‘ And he smote Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and asses and sheep, with the edge of the sword.'
Doeg then followed this up by doing the equivalent of ‘devoting' the city of the priests and all who were in it to destruction (although certainly not to YHWH). But it was not at YHWH's command, nor of His will. It was rather an act of total barbarism. The writer wants us to see that Saul was doing to God's holy priests and their possessions what he had refused to do to the Amalekites and their possessions (1 Samuel 15). His unbelief and sacrilege was being emphasised a hundredfold.