1 Samuel 21:7

A certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord.

Doeg the Edomite

Doeg was “detained there before the Lord.” How or why he “was detained before the Lord,” we are not informed. Doeg the Edomite was “detained there that day before the Lord,” and with his eyes upturned and his arms across his breast, very probably groaning as if moved to the heart by the aspect of poor David and his few straggling companions, dusty, and dirty and hungry. Doeg witnessed all and hurrying off to the royal palace told King Saul all he saw and all he heard during his stay at Nob, as passing between David and Ahimelech. This malicious spy was glad to violate all confidence.

I. Doeg was detained there that day before the Lord as a spy. Now of all the characters in the world the spy is the meanest and the most despicable. It was allowed at the time, and historians confirm it, that the espionage system of the Duke of Wellington, during his Peninsular campaign, was the most perfect ever known in any European army, and yet his scouts were selected without regard to character. No man respects a spy. Is Doeg dead? It is to be feared that in every age there have been those who come to the house of God only to hear and report, and misrepresent the services of the sanctuary. The spy has neither character nor conscience.

II. Doeg is there that day as a malicious tale bearer and wicked slanderer. The tale bearer and murderer are regarded by God as one and the same. A heathen once said, “The slanderer is the most terrible of wild beasts.”

III. It is possible that Doeg may have been “detained there that day before the Lord,” for the very reason that he knew he was not wanted. It is clear that Ahimelech did not want him, and equally clear that the eighty-five priests whom he afterwards murdered so wantonly did not want him, and still more obvious that David did not want him. Not a single worshipper in the priestly City of Nob. Some men are woefully gifted with a perverse spirit, and their happiness consist in trying to make other men miserable. Their aim is annoy; evil is their good.

IV. It may be that Doeg was “detained there that day before the Lord,” from the force of habit. He had been a churchgoing man.

V. It may be that Doeg was “detained there that day before the Lord,” from the love of the service. The old Rabbis have a tradition that Doeg was a skilful performer on the psaltery, and wherever music was the prevailing part of the worship, he was present to take part in “the service of song.” If there is no higher motive than the mere gratification of a refined ear or a cultivated taste, or even a delicate sentimentalism, the ordinances cannot profit.

VI. It may be that Doeg was “detained there that day before the Lord,” from the hope of patronage or preferment. He was only chief of the herdsmen of King Saul; probably, by acting as a spy and a tale bearer, be hoped to be advanced to some situation of honour and emolument. Doeg is ready for any work, from that of the highest seraph in heaven down to the lowest fiend in hell, if it will only pay!

VII. It may be that Doeg was “detained there that day before the Lord,” because the service at Nob was a branch of the national worship. This was a priestly city, and the Divine arrangement provided that the house of Levi should have the sacerdotal cities and their suburbs. Doeg, therefore, as a Hebrew, had a right to attend upon any altar that represented the religion of the Hebrew commonwealth. Oh! that is God’s meeting place with the inquiring saint who is there that day “detained before the Lord.” because he wants to meet and hold communion with God. (R. Irvine, D. D.)