Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you?
"The king has charged me with a matter"  (1 Samuel 21:2).  Much of what David said here was an outright falsehood.  The Bible records it, but we dare not justify it.  The only scrap of truth in what he said regarded the fact that he seems to have had a number of men with him; and even that is not evident from this account.  Jesus Christ mentioned this event and also "the men that were with" David  (Matthew 12:3-4).