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Bible story · 1 Samuel 21:1–6; Mark 2:23–28
Bread from the Altar
Read it yourself in the King James Bible: 1 Samuel 21:1–6; Mark 2:23–28 ↗
“So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.”
1 Samuel 21:6 (KJV)The Story
David was running for his life. King Saul had turned against him and wanted him dead. David had fled so fast he had no food and no weapon.
He came to the town of Nob, where the priests served before the Lord. Ahimelech the priest was nervous to see him arrive alone. David asked him for help. “Give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.”
The priest had a problem. There was no ordinary bread in the house. The only bread he had was the holy bread, twelve loaves set out before the Lord in the tabernacle each week. When fresh loaves replaced them, the old ones were eaten only by the priests.
But David and his men were hungry. So “the priest gave him hallowed bread.”
Centuries later, the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ disciples for picking grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus reminded them of this very story. David was hungry, He said, and he ate the bread from God’s house. “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”
Reflection
When David had nothing, God fed him with bread from His own table.
More Bible stories from 1 Samuel. More about: David
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Day 8 of Book 7
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