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Context No. 3149 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

Context · Reflection

1 Samuel 22:11-15: in context

11Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob; and they all came to the king. 12Saul said, “Hear now, you son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?” 14Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, “Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, captain of your body guard, and honored in your house? 15Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me! Don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.”

King Saul summons Ahimelech and all the priests of Nob and accuses them of conspiring with David, because Ahimelech had given him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him. Ahimelech answers calmly and truthfully: David is your loyal servant, the king's son-in-law, honored in your house; I inquired of God for him as I always have, and I knew nothing of any conspiracy.

Ahimelech is innocent, and his defense is honest and clear: he had helped David as the king's faithful servant, with no knowledge of any rift between them. But Saul, consumed by paranoid jealousy, hears conspiracy everywhere; he cannot receive the truth, because suspicion has poisoned everything he sees. This is the tragedy of jealousy and suspicion: they manufacture enemies out of the innocent and refuse their honest defense. Saul's diseased heart will lead, in the verses that follow, to a horrific injustice against faithful priests. Unchecked suspicion turns even loyalty into imagined treason.

Does suspicion or jealousy ever lead me to see conspiracy and betrayal where there is only innocence, refusing the honest word of those who mean me no harm?

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