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The solution to Saul's bad precedent, part 12

When the high priest gave David and his men bread from the Table of Showbread, he also gave David the sword of Goliath (1 Samuel 21:9). There was an Edomite who witnessed this. 1 Samuel 21:7 says,

⁷ Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds [ro-ee].

Presumably, Doeg was a convert to Judaism, though we do not know for certain why he was at the tabernacle in Nob. All we know for sure is that he was “the chief of Saul’s shepherds.” The Hebrew word for “shepherd” is ro-ee, which is also used to describe pastors or church leaders. In this case, being Saul’s top shepherd, we could describe him as a bishop or archbishop in the denomination of Saul’s church.

As such, Doeg was loyal to Saul. He later reported to Saul what he had witnessed. 1 Samuel 22:9, 10 continues,

⁹ Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, said, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. ¹⁰ He inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

Saul then arrested Ahimelech. The high priest claimed that he knew nothing of the rift between Saul and David. He gave David provisions because David was Saul’s faithful servant and was even his son-in-law. Either this did not matter to Saul or he did not believe Ahimelech. So we read in 1 Samuel 22:16-19,

¹⁶ But the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” ¹⁷ And the king said to the guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the Lord to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me.” But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and attacked the priests, and he killed that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants, also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.

Saul’s guards refused to kill the high priest, his family, and his city, but Doeg the Edomite was willing to do it. Ezekiel 35:6 tells us that Edom was bloodthirsty, and this proved to be the case with Doeg the Edomite. Saul, however, was more liable than Doeg in this wholesale murder, because he was the one giving the order. This set a prophetic precedent for the church in the Pentecostal Age, where the church became quite bloodthirsty in the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834). It was originally designed to investigate those who had converted from Islam and Judaism to Christianity, because it was believed that many converts were secretly practicing their previous religion. Later, the Inquisition was broadened to force Protestants to return to Roman Catholicism.

Forced conversions come with a price. First of all, those who are converted forcibly are not brought to Christ but to the church. They are not truly Christians but Churchians. Second, this practice breeds cynicism and secret contempt, doing nothing to change the hearts of the people. The result is that people become loyal to the church but not to Christ Himself. Inevitably, this breeds corruption.

It is significant, then, that Saul persecuted and killed the Jewish high priest and the entire priestly city of Nob.

A New Family of Priests

Ahimelech was of the line of Ithamar, a younger son of Aaron. Antiquities of the Jews, Book V, Chapter 11, Section 5 says:

“Now Eli was the first of the family of Ithamar, the other son of Aaron, that had the government: for the family of Eleazar officiated as High Priest at first; the son still receiving that honour from the father…”

This is where Josephus explicitly notes that Eli belonged to the line of Ithamar, distinguishing his line from that of Eleazar, whose lineage had originally held the high priesthood after the death of Aaron. When Eleazar died, his son Phinehas took his place (Joshua 24:33) to fulfill the covenant of peace that God had made with Phinehas (Numbers 25:12, 13).

But it appears that this line of priests was replaced by the line of Ithamar. According to Josephus, this change occurred with the high priesthood of Eli, who was “the first of the family of Ithamar” to hold the office of high priest. After Eli died, his son Ahitub took his place, followed by his son, Ahimelech, whom Saul killed.

I had thought previously that Eli was of the line of Eleazar and Phinehas, but further research shows that this was not the case. Eli represented a change of priesthood. His grandson, Ahitub, became high priest when Eli died, and Ahitub was the father of Ahimelech.

In Antiquities of the Jews Book 6, Chapter 12, Section 6, Josephus describes the events at Nob, including Saul’s command to kill the priests. After narrating Abiathar’s escape to David, Josephus adds that:

“But Saul, when he had slain Ahimelech the high priest, made Zadok the son of Ahitub high priest.”

Zadok himself was descended from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas, these being the first high priests of Israel. So Eli, of the line of Ithamar, temporarily replaced the line of Eleazar until Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, was finally replaced by Zadok. Zadok put the high priesthood back under the authority of the line of Eleazar and Phinehas.

All of this may seem confusing, but I thought it necessary to explain it fully in order to correct my own error that I had taught up to now.