“So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread …” (1 Sam 21:6, NKJ)
Even in the Old Testament there were believers who understood the new covenant principle well. In 1 Sam 15:22-23 Samuel prophesies to Saul: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”
Obedience to the voice of the Lord is foundational to the new covenant walk. It can only happen by the promptings of the Holy Spirit (Rom 7:6, AMP). (Later we’ll come back in detail to how to hear and discern the voice of the Lord.)
In 1 Sam 21:3-6 we see a beautiful illustration of what it means. During a war David and his men arrived at a priest serving the tabernacle and they were very hungry. The priest said that the only bread there is, is the bread on the table of the showbread. According to the law it was not to be eaten; when it was replaced on the Sabbath only the priests were allowed to have of it. It was a clear law (Lev 24:5-9; Ex 29:33). But David lived according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He probably went to pray, told God he was hungry, got clear approval that the law of slavery (Rom 8:15) no longer applies to him, but that he is led as a son by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14) and thus he could eat of the showbread!
Jesus uses this very example in Matt 12:3-4 to explain how the law has become powerless (Rom 8:3) to those who are led by the Spirit of God: “But He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only the priests?’”
Through legalism we make the word of God powerless in our tradition (Matt 15:6) and we quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).
- Sela: Ask God to show you where in your life you have been guilty of quenching the Spirit of God through legalism.
- Read: Judg 14; Ps 104; Acts 14
- Memorise: Judg 14:18b
- Going deeper: Read chapter 3 of Dutch Sheets’ book: Tell your heart to beat again.
