1 Samuel 21:1-6 (ESV)
Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
When we begin with a small lie, we eventually embellish and, at some point, someone gets hurt! That is the lesson from the above passage. David, on the run from King Saul (for his life), takes matters in his own hands and crafts and elaborate lie that only gets bigger as he opens his mouth. He was NOT on an expedition for Saul. He did NOT have an “appointment” with the “young men” (a group of soldiers) to meet up with. David even made up the fact that these “fictitious” men were “clean” so that they were ready for battle. This “running” should not be considered a “special” journey. Instead of trusting God (and Ahimelech, the priest), David weaves a tale that will convince Ahimelech to allow him to eat the bread that was originally laid out for God. The unleavened bread was laid out as symbol for God’s glory. David’s failure to trust God and create a fabricated story dishonors the very essence for the bread. When we fail to trust that God has control of or lies, we do foolish things. David ran away instead of to God. David lied to the priest instead of trusting in the priest for wisdom and counsel. David ate the bread intended to worship God instead of being the “bread” and worshiping God. One lie builds upon another. Eventually Ahimelech will be killed as a result of this story. Along with him, 85 priest would eventually die. The priest is dead, God is dishonored and David is in a bad state that will create even more chaos in his life and the lives of others. That is what one small lie starts. James said it this way:
James 3:5-10 (ESV)
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
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