have surrounded himself exclusively by "Benjamites," either because no others would serve him, or more

probably because he no longer trusted any but his own clansmen. Still more characteristic is the mode in

which he appeals to their loyalty and seeks to enlist their aid. He seems to recognize no motive on the part

of others but that of the most sordid selfishness. Probably some of the words that had passed between

Jonathan and David, when they made their covenant of friendship (20:42), had been overheard, and repeated

to Saul in a garbled form by one of his many spies. That was enough. As he put it, his son had made a

league with David, of which the only object could be to deprive him of his throne. This could only be

accomplished by violence. Everyone was aware that David and his men then held a strong position. A

conspiracy so fully organized must have been known to his courtiers. If they had no sympathy with a father

betrayed by his own son, at least what profit could they as Benjamites hope to derive from such a plot? It

was to defend the courtiers from guilty knowledge of such a plot that Doeg now reported what he had seen

and heard at Nob. David's was a conspiracy indeed, but one hatched not by the laity but by the priesthood;

and of which, as he had had personal evidence, the high-priest himself was the chief abettor.

The suggestion was one which would only too readily approve itself to a mind and conscience like Saul's.

There could be nothing in common between Saul and the ministers of that God Who by His prophet had

announced his rejection and appointed his successor. A priestly plot against himself, and in favor of David,

had every appearance of likelihood. It is only when we thus understand the real import of Doeg's account to

the king, that we perceive the extent of his crime, and the meaning of the language in which David

characterized it in Psalm 52. A man of that kind was not likely to shrink from any deed. Saul summoned

Ahimelech and all his father's house to his presence. In answer to the charge of conspiracy, the priest

protested his innocence in language the truth of which could not have been mistaken by any impartial

But the case had been decided against the priesthood before it was heard. Yet, callous as Saul's men-at-arms

were, not one of them would execute the sentence of death against the priests of Jehovah. It was left to the

Edomite to carry out what his reckless malice had instigated. That day no fewer than eighty-five of the

priests in actual ministry were murdered in cold blood. Not content with this, the king had "the ban"

executed upon Nob. As if the priest-city had been guilty of idolatry and rebellion against Jehovah

(Deuteronomy 13:15), every living being, both man and beast, was cut down by the sword. Only one

escaped the horrible slaughter of that day. Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech,207 had probably received timely

He now fled to David, to whom he reported what had taken place. From him he received such assurance of

protection as only one could give who in his strong faith felt absolute safety in the shelter of Jehovah's

wings. But here also the attentive reader will trace a typical parallel between the murder at Nob and that of

the children at Bethlehem - all the more striking, that in the latter case also an Edomite was the guilty party,

Herod the king having been by descent an Idumaean.

When Abiathar reached David, he was already on his way from the forest of Hareth to Keilah.208 Tidings

had come to David of a Philistine raid against Keilah, close on the border - the modern Kilah, about six miles

to the south-east of Adullam.

Keilah was a walled city, and therefore not itself in immediate danger. But there was plenty of plunder to be

obtained outside its walls; and henceforth no threshing-floor on the heights above the city was safe from

the Philistines. Here was a call for the proper employment of a band like David's. But his followers had not

yet learned the lessons of trust which he had been taught. Although the expedition for the relief of Keilah

had been undertaken after "inquiry," and by direction of the Lord, his men shrank from provoking an attack

by the Philistines at the same time that they were in constant apprehension of what might happen if Saul

overtook them. So little did they as yet understand either the source of their safety or the object of their

gathering! What happened - as we note once more in the course of ordinary events - was best calculated to

teach them all this. A second formal inquiry of the Lord by the Urim and Thummim, and a second direction