DOEG (Heb. Dō'ēgh “sad”). — Chief of Saul’s shepherds, an Edomite (perhaps Aramaean, according to the Septuagint and the Aramaizing form Dō'ēgh in I Sam. 22:18, 22 Heb.). While David, fleeing Saul’s persecution, was passing 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 Achimelech hand the fugitive the bread of the Presence and Goliath’s sword, after having consulted the Lord on his behalf (I Sam. 21:7; 21:8 Heb.). For sinister motives, under the guise of loyalty to King Saul, he reported to him what he had seen. He then personally murdered the high priest and 85 priests of Nob, when the other servants of the king refused to do so, and also exterminated all its inhabitants (I Sam. 22:9, 18–22). Ps. 51:2 defines him as a “hero of misfortune, a slanderer, a maker of deceit,” and foretells for him “uprooting from the land of the living.”
Doeg (Hebrew Dō'ēgh, "Sad")
Cite this article
“DOEG (EBR. DŌ'ĒGH « TRISTE »).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV (1950), p. 1028. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/doeg-ebr-do-egh-triste.