C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 22:18

1Sa 22:18

Saul then commanded Doeg to cut down the priests, and he at once performed the bloody deed. On the expression “wearing the linen ephod,” compare the remarks at 1Sa 2:18. The allusion to the priestly clothing, like the repetition of the expression “priests of Jehovah,” serves to bring out into its true light the crime of the bloodthirsty Saul and his executioner Doeg. The very dress which the priests wore, as the consecrated servants of Jehovah, ought to have made them shrink from the commission of such a murder.