Augustine of Hippo : While the holy man David was on the run from Saul's persecution, he fled to a place where he thought he would be safe. He passed by the house of a priest named Ahimelech and accepted loaves from him. In so doing, he acted in the role not of a king only, but of a priest too, because he ate the bread of the presence which "it was unlawful for anyone other than the priests to eat," as the Lord reminds us in the Gospel. Saul, when later he began to hunt him, was angry with his retainers because none of them was willing to betray David. The story has just been read from the book of the Kingdoms [Samuel]. But there was a man present that day named Doeg, who was an Edomite and the principal herdsman in Saul's service; he too had come to Ahimelech the priest. He was present again when Saul raged against his followers because none of them would betray David. Doeg revealed where he had seen him. Saul immediately sent for the priest and all his family to be brought before him, and [he] ordered that they be killed. Not one of Saul's entourage dared raise a hand against the priests of the Lord, even under orders from the king. But this Doeg, who had betrayed David's whereabouts, was like Judas; he did not recoil from his evil purpose but persisted in bringing forth fruit from that same root even to the end, the kind of fruit typical of a rotten tree. So at the king's order Doeg killed the priest and all his family, and afterwards the city of the priests was demolished.We have seen, then, that this man Doeg was the enemy of both David the king and Ahimelech the priest. Doeg was a single person, but he represents a whole class of people. Similarly David embodies both king and priest, like one man with a dual personality, though the human race is one. So too at the present time and in our world let us recognize these two groups of people, so that what we sing, or hear sung, may profit us. Let us recognize Doeg still with us today, as we recognize the kingly and priestly body today, and so we shall recognize the body that is opposed to king and priest still. Notice from the outset how mysteriously significant their names are. Doeg is said to mean "movement," and Edomite means "earthly." Already you can see what kind of people this "movement," this Doeg, symbolizes: the kind that does not remain stable forever but is destined to be moved elsewhere. As for "earthly": why expect any fruit from an earthly person? But the heavenly humans will last forever. So, to put it briefly, there is an earthly kingdom in this world today, but there is also a heavenly kingdom. Each of them has its pilgrim citizens, both the earthly kingdom and the heavenly, the kingdom that is to be uprooted and the kingdom that is to be planted for eternity. — EXPLANATIONS OF THE Psalms 51 Bede : And the king said to Doeg the Edomite: Turn you, etc. Which the impious persecutors said to the most wicked ministers, evidently moved from every state of rectitude and further defiled by the innocent blood of the steadfast: Turn to evil, and after the crime of betrayal, also increase the infliction of tortures on the faithful of Christ, compelling them either to die or to deny. — Commentary on Samuel Bede : And he slaughtered, etc. Eighty-five men slaughtered on that day signify those who come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 22); undoubtedly strong in deeds, and perfected equally in the spiritual observance of the Gospel and the law. Indeed, eighty-five is made up of five times ten plus seven; and five indeed refers to the justly well-known senses of our body, while ten and seven pertain to the law and the Gospel, on account of the Decalog of the law and the grace of the Holy Spirit more abundantly poured out upon all flesh in the times of the shining Gospel, and thus it is rare for anyone to doubt; and therefore whoever, with a strong spirit, interprets whatever they can see, hear, taste, smell, or touch, to fulfill the commands of the law and attain the promises of grace, as if multiplying ten and seven by five, completes the sum of eighty-five men. They are also rightly described as clothed with an ephod, that is, a linen garment over the shoulder, to show that all their works (for shoulders are usually taken for works) are recommended and adorned more perfectly before the glory of martyrdom by the mortification of the flesh. — Commentary on Samuel Cassiodorus : When David was fleeing from Saul, he came to the priest Abimelech. He was received by him and obtained the loaves of proposition and the sword with which he had slain Goliath. The loaves of proposition denoted his role as priest, the consecrated sword his future rank as most powerful king. The Edomite Doeg happened to be there in charge of the mules and reported everything to King Saul. Then Saul was angry and caused Abimelech and the other priests of the same city to be slain by Doeg. This Doeg through whom such events occurred was called the Edomite from the name of his land. The names combined, according to the authority of the fathers, mean "earthquakes." Such meaning attached to the names is rightly related to the acts of antichrist, for Doeg the Edomite was the foe of David, just as antichrist will be the enemy of Christ. Doeg destroyed priests; antichrist will make martyrs. Doeg through the meaning of his name denotes earthquakes; antichrist will disturb the whole world when with sacrilegious presumption he will constrain it to worship his name. So antichrist is rightly understood by the name of Doeg the Edomite, since he is seen to be similar to him in these striking parallels. — EXPOSITION OF THE Psalms 51.1-2 Ephrem the Syrian : Indeed, when Saul heard that the priests had helped David unwittingly, he had them brought to him, and he killed them. It was fitting for you too that innocent blood be hung about your neck, as was Saul's case. But the Son of David escaped from your hands amid the Gentiles. David was persecuted by Saul, just as the Son was by Herod. The priests were slain because of David, and the infants because of our Lord. Abiathar escaped from the priests, as John did from the infants. In [the person of] Abiathar the priesthood of the house of Eli was brought to an end, and in John the prophecy of the sons of Jacob was terminated. — COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 3.3 Jerome : You put in the front of your letter what would be pleasing, that it is written in the book of 1 Kings [Samuel]: "Samuel served as a boy before the Lord, girded in a linen ephod and having a small duplicate cloak which his mother had made for him and would bring to him day after day when she went up with her husband to offer sacrifice on the day of sacrifice." Thus you inquire about this linen ephod with which the coming prophet will also be girded, namely, whether it will be a girdle, or, as many believe, some type of clothing. And if you clothe him, how will it be bound together? And why is the adjective linen added after the ephod? You also wrote down to be read the following: "And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord: "I revealed myself to the house of your father when they were in the land of Egypt serving in the house of Pharaoh and I chose the house of your father from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, that they might go up to my altar and burn incense and wear ephods." ' " You took as an exemplar of the entire order of the book to follow that passage where Doeg the Edomite killed the priests at the king's command. "Doeg of Syrus turned," the Scripture says, "and fell upon the priests of the Lord and killed on that day three hundred and five men," or, as the Hebrew reads, "eighty-five men," all wearing ephods.And Nob, the city of priests, he killed with the edge of the sword, men and women, infants and toddlers, calves and foals and sheep, all to the edge of the sword. But Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, was saved and fled after David. I will not delay now except to anticipate the textual problem where we read "all wearing ephods," but the Hebrew has "all wearing linen ephods." You will learn in what follows why I say this. And add this to it: Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, fled to David and went down with David to Keilah, having the ephod in his hand. Then, Saul abandoned his pursuit when David came to Keilah, where, because it was feared that Saul would arrive and besiege the city, David said to Abiathar, "Bring down the ephod of the Lord." These are excerpts from the book of Kings [Samuel] pushing you to transcend the book of Judges, in which Micah from Mt. Ephraim gave eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, which he had promised, who is said to have made graven and molten images out of them. Notice also that in a short while it is called ephod and teraphim, since surely if it is a girdle or a type of clothing, it cannot also be a graven or molten image. Acknowledge the error of almost all Latin thinkers who allege that the ephod and teraphim, named later, were part of the molten images made from this silver which Micah had given to his mother. — LETTER 29