Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
Jesus said this was proper for David to have done (Matthew 12:1-4). The reason was that human life takes precedence over ceremonial law with God. [Note: See F. F. Bruce, The Hard Sayings of Jesus, p. 33.] David was probably not at the point of starvation. Certainly the Lord’s disciples were not (Matthew 12). Nevertheless human need should always be a higher priority than the observance of a ritual used to worship God. We acknowledge the same priority today. Suppose you pass a house that is on fire. You stop, run up to the front door, bang on the door, and ring the doorbell. You look in the window and see someone lying on the floor. You then kick in the door and drag the unconscious person outside to safety. Even though breaking into someone else’s house is a criminal offense, the law will not prosecute you since you saved that person’s life.