1 Samuel 22:18
And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
This belongs to the period after David killed Goliath, when Saul kept David with him instead of letting him return to his father's house. Jonathan's soul was knit to David in love as his own soul, and they made a covenant as brethren. Jonathan gave David his robe and garments with his sword and bow and girdle, and David was given important responsibilities in which his modesty won the affection of the people and the royal household.
The immediate occasion was David's escape from Adullam, which left Saul in maddened rage. Because Doeg the Edomite informed on David's visit to Ahimelech, Saul suspected a conspiracy and tried to bribe his counselors with rich gifts and honor to reveal who had helped David. Doeg acted from ambition and greed and hatred of the priest who had reproved his sins, and he twisted his report to kindle Saul's anger against the man of God.
At Saul's order to turn and fall on the priests, Doeg himself carried out the killing, slaughtering on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod. The attack extended to destroying their city and putting many other righteous people to death. Saul was driven by envious rage and sought to satisfy his envy by ordering the massacre of the Lord's priests.
The deed was done without any command from God, under the control of Satan. It was a cruel, presumptuous murder that established Saul's guilt, yet he still did not repent. The act stands opposite Saul's earlier conduct with the Amalekites, when God commanded utter destruction and Saul in false compassion spared what was devoted to destruction. It exposes the perversity of a human heart that has refused God's guidance, sparing the wicked when commanded to judge and murdering the priests of the Lord without command.
God had left Saul to his own guilty course, so that Israel was ruled by one who dared to commit murder and slay righteous persons whom the Lord had chosen to save Israel. The slaying was an outrage committed by the very king Israel itself had chosen, acting after the manner of the kings of other nations that feared not God. It filled all Israel with horror, leaving the nation with the ark still among them but with the priests of whom they had inquired slain with the sword, bringing dread over what would come next. It made Israel feel its peculiar position under such a ruler. The verse gives living evidence of the extremes of guilt and crime a king reaches when he rebels against God and is governed by his own passions.