The Source of the Saying of Jesus that David went into the House of God in the days of Abiathar the High Priest, and ate the Showbread

Chapter III

The Sources of the Gospels and the Way of Writing Them

Section V

The Texts of the Old Testament, which were quoted during the Debates and the Arguments and the Dialogues in the Gospels

In this section we will examine some texts in the Gospels that contain debates and dialogues and arguments, in which the Gospels authors have cited texts from the Old Testament; to find out if these texts consistent with the Gospels and not contradicting with them, nor with the principles and the concepts and the texts of the Old Testament, and if the Gospels authors did not distort and manipulate them to serve what they believe, as we have seen in the previous sections how they have used the texts of the Old Testament to write their narratives to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written, away from the revelation and the Holy Spirit, or even the historical events; for this they have distorted and manipulated the texts of the Old Testament, whether by changing the meaning of them, or by adding some paragraphs, or by deleting others, or by writing some paragraphs that were not written in the Old Testament, or by writing some names and numbers that are inconsistent with what is written in the Old Testament, etc.

9 - The Source of the Saying of Jesus that David went into the House of God in the days of Abiathar the High Priest, and ate the Showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, but only for the Priests, and also gave some to those who were with him

Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

Matthew 12:2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"

Matthew 12:3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

Matthew 12:4 "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 for the priests?

Matthew 12:5 "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

Matthew 12:6 "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

Matthew 12:7 "But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Matthew 12:8 "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Mark 2:23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.

Mark 2:24 And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

Mark 2:25 But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:

Mark 2:26 "how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"

Mark 2:27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

Mark 2:28 "Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

Luke 6:1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

Luke 6:2 And some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"

Luke 6:3 But Jesus answering them said, "Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

Luke 6:4 "how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?"

Luke 6:5 And He said to them, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

These texts on one hand represent an another dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees, on the other hand shows clear evidence that the Gospels have not been written through the revelation or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit because they contain many errors, including the following:

The first error is the saying of Mark that David went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, while the Old Testament says that David came to Ahimelech the priest!

The second error is the saying that David was with him a group of people, while the Old Testament says that David was alone.

The third error is the saying that David ate the Showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and this is not true, because Ahimelech the priest did not give the Showbread to David, until he convinced him that eating of the Showbread is lawful to eat for him.

These errors will be discussed, but after reviewing the story from the Old Testament, which is as follows:

1 Samuel 21:1 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one is with you?"

1 Samuel 21:2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you’. And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.

1 Samuel 21:3 "Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found."

1 Samuel 21:4 And the priest answered David and said, "There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women."

1 Samuel 21:5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was sanctified in the vessel this day."

1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

1 Samuel 21:7 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 chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

1 Samuel 21:8 And David said to Ahimelech, "Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste."

1 Samuel 21:9 So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here." And David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."

This is the text that talks about the story that referred to by the Gospels authors and said that Jesus has cited it in responding to the Pharisees, and appears to us the errors that I referred to earlier.

The first error is the name of the priest; Mark wrote that the name is Abiathar, while the story here says that the name of the priest is Ahimelech! So who is responsible for this error to identify the name of the priest?

Is it the responsibility of Jesus, the second person of the three Hypostases who are one and have the same nature and essence?

Or it is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the three Hypostases who are one and have the same nature and essence, and was inspiring the Gospels authors, as the churches say?

Or it is the responsibility of Mark, who wrote the name of the priest incorrect?

Finally, the Septuagint Version has mentioned another name for the priest which is Abimelech, not Ahimelech nor Abiathar!  As in the following text:

Hebrew Version

21:2 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said unto him: 'Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?'

Septuagint Version

21:1 And David comes to Nomba to Abimelech the priest: and Abimelech was amazed at meeting him, and said to him, Why art thou alone, and nobody with thee?

As for the second error that David was with him some people at that time, we have read clearly the words of the priest Ahimelech that no one was with David when he went to him, "Why are you alone, and no one is with you?", and this shows that David was not with him anyone, unlike what was written by Matthew, Mark and Luke in their Gospels!

And anyone who reads the whole story as is written in the book of 1 Samuel (chapters 20 and 21) knows that David when he fled from Saul was no one with him, including the following text:

1 Samuel 20:42 Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever’." So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

As for the third error which says that David and those whom with him ate the Showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat; because David did not eat the Showbread until he persuaded the priest that there is nothing in the Law forbidding him to eat the Showbread, and we read this in the dialogue that took place between them; the priest answered David and said "There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women", then David answered the priest, and said to him "Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was sanctified in the vessel this day". So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the Showbread which had been taken from before the LORD.

This means that David had eaten the Showbread lawfully not as the Gospels authors try to say on the lips of Jesus!

From all the above, we see how the Gospels authors have tried to invalidate the Sabbath through writing this narrative on the lips of Jesus, who is supposed to be the second person of three Persons who are one and have the same nature and essence, who is also supposed to be the one who inspired the Old Testament; nevertheless he was not able to identify the name of the priest and distorted and manipulated the true meaning of the story! Which shows that they were seeking to link what they write to the Old Testament, regardless if they invalidate the laws of the faith of the churches, or the laws of the Old Testament, or if they wrote errors, or distorted and twisted the true meaning of the texts, as is their method and approach of writing the Gospels as is shown in this book,  just to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written, which means that the law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to these texts.