DIOEG (Hebrew Dō'ēgh, “sad”). — Chief of Saul’s herdsmen, an Edomite (perhaps Aramean, according to the Septuagint and the Aramaizing form Dōjēgh in 1 Sam 22:18, 22 Heb.). While David, fleeing Saul’s persecution, passed through Nob, D., who was there “detained” in the tabernacle—perhaps to perform his turn of service to which foreigners were obliged—saw the high priest Ahimelech give the fugitive the bread of the Presence and the sword of Goliath, after consulting the Lord on his behalf (1 Sam 21:7; 21:8 Heb.). Under the guise of loyalty to King Saul, he maliciously reported what he had seen. Later he personally slaughtered the high priest and eighty-five priests of Nob, since the king’s other servants refused, and also exterminated all the inhabitants of Nob (1 Sam 22:9, 18–22). Ps 51:2 calls him “a man of mischief, a deceitful tongue, a worker of deceit,” and foretells his “uprooting from the land of the living.” Gino Bressan.
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