You would think Saul would be looking for ways to reconnect with God. Instead he does this?
King Saul had alienated Samuel; he had driven David from the palace and grieved Jonathan, his loyal son; many mighty men in desperation had abandoned Saul’s forces and joined their fugitive hero at Adullam. This is spectacular bridge burning! But it gets worse. When Saul had a pity party, claiming everyone was against him (see 1 Sam 22:6-8), a man named Doeg, an Edomite from the line of Esau, saw his chance to ingratiate himself to the king. “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine” (vv 9-10). Blinded by his jealousy, Saul now sees an opportunity. He hadn’t been able to catch David till now, but by slaughtering those who helped him escape, he would isolate the absconder from further assistance. The priests were called before the king. In spite of their protestations, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house?” (v 14), Ahimelech’s plea fell on deaf ears. But when Saul commanded his guard to murder the priests, they refused. Doeg had no such scruples. He not only killed “eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod” (v 18), he decimated every living thing in the town of Nob. Only one, Abiathar, escaped to David. Some suggest that the unnamed prophet’s words in Eli’s day—“There shall not be an old man in your house forever.… And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age” (1 Sam 2:32-33)—was fulfilled by Doeg. But I am reminded of the law that children shall not “be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut 24:16). God is always just.