1 Samuel 21 · a question people ask

The show bread was "for Aaron and his sons" (Leviticus 24:9). Why does Jesus bring up David eating it?

In the text

The law says of the bread set before the LORD, "It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall eat it in a holy place" (Leviticus 24:9). At Nob the priest gave it to David after asking one thing, "if only the young men have kept themselves from women" (21:4), and David answered that they had (21:5). 1 Samuel 21 doesn't say whether the priest did right. Jesus calls the bread what the law made it: David ate the show bread, "which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone" (Luke 6:4). He brings it up when his disciples had plucked heads of grain on a Sabbath (Luke 6:1) and some of the Pharisees asked, "Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?" (Luke 6:2). Each Gospel tells what he said with it. In Luke: "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath" (Luke 6:5). In Mark: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), and "Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28). In Matthew he adds that "the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless" (Matthew 12:5), and says, "But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here" (Matthew 12:6), "But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless" (Matthew 12:7), and "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). He gives these together, and he doesn't say David sinned.

The verses

“It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.””
Leviticus 24:9 · World English Bible
“The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?” 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.”
1 Samuel 21:4-6 · World English Bible
“He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.””
Mark 2:27-28 · World English Bible
“Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.””
Matthew 12:5-8 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 21

1 Samuel 21: 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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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions