Dividing The Priesthood Part 1: The Spirit Of Doeg

The Kingdom Of God Revealed: Dividing The Priesthood Part 1: The Spirit Of Doeg

I want to use our schoolmaster to reveal the heart and mind of the Father concerning His people. David was on the run from King Saul. He went to the temple at Nob, the city of the priests and asked for bread to feed his men.

1 Samuel 21:6-7

6 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.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.

Doeg, the Edomite, was a descendant of Esau, the brother of Jacob. It became very apparent that old hatreds and political preferences were very much a part of him.

Here we have the classic church-goer. Doeg was detained before the Lord. He felt compelled to remain at the temple with the priests of God. But the fact that he was detained before the

Lord, suggests that he was there to bring an offering before the Lord. Nevertheless, during his time before the Lord, he witnessed the kindness the priests bestowed on David and his men. Now his name, Doeg, means ‘fearing’ or ‘anxious carefulness.’ Though he sought to worship God, he was fearful and afraid of Saul and of doing the righteous thing. Therefore, when King Saul came to the city of Nob, his true disposition toward David, God, and all pertaining to God was revealed.

1 Samuel 22:17-18

17 And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because

they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod....

Can you imagine what kind of heart it took to kill eighty-five unarmed men of God? Furthermore, these are the men he came to, over and over again, to offer sacrifices to God on his behalf. Doeg did what the soldiers would not do. They feared God, whereas Doeg feared Saul. First of all, he reported to Saul that David had been to the Temple, then, he killed his own pastors. Could it be that fear and ambition know no bounds? But this operation is typical in the Church today. For the fear of prison or worse, for the most part, Saints are not slaying with the edge of the sword; but they are doing so with the sharpness of the tongue. But sin is always progressive. He then turned on the families of the priests.

1 Samuel 22:19-23

19 And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

20 And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.

21 And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the LORD’s priests.

22 And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house.

23 Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.

Abiathar was the only survivor of this massacre. David protected him from Saul, and he remained with David, serving as High Priest during David’s reign over Israel.