And David said to Ahimelech, The king has commanded me a business and has said to me, Let no one know of the business about which I send you and what I have commanded you — David's false *hashem etzav li*, the king has commanded me, invokes Saul's authority to account for his clandestine presence and his isolation. The verb *shalach*, send, and the *tzava*, command, lend false legitimacy to David's urgent arrival. David's deception—claiming royal mission when fleeing for his life—represents his descent into falsehood, the beginning of the moral compromises that fugitive existence will require.

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