David and the Holy Bread
1 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And 1 Sam. 1:17Ahimelech was 1 Sam. 14:3; Mark 2:26afraid when he met David, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one is with you?"
2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loavesof bread in my hand, or whatever can be found."
4 And the priest answered David and said, "Thereis no common bread on hand; but there is 1 Sam. 16:4holy bread, Ex. 25:30; Lev. 24:5–9; Matt. 12:4if the young men have at least kept themselves from women."
5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women havebeen kept from us about three days since I came out. And the Ex. 19:15vessels of the young men are holy, and thebreadis in effect common, even though it was consecrated Ex. 19:14, 15; 1 Thess. 4:4in the vessel this day."
6 So the priest Lev. 8:26gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread Matt. 12:3, 4; Mark 2:25, 26; Luke 6:3, 4which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread initsplace on the day when it was taken away.