certain). The chapter tells what David said and doesn't comment on it. Nine verses later it says why he left: "David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul" (21:10).
Where it leads to Jesus
Greater than the temple
1 Samuel 21:6leads toMatthew 12:6
"So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the LORD" (21:6). When the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:2), he answered, "Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered into God’s house and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?" (Matthew 12:3-4), and "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?" (Matthew 12:5). Then he said, "But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here" (Matthew 12:6). Luke tells the same answer (Luke 6:3-5). The map's line from Exodus 25 follows the show bread itself; this line follows where Jesus takes what David did: "one greater than the temple is here" (Matthew 12:6).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 1 Samuel 21
That was a taste
The rest of 1 Samuel 21 is waiting in Favor
- No common bread, only holy
- "There is none like that"
- In Gath, very afraid
- One song, three times
- Two psalm titles
- 8 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach 1 Samuel 21 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
לֶחֶםlechemsay LE-khem
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "bread, food". Strong's: "food (for man or beast), especially bread". The chapter uses it six times in three verses: David's "five loaves of bread" (21:3), the priest's "common bread" and "holy bread" (21:4), and in 21:6 "no bread there but the show bread" and "hot bread". Show bread is lechem hapanim, the Hebrew of "bread of the presence" (Exodus 25:30). In 21:6's first phrase, "the priest gave him holy bread", the Hebrew has no lechem: the priest gave him qodesh, "holy" (tap holy). In the next chapter Saul accuses Ahimelech: "you have given him bread, and a sword" (22:13).
For your group
1 Samuel 21 Bible study questions
- 1The priest had no common bread, only holy bread, and he gave it (21:4-6). When has someone given you what they had, when you had nothing?
- 2The same David who faced Goliath "was very afraid of Achish" (21:12). Where have you been brave one day and afraid the next?
- 3"David laid up these words in his heart" (21:12). What words said about you have stayed with you, for good or for ill?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 1 Samuel 21 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Can I read 1 Samuel 21 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach 1 Samuel 21 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
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No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home