1 Samuel 25:3–39

Verse 3 tells us the contrast between Nabal and his wife. Her name Abigail means "father of joy." Her beautiful face also reflected a beautiful character. Nabal, however, was a harsh man whose actions were evil. He lived for himself and his pleasures. Yet he had descended from Caleb, a man of unusual godliness and devotion.

He is, as already said, Nabal — the word used where it is written, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" In Scripture this is what "folly" is mostly tied to, or identified with. And for Scripture, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

Nabal, verse 3 tells us, "was a Calebite." As a family trait these two men shared energy of nature. But this energy in the service of the flesh produces a Nabal, while in the service of faith it produces a Caleb. A person may give his members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, or to God as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13).

This Nabal had received such benefits from David and his men. He comes before us as a man of substance and high social position. In the eyes of the world he was a "very great" man — one who could entertain in royal style. In God's sight, however, he was a churlish man and "evil in his doings"; one who would put up with no interference from others. He claims to know nothing of David, for he asks, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?" … to Nabal, David was only a runaway servant.

She had evidently considered the people and events of her day, and the Lord had given her understanding… She hears from one of the young men about her husband's folly, and at once acts in faith… Nature could only see in David a runaway servant. Faith does not look at mere outward circumstances. It sees, in the hunted and needy David, the coming king.

But being taught of God in this way must have made her place in Nabal's house very painful. Her connection with Nabal was a yoke. She was harassed every day. She met hindrances from the man she was bound to, and had no communion with him… She might have felt this to be a strange dealing of the Lord towards her. But her heart was being prepared for a service she did not yet know.

The case of this remarkable woman is full of encouragement and instruction. It speaks to all who feel cramped and hindered by ties they cannot escape. To all such the history of Abigail says: Be patient. Wait on God. Do not think you have no opportunity for testimony. The Lord may be greatly glorified by quiet submission, and He will surely give relief and victory in the end. True, some may have to blame themselves for forming such ties in the first place. But even then, if the folly and evil are really felt, confessed, and judged before God, and the soul is brought into full submission, the end will be blessing and peace.

David was in the wilderness; this was his place. Nabal was surrounded by all the comforts of life. David owed all his sorrows and hardships to what he was. Nabal owed all his possessions and enjoyments to what he was.

This Nabal was an Israelite. He stands in sharp contrast with David. Though anointed king of Israel, David had nowhere to lay his head. He was a wanderer from mountain to mountain, and from cave to cave. Nabal was a selfish man, with no sympathy for David. If he had blessings, he had them for himself.

Only four times in Scripture do we read of sheep shearing. Three of them are Genesis 38:13 (Judah), 1 Samuel 25:4 (Nabal), and 2 Samuel 13:23 (Absalom). In each case, something unpleasantly selfish is involved. Peter was not told by the Lord to "shear My sheep," but "shepherd My sheep" and "feed My sheep" (John 21:16-17).

When David heard of Nabal's sheep shearing project, he felt it was the right moment to act. He sent ten young men to him to ask for some provisions of food (v.5). Of course Nabal was under no legal obligation to David. But no doubt he ought to have felt himself under moral obligation. David instructed the young men to show Nabal the fullest respect... The message was simple and respectful. Any right-minded man would have been considerate of them.

At this point David, in the wilderness of Paran, heard that Nabal, a rich sheep owner of Maon, was shearing his sheep in Carmel. So he sent and asked for a gift, as an acknowledgment of the kindness he had shown, and the protection his men had given, to Nabal's flocks and servants in the past... Most would think such services would normally call for some payment. But far beyond that, David, through his messengers, gave the sheep owner a chance to serve the Lord's anointed during his time of trial. That message sent to Nabal tested him in a double way. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart?

This no doubt was a great trial to David. It takes, I need not say, much grace to ask a favour, especially from such a man as Nabal... it was no small humiliation for the anointed of the LORD.

Human energy is good in itself. But if it is not used in dependence upon God, Satan can and will use it against God's revealed will. To those who wait upon the Lord, divine power comes in... This, then, was the lesson David was set down to learn in this chapter of his history, and God had His own way of teaching it. In a time of need David turns to man for help, instead of to God!

His serious fault was pretended ignorance of the divine purposes, and of who David was... His heart was not interested in what God had already done for Israel, nor in the blessing yet in store for His people. Selfishness had closed his heart against the stranger. He was "willingly ignorant."

It is easy to claim the religion of Christ, while Christ Himself is unknown, and the cross of Christ is hated... All this is fully illustrated in Nabal. He was a mean-spirited man who had shut himself up among his luxuries and wealth. He cared nothing for God's anointed, and felt nothing for him in the season of his painful exile.

David was in the wilderness; this was his place. Nabal was surrounded by all the comforts of life. David owed all his sorrows and hardships to what he was. Nabal owed all his possessions and pleasures to what he was.

David's grace does not stop there. Like the Lord when He was here on earth, David is depending on man for some refreshment. Yet everything belongs to him by right. And in exchange he sends peace through his messengers to the sinner, to Nabal.

When David heard of Nabal's sheep-shearing, he felt it was a good moment to send ten young men to ask him for food (v.5). Of course Nabal was under no legal obligation to David, though there is no doubt he ought to have felt himself under moral obligation. Nabal is reminded that while David's men were near his shepherds, they had protected them rather than stealing from them, as many armies would do. The message was simple and respectful, and any right-minded man would have been considerate of them.

This no doubt was a great trial to David. It takes much grace to ask a favour, and above all from a man like Nabal. Even though Nabal might be little known — and David knew well what some men in Israel were like — it was no small humiliation for the anointed of the Lord.

David did not grudge Nabal his prosperity. No doubt he felt he would not have exchanged his place for Nabal's. And it was no hard message that he sent: "I am not asking you to leave your riches and follow me. I say, Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. Only will you show kindness to me? Will you give me what I need?"… A heart in a gracious state will not grudge those around it, nor say, "See what I am, and what you are not." It will seek instead to build the link that joins it to another.

That message sent to Nabal tested him in a double way. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart?

Nabal claimed full and absolute right and control over everything God had given him in His fruitful garden ("Carmel")… God gave him an opportunity of owning His anointed, the future king, and of ministering to him — and it would not have gone unrewarded. But he had no faith. He fell short here, and failed to seize the moment, and so lost everything, even his own life… Man is only a steward, and must give account of everything to God. David asks for only a small part of what will all be at his disposal by and by… Everything depended on his estimate of the one who asked the favour.

It is easy to profess the religion of Christ while Christ Himself is unknown and His cross is hated… All of this is pictured in full by the rude, ungracious Nabal. He had shut himself up among his luxuries and wealth. He cared nothing for God's anointed, and felt nothing for him in his time of painful exile and wandering in the wilderness.

If, like the Lord when He was here on earth, he depends on man for some refreshment, he sends peace back in exchange. Everything belongs to him by rights, yet he brings this peace to the sinner, to Nabal, through his messengers: "Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have!" Did Nabal want this peace, after such obvious protection of his men and his flocks?

David was in the wilderness; this was his place. Nabal was surrounded by all the comforts of life. The first owed all his sorrows and hardships to what he was. The second owed all his possessions and enjoyments to what he was.

Of course Nabal had no legal obligation to David. Yet without doubt he ought to have felt a moral one. David told the young men to show Nabal the fullest respect. They were to greet him with peace toward himself, his house and all that he had… The message was simple and respectful, and any right-minded man would have been considerate of them.

This was no doubt a great trial to David. It takes much grace to ask a favour, above all from a man like Nabal. David may have been little known, and he knew well what some men in Israel were like. Even so, it was no small humiliation for the anointed of the Lord.

David was in need — here was another who was not in need… David did not grudge him his prosperity. He surely felt he would not have swapped his place for Nabal's. It was no hard message that he sent… David's heart was large enough to have rejoiced in anything that would have joined Nabal's place to his own. And so it always is. When a believer's heart is in a gracious state, there will be no grudging of those around, and no wish to say, "See what I am, and what you are not."

Here was the secret of this worldly man's coldness of heart: he did not know him. Had he known him, it would have been a very different matter. But he knew neither who he was nor where he came from. He did not know that he was insulting the Lord's anointed. In his selfish folly he was throwing away the privilege of meeting the need of the future king of Israel.

David sends her back to her house with the peace which Nabal had not wanted, and with the assurance of his favour (vv. 6, 35). There she will patiently wait for the message of the beloved one calling her to himself.

Of course, Nabal was under no legal obligation to David, though he should have felt himself under a moral one. David's messengers are to remind him of one thing. While David and his men were near Nabal's shepherds, they protected them instead of robbing them, as many armies would do. No one was hurt, and no sheep went missing. They suggest that Nabal ask his own shepherds to confirm it. So they ask Nabal to give them whatever food he has to hand.

While hiding in the area where Nabal kept his flocks, David and his men had not intruded on his rights. Instead, they had acted as a wall. They protected his flocks from attacks by wild beasts, and from men even more savage.

Had David overstated what he and his band had done? What could the shepherds say? "Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, so long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep" (verses 15-16). Most would think that such service normally deserved repayment. But there was more to it than that. Through his messengers, David gave the flock owner a chance to serve the Lord's anointed in his time of trial. That message sent to Nabal tested him in a double way. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart?

David is the anointed of the Lord — the coming king, and the man of God's heart. Yet here he is a hunted man in the place of reproach. He hides in the caves of the earth, a needy wanderer in desert places, surrounded by a band of faithful followers who had gathered to him (1 Sam. 22:1-2). And as he wandered, he and his followers went about doing good.

David and his companions still live in the wilderness of Judah. They wait on God for the hour and the signal of their deliverance. But there David has the chance to prove himself the protector of the weak, in the face of a thousand dangers through the night watches. "They missed nothing" as long as they were with him.

This was just how Nabal acted. He took every advantage he could from David. But the moment David asked him for sympathy and help, his worldly spirit showed itself... Nabal could well understand the value of David's protection, though he cared nothing for David's person. While David's men were a wall around his possessions, he would put up with them. But once they became a burden, he rejected them and insulted them.

Applying this in a spiritual way — how the world has copied Nabal in his rude refusal of David's request! It too has its sheep-shearing, its time of gathering in rich results to which it has contributed little or nothing. It has not realized that every earthly mercy it enjoys was bought by the death of Christ, and that He has been their unseen protector and provider... We are not speaking here, of course, about the gospel. The gospel makes no claim on the sinner. It confronts him with his guilt and lost condition. It does not ask him for a present. It asks him to admit his sin and to accept the gift of God.

Nabal was under no legal obligation to David, though he certainly ought to have felt himself under moral obligation. David told the young men to show Nabal the fullest respect, greeting him with peace toward himself, his house and all that he had... So they ask Nabal to give them whatever food he has on hand. The message was simple and respectful, and any right-minded man would have been considerate of them.

Like the Lord when He was here on earth, David is depending on man for some refreshment. Yet everything belongs to him by right, and through his messengers he brings peace to the sinner, to Nabal, in exchange for this. "Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have." Does Nabal want this peace, after such clear protection of his men and his flocks? For such grace and courtesy, did David not have the right to ask for some proof of thankfulness?

This no doubt was a great trial to David. It takes much grace, I need not say, to ask a favour, especially from a man like Nabal. And little known as such a man might be — David well knew what some men in Israel were like — it was no small humiliation for the Lord's anointed.

David was in need — here was another not in need... the message he sent was not a hard one. "I do not ask you," he says, "to leave your riches and follow me... only will you show kindness to me; will you give me what I need?" The heart of David was large enough to have rejoiced in anything that would have identified Nabal's place with his.

Most would think that services like these normally called for some repayment. But David did more than that. Through his messengers he gave this sheep owner a chance to serve the Lord's anointed in his time of trial. That message tested Nabal in two ways. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart?

God gave him a chance to acknowledge His anointed, the future king, and to serve him — a chance that would not have gone unrewarded. But he had no faith. He was proved wanting here. He let the moment slip, and so lost everything, even his own life... Man is only a steward, and must give account of everything to God. David asks for just a small part of what will one day all be at his disposal... Everything depended on what Nabal thought of the one who asked the favour.

It too has its sheep-shearing, its time of gathering in rich results to which it has contributed little or nothing. It has not realized that every earthly mercy it enjoys was bought by the death of Christ, and that He has been their unseen protector and provider. He makes His claim — not a harsh nor an unjust one — that of their abundance they give freely to Him.

This was no doubt a great trial to David. It takes much grace, I need not say, to ask a favour, above all from a man like Nabal. David may have been little known, and he knew well what some men in Israel were like. Still, it was no small humiliation for the anointed of the Lord.

Like the Lord when He was here on earth, he depends on man for some refreshment. Yet everything belongs to him by right. And in exchange he sends peace to the sinner, to Nabal, through his messengers. "Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have!" (v. 6). Did Nabal want this peace, after such obvious protection of his men and his flocks?

Had David exaggerated the service that he and his band had rendered? What could the shepherds say? "The men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm... They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep" (vv. 15-16). Most would think such service called for some return. But David gave more than that. Through his messengers he offered the sheep owner a chance to serve the Lord's anointed in his time of trial. That message sent to Nabal tested him in two ways. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart?

The young men were instructed to show the fullest respect to Nabal, greeting him with peace toward himself, his house and all that he had... In view of this they ask that Nabal should give them whatever provisions he may have readily available (v. 8). The message was simple and respectful, and any right-minded man would have been considerate of them.

Nabal rejects the messengers without a second thought. He never sees that this means rejecting David himself. "The one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16). Their master had sent them to bless, and Nabal insults them (v. 14).

Here was the secret of this worldly man's estrangement of heart: he did not know him. Had he known him, it would have been a very different matter. But he neither knew who he was nor where he came from. He did not know that he was insulting the Lord's anointed. In his selfish folly he was throwing away the privilege of meeting the need of the future king of Israel.

Applying this briefly in a spiritual way, how the world has imitated Nabal in his rude refusal of David's request! It too has its sheep-shearing, its time of gathering in rich results to which it has contributed little or nothing. It has not realised that every earthly mercy it enjoys was bought by the death of Christ. He has been their unseen protector and provider... We are not speaking here, of course, of the truth of the gospel. There God makes no claim on the sinner. The gospel confronts him with his guilt and lost condition. It does not ask him for a present. It asks him to acknowledge his sin and accept the gift of God.

He claims to know nothing about David, since he asks, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?" No doubt he knew of David's great victory over the giant, and how the women had sung his praises. But he probably saw David as a man whose head his great deeds and the songs of women had turned. In his eyes David was after the throne, and so was a rebellious servant who had broken away from his master, King Saul. If he had heard any rumour that Samuel anointed David king, he plainly treated it as a matter of no interest at all.

His serious fault was pretended ignorance of God's purposes and of who David was. The pretence was plain, because his own admissions gave him away and convicted him of contempt for God. His heart had no interest in what God had already done for Israel, nor in the blessing still in store for His people. Selfishness had closed his heart against the stranger. He was "willingly ignorant." Like those Paul writes about, he "refused to have God in his knowledge." In his case it was not innocence or ignorance, but hostility.

To him, David was nothing but a runaway slave who had absconded from Saul, his master. Nabal probably knew something about the rights and wrongs of the case. He could well have known why David was away from Saul's court. He himself had likely watched the relentless hunt for David. For him, then, to speak as he did showed more than a misunderstanding. It was a deliberate refusal to recognise the rightful claims of a man who was suffering for no wrong of his own.

Nabal had claimed full and absolute right and control over everything God had given him in His fruitful garden ("Carmel"). God gave him a chance to acknowledge His anointed, the future king, and to serve him. That chance would not have gone unrewarded. But he had no faith. He was found wanting here, missed the moment, and so lost everything, even his own life. God alone has absolute right over all things. He says, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," and, "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof." Man is only a steward, and must give account of it all to God.

Who David was, and what he was, was plain to her; there was nothing mysterious about it. She knew that he fought the LORD's battles, and that no evil had been found in him all his days. What folly, then, to be against him and to bring his righteous anger on yourself... A runaway servant he was in Nabal's eyes; a man fighting the LORD's battles he was in Abigail's eyes. In this she was right. To refuse him help, then, was to take sides against God.

Later the chief men used the same words when faced with the Lord's work: "As for this man, we do not know where he comes from" (John 9:29). This is how man treated the rejected Jesus. He despises His sovereign grace. He does not grasp His power in judgment, and does not stop to think that this judgment is at the door.

It takes the clear sight of faith for anyone to see the true glory of Christ and hold to Him while He is rejected... It is hard to find anything more selfish than a heart that takes everything Jesus has to give and gives Him nothing back. "As long as I am saved, the rest doesn't matter." That is the secret thought of many a heart. Put more honestly, it would run: "If I am sure of salvation, the glory of Christ matters little."

Here was the secret of this worldly man's coldness of heart; he did not know him. Had he known him, it would have been a very different matter. But he neither knew who he was nor where he was from. He did not know that he was insulting the Lord's anointed. In his selfish folly he was throwing away the privilege of meeting the need of the future king of Israel.

Nabal probably knew something of the merits of the case. He could hardly have been unaware of why David was away from Saul's court. For him, therefore, to speak as he did showed more than a misunderstanding. It was a deliberate refusal to recognise the righteous claims of one who was suffering for no wrong of his own.

Nabal claimed full and absolute right and control over all that God had given him in His fruitful garden ("Carmel"). He spoke of it as "my bread," "my water," "my flesh," and so on. He had no faith. He missed the opportunity God gave him, and so lost everything, even his own life... God alone has absolute right over all things. He says, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine" — yes, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." Man is only a steward, and must give account of it all to God.

Nabal means "fool." He stands for the natural man, and especially for those who reject the Lord and His message of peace. His words "my bread" — "my water" — "my flesh" — "my shearers" and the whole story remind us of that other fool our Lord spoke of. He also spoke of "my barns" — "my fruits" — "my goods" (Luke 12:16-21).

Deuteronomy chapter fifteen says, "If among you, one of your brothers should become poor... you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be." Precious grace! How like God. How unlike Nabal! Grace would keep the heart wide open to every case of need. Selfishness would close it against everyone who asks. Nabal should have obeyed the word regardless of whether he knew David. But his selfishness ran too deep to allow obedience to the Lord's word, or love to the Lord's anointed.

That message sent to Nabal tested him in two ways. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart? His words are an index to his mind... God's interests on earth at that time meant nothing to Nabal. He lost his chance of taking God's side in his day, and lost it forever.

We may suppose that Abigail's chances of forming a right judgment on this question were no better than Nabal's. But what a difference between them! In Nabal's eyes David was a runaway servant. In Abigail's eyes he was a man fighting the Lord's battles. In this she was right. To refuse him help, then, was to take sides against God.

It was so utterly uncalled for, so brutal, that perhaps most of us can only say we would have done what he did. But the question is not whether his resentment was natural. Was it an expression of the faith, patience and self-denial that had so beautified his life up to this time? There can be only one answer. David clearly failed here in his readiness to take his case into his own hands, rather than wait only upon God.

This was no doubt a great trial to David. It takes, I need not say, much grace to ask a favour, especially from such a man as Nabal. He might be little known — and David knew well what some men were in Israel. Even so, it was no small humiliation for the anointed of the Lord. But Nabal valued nothing of God, and hated every thought of grace, as the natural man does.

Nabal had claimed full and absolute right and control over everything God had given him in His fruitful garden ("Carmel"). He spoke of it as "my bread," "my water," "my flesh," and so on. God gave him a chance to acknowledge His anointed, the future king, and to serve Him. That chance would not have gone unrewarded. But he had no faith. He was proved wanting here, failed to seize the moment, and so lost everything, even his own life... Everything depended on his estimate of the one who asked the favour.

Though Nabal asked who David was, he was not concerned to find out, for he was intensely self-centred.

The young men return to David to report the way Nabal responded to their request (v.12). David does not think of consulting the Lord. He decides at once to retaliate against Nabal's insulting treatment, and he takes four hundred armed men with him. Nabal had not decided to kill David, as Saul had. Yet David is ready to kill Nabal, though he would not kill Saul when he had the chance. When people treat us in a proud, contemptuous way, we give way far too easily to our own feelings of outrage. We are ready to take revenge. Yet when we take these matters into our own hands, we almost always end up doing worse to the offender than he did to us.

No doubt it was deeply trying to meet such base ingratitude from a man he had guarded like a wall of defence. It stung, too, to be reproached on the very ground of the circumstances faithfulness had called him into. He was accused of breaking away from his master at the very time he was being hunted like a partridge through the mountains. All this was hard to bear. In the first outburst of feeling, David speaks words that would not stand the examination of the sanctuary. "Each of you strap on his sword." That was not quite the language we would have expected from one who had so far walked in such a meek and gentle spirit.

The flesh in David would meet the flesh in Nabal! Had such a conflict been allowed, who can tell how it would have ended? But God dealt graciously with David. He softened his heart and turned him from his purpose. He used an instrument prepared in secret and now brought forward at just the right moment.

The moral of all this is deeply instructive. It takes the clear vision of faith to discern the true glory of Christ and cling to Him in the time of His rejection. It is one thing to be a Christian, as people say, and another to confess Christ before men. Indeed, it is hard to find anything more selfish than a heart that takes all Jesus has to give and yields Him nothing in return.

No doubt it was deeply trying to meet such base ingratitude from a man he had guarded like a wall. It stung, too, to be blamed for the very situation his faithfulness had put him in. He was accused of deserting his master at the very time Saul was hunting him through the mountains like a partridge. All this was hard to bear. In that first rush of feeling, David spoke words that could not stand examination in God's presence. "Every man strap on his sword!" was not quite the language we would expect from a man who had walked so meekly and gently until then.

Saul was clearly his enemy, and a very powerful one. At Saul's hand David had lost most of the things men count dear... Nabal, the man he now deals with, is proud and stingy and insolent. But he is not an enemy in the same sense; and even if he were, he is a contemptible one by comparison. David has no reason to fear him and never supposes he has. With such a man, how easy to show the generosity that cost him so much with Saul! Yet this is exactly where David fails... he flares into a rage that would sweep every male of Nabal's house into the slaughter with him!

When people treat us in a proud, contemptuous way, we give way far too easily to our own outrage and are ready to take revenge. Yet once we take these matters into our own hands, we nearly always fall into the wrong of doing worse to the offender than he did to us.

David's sword could never have cured Nabal's selfishness, and faith would never have taken such a course. David did not act like this toward Saul; he left him wholly to God... Why did he not act this way toward Nabal? Because he was not in communion. He was off his guard, and the enemy took advantage of him. Nature will always lead us to defend ourselves and resent every injury... but the man of faith rises above all such things at once. He sees God in everything. The jealousy of Saul, the folly of Nabal — he takes it all as coming from the hand of God.

Before he received this teaching from godly Abigail, David had strapped on his sword and ordered his companions to do the same. He was running ahead of the time for vengeance. The hour of judgment had not yet struck. It would come through One greater than David. Of Him it is said: "Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O mighty one, in Your splendor and majesty" (Ps. 45:3); but as long as David was a stranger in his inheritance it was still the time of grace.

David may, in a rash moment, strap on his sword to take vengeance on his enemies. Peter, in the same spirit, will draw his sword to defend his Master. But Christ Himself, facing His enemies, says, "Put your sword back into its place." In every such picture there are these contrasts. They only show that no picture can fully set out the perfection of Jesus.

It is only a lapse, though, not the bent of his heart. In mercy God steps in to stop His servant from carrying out a vengeance that would have stayed the regret of his life. The instrument God chose is striking too — Abigail, the wife of Nabal.

This was just Nabal's way of acting. He got all the advantage he could from David. But the moment David asked for sympathy and help, his worldly spirit showed itself... Nabal could see the value of David's protection, but he cared nothing for David himself. As long as David's men were a wall around his possessions, he would tolerate them; but when they became a burden, he rejected and insulted them.

As you would expect, Nabal's conduct went directly against Scripture, and his spirit went against the spirit of its divine Author. Precious grace! How like God. How unlike Nabal! Grace would keep the heart wide open to everyone in need. Selfishness would close it against every person who asks. Nabal ought to have obeyed the word, whatever he knew about David. But his selfishness ran too deep to allow obedience to the Lord's word, or love for the Lord's anointed.

His serious fault was that he pretended not to know God's purposes, or who David was. The pretence was clear, because his own admissions gave him away and convicted him of impiety. His heart had no interest in what God had already done for Israel, nor in the blessing still in store for His people. He was "willingly ignorant," and like those Paul writes of in Romans 1:28, he "refused to have God in his knowledge." In his case it was not simplicity or ignorance, but enmity. Knowledge, however unwelcome, fixes responsibility on the soul and exposes it to judgment.

But the hand of God intervened in grace. He moved one of Nabal's young servants to tell Abigail how Nabal had treated David's servants... The servant knew people would expect David to avenge Nabal's insulting words. He saw that both Nabal and his whole household were in immediate danger. Some of the servants had tried to reason with Nabal. They found him such a son of Belial — a worthless man — that they could not speak to him.

David does not think of consulting the Lord. He decides at once to hit back at Nabal's insulting treatment, taking four hundred armed men with him... When people treat us in a proud, contemptuous way, we give way far too easily to our own outrage. We are ready to take revenge. Yet when we take these matters into our own hands, we are almost always exposed to an unrighteous reaction. We end up doing WORSE to the offender than he did to us.

She hears about her husband's folly from one of the young men. She acts at once in faith, and so without consulting her husband. Nature could only see a runaway servant in David. Faith does not look at outward circumstances. In the hunted and needy David, faith sees the coming king.

The pathway of faith sometimes looks suspicious, and what Abigail did might have seemed to an outside observer quite open to blame, whether you think of David or of her husband. But Abigail saw the will and glory of God, and where faith sees what He is doing, all questions are settled. Whatever it might look like, whatever it might cost, her mind was made up: and God vindicated her, and judged Nabal.

Had David exaggerated the service that he and his band had rendered? What could the shepherds say? "The men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything... They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep." Most would think that service like this normally calls for repayment. But David did more than that. Through his messengers he gave the rich sheep owner a chance to serve the Lord's anointed in his time of trial. That message tested Nabal in two ways. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart?

In the course of his wanderings, he, and his followers, went about doing good; for the shepherds of one Nabal have to own that David and his men "were very good to us." They protected the shepherds and their flocks night and day; so that, as long as David and his men were in their neighbourhood, they lost nothing.

While hiding in the area where Nabal kept his flocks, David and his men had not trespassed on his rights. Instead, they had acted as a wall to protect his flocks from attacks by savage beasts, and by men more savage still. So David makes a frank appeal for recognition by Nabal. Would he not give him a small portion of that which he had in such abundance?

Of course Nabal was under no legal obligation to David, though there is no doubt he ought to have felt himself under a moral one. The message reminds Nabal that while David and his men were in the same area as his shepherds, they had protected them rather than stolen from them, as many armies would do. None were hurt, and no sheep were missing. They suggest that Nabal ask his shepherds about it, to confirm it.

This was just Nabal's way of acting. He took all the advantage he could from David. But the moment David put in his claim for sympathy and help, his worldly spirit showed itself. Nabal could understand the value of David's protection well enough, though he cared nothing for David himself. As long as David's men were a wall around his possessions, he would tolerate them. But once they became a burden, he rejected them and shouted abuse at them.

It is one thing to be a Christian, as people say, and another thing to confess Christ before men. It is hard to find anything more selfish than the state of heart that takes all Jesus has to give, and gives Him nothing in return. "Provided I am saved, all the rest is unimportant." This is the secret thought of many a heart.

How has the world imitated Nabal in his churlish refusal of David's request! It too has its sheep-shearing, its time of gathering in rich results to which it has contributed little or nothing. It has not realized that every earthly mercy it enjoys was bought by the death of Christ, and that He has been their unseen protector and provider. He makes His claim — not a harsh or unjust one — that out of their abundance they give freely to Him.

Had David exaggerated the service that he and his band had given? What could the shepherds say? … Most people would think that services like these called for some repayment. But David's message did far more. Through his messengers he gave the flock owner a chance to serve the Lord's anointed in his time of trial. That message sent to Nabal tested him in two ways. Would he repay kindness, and would he care for the king after God's own heart? … God's interests on earth at that time meant nothing to Nabal. So he lost his chance to take God's side in his day, and lost it for ever.

David and his men were hiding near the place where Nabal kept his flocks. They had not trespassed on his rights. Instead, they had acted as a wall to protect his flocks from savage beasts, and from men more savage still. So David makes a frank appeal to Nabal for recognition. Would he not give him a small portion out of what he had in such abundance?

But the hand of God stepped in with grace. He moved one of Nabal's young servants to tell Abigail how Nabal had treated David's men. They had never oppressed the shepherds or taken anything from them. Instead they had acted as a wall of defence for them by night and day (v. 16). He knew people would expect David to avenge Nabal's insulting words. He saw that both Nabal and his whole household were in immediate danger. Some of the servants had clearly tried to reason with Nabal. They found him such a son of Belial — such a worthless man — that they could not speak to him.

The pathway of faith sometimes looks suspicious. To an outsider, what Abigail did might have seemed quite blameworthy — whether you think of David or of her husband. But Abigail saw the will and glory of God. Where faith sees what He is doing, all questions are settled.

This was exactly Nabal's way of acting. He took all the advantage he could from David. But the moment David made his claim for sympathy and help, his worldly spirit showed itself… Nabal could well understand the value of David's protection, though he cared nothing for David's person. As long as David's men were a wall around his possessions, he would tolerate them. But as soon as they became a burden, he rejected them and abused them.

Apply this in a spiritual way. How the world has copied Nabal in his rude refusal of David's request! It too has its sheep-shearing, its time of gathering in rich results to which it has contributed little or nothing. It has not realised that the death of Christ purchased every earthly mercy it enjoys. It has not seen that He has been their unseen protector and provider.

It takes the clear sight of faith to see the true glory of Christ, and to hold to Him in the time when He is rejected… You can hardly find a state of heart more selfish than this: taking everything Jesus has to give, and giving Him nothing in return.

But the hand of God intervened in grace. He influenced one of Nabal's young servants to tell Abigail how Nabal had treated David's servants. He knew everyone would expect David to do something to avenge Nabal's insulting words. He saw that both Nabal and all his household were in immediate danger. Some of the servants had clearly tried to reason with Nabal, but found he was such a son of Belial (a worthless man) that they could not speak to him.

The Hebrew word means 'worthless, lawless.' It is not a proper name. It stands as a picture of evil, so we read of a 'son of Belial' and a 'daughter of Belial' (Deut. 13:13; Judges 19:22; 1 Sam. 1:16; 1 Sam. 25:17, 25). In the New Testament it is set in contrast with Christ, as if it meant Satan (2 Cor. 6:15).

Nabal was a man of Belial (that is, a worthless fellow). As his name was, so was he; Nabal (that is, a fool) was he, and folly was with him.

God gave him a chance to own His anointed, the future king, and to serve him — a chance that would not have gone unrewarded. But he had no faith. He was tested here and found wanting. He failed to take the opportunity, and so lost everything, even his own life... Everything depended on what he thought of the one who asked the favour. Blind to this, Nabal laid himself open to God's righteous judgment. But the Spirit of God shows the truth to Abigail and moves her to act at once, turning away the threatened judgment from the whole household — except its guilty head, on whom destruction fell very soon after.

Nabal means "fool." He is a picture of the natural man, and especially of those who reject the Lord and His message of peace. His words — "my bread," "my water," "my flesh," "my shearers" — and the whole story remind us of that other fool our Lord spoke about. He also spoke of "my barns" - "my fruits" - "my goods" (Luke 12:16-21).

This was terrible! And David was rashly taking himself out of the place of dependence — the only happy, the only holy place. Nor was it on behalf of the congregation of the Lord. No, it was to avenge himself on one who had treated him badly. Sad mistake! It was a happy thing for him that there was an Abigail in Nabal's house. God was about to use her to keep David from answering a fool according to his folly. This was just what the enemy wanted. Satan used Nabal's selfishness to trap David, and Abigail was the Lord's instrument to deliver him.

Now Abigail's opportunity had come. Would she use it? Or would she hide behind her husband, let the precious moments pass, and so be caught in the destruction that Nabal in his folly was inviting? She had only a short time to decide. Putting it off for a day would have been fatal.

The path of faith sometimes looks suspicious. To an outsider, what Abigail did might have seemed worth blaming, whether you think of David or of her husband. But Abigail saw the will and glory of God, and where faith sees what He is doing, every question is settled. Whatever it might look like, whatever it might cost, her mind was made up. God vindicated her, and judged Nabal.

She learns that "evil is determined" against Nabal and against his whole household. At once she prepares everything her husband had refused David, and much more besides, without holding back. Then she goes quickly to meet him. Oh, that souls who have heard that evil is decided against them might do the same. There is no time to lose: haste is essential; the avenger is already on His way. When someone receives the announcement of judgment as testimony from God, he hurries to escape it. This is faith. The only way out is to go and meet the One who is coming to judge. Abigail had one fear only: that she might not reach David before his sword was drawn. She knew that then it would be too late. But she had no fear about how the meeting would end, because she knew the character of the man she was going to speak to.

Now came Abigail's opportunity. Would she use it? Or would she hide behind her husband and let the precious moments pass? Then she too would be caught up in the destruction that Nabal in his folly was inviting. She had only a short time to decide, and putting it off for a day would have been fatal.

The pathway of faith sometimes looks suspicious. What Abigail did might have seemed open to criticism from the outside, whether one thinks of David or of her husband. But Abigail saw the will and glory of God, and where faith sees what He is doing, no question remains. Whatever it might seem, whatever it might cost, she had made up her mind. God vindicated her, and judged Nabal.

Abigail was a woman of action. She had large provisions made up, of bread, wine, ready dressed sheep, corn, raisins and figs (v.18). She did not tell Nabal anything about it, but took enough servants to care for the donkeys that carried the food. She did not have to go far to meet David, who with his men was on the way to attack Nabal (v.20).

People made figs into cakes by pressing them together. 1 Sam. 25:18; 1 Sam. 30:12.

When she heard of him, she responded to his claims without a moment's hesitation. She sent him a generous offering, yet humbly admitted it was unworthy of him. She bowed before him to the ground. She looked for mercy and took her husband's guilt on herself, for she judged Nabal's conduct to be completely wrong.

The value of Abigail's service was not that she saved Nabal from David's sword. It was that she kept David from drawing the sword at all.

It was well that Nabal had a wise wife. One of Nabal's servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, what had happened, and that David was on the warpath. Abigail acted at once to put things right. To refer the matter to Nabal would have been a waste of time. Without asking her husband, she prepared a large supply of good food for David and his men. She went to meet him before David could take revenge on her husband.

But the hand of God intervened in grace. He influenced one of Nabal's young servants to tell Abigail how Nabal had treated David's servants. David's men had not oppressed Nabal's people or taken anything from them. They had been a wall of defence for them by night and day. He knew people would expect David to avenge Nabal's insulting words. He saw that both Nabal and his whole household were in immediate danger.

She hears about her husband's folly from one of the young men. She acts at once in faith, and so without consulting her husband. Nature could only see a runaway servant in David. Faith does not look at mere outward circumstances. It sees the coming king in the hunted and needy David. So she takes her place as a subject of the king, and acts with the deference that is fitting in the presence of a king.

The pathway of faith sometimes looks suspicious. To someone looking on from outside, what Abigail did might have seemed quite open to blame, whether one thinks of David or of her husband. But Abigail saw the will and glory of God. Where faith sees what He is doing, all questions are settled. Whatever it might seem, whatever it might cost, she had made up her mind. God vindicated her, and judged Nabal.

Abigail was a woman of action. She did not tell Nabal anything about it, but took enough servants to care for the donkeys that carried the food. She did not have to go far to meet David, who with his men was on the way to attack Nabal. He had given himself no time to calm down before acting.

He lost his opportunity of taking God's side in his day, and lost it for ever. Has Nabal had no successors? Has he no representatives on earth today?

Now, however, came Abigail's opportunity; would she use it? Or would she hide behind her lord and let the precious moments pass? That would leave her caught up in the destruction which Nabal was inviting by his folly. She had only a short time to decide; putting it off for a day would have been fatal.

Sad mistake! It was a happy thing for him that there was an Abigail in the house of Nabal. God was about to use her to keep him from answering a fool according to his folly. This was just what the enemy wanted. Satan used Nabal's selfishness to trap David, and Abigail was the Lord's instrument to deliver him.

This was terrible! And David was rashly taking himself out of the place of dependence — the only happy, the only holy place. Nor was it on behalf of the congregation of the Lord. No, it was to avenge himself on one who had treated him badly. Sad mistake!

It was deeply trying to meet such base ingratitude from a man to whom he had been a wall of defence. It stung, too, to be reproached on the very ground of the circumstances that faithfulness had put him in. He was accused of running away from his master. And this at the very time when he was being hunted like a partridge through the mountains. All this was hard to bear. In the first outburst of feeling, David speaks words that would not stand up to examination in the sanctuary. "Every man strap on his sword!" That was not the language we would expect from a man who had walked until now in such a meek and gentle spirit. Scripture gives the poor brother his resource: to cry to the Lord, not to draw his sword for revenge.

He had given himself no time to calm down before acting. Verse 21 tells us what he had said. He said it was useless for him to have shown kindness to Nabal's men and possessions in the wilderness. Nabal had only returned him evil for good. He was forgetting that he himself had returned good for evil to Saul. And now he had another opportunity to do the same to Nabal.

David has no cause whatever to fear him, nor does he for a moment suppose he has. With such a man, how easy to show the generosity that, in Saul's case, cost so much to show! Yet it is precisely here that David fails entirely... Can this be the same man we have just been admiring for his noble control and self-forgetfulness? It is the same, and not the same. It is David, no longer under the control of the presence of God... Is there, then, a Saul living even beneath a David? Is it ready to show itself as soon as the guard on it is removed, unchanged from what it was before faith came? Yes, it is even so. Our best remedy is to be conscious of it, so that we realize how completely we depend on God at all times.

When the soul is out of communion, it gets distracted by secondary causes and lesser agents. That is what happened to David when he looked at Nabal. If he had paused to look at the matter calmly before God, we would never have had these words: "In vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness." He would have passed on and left "this fellow" to himself.

This is only a lapse, however, and not the bent of his heart. God mercifully steps in. He keeps His servant from carrying out a vengeance that would have remained the regret of his life. The instrument God chose is striking — Abigail, the wife of Nabal.

Only ten days later God took away Nabal's life (v.38). What control then did he have over all those things he had called his own (v.11)? We are certainly reminded here of God's words, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Romans 12:19).

He had given himself no time to calm down before acting. In verse 21 he says that his kindness to Nabal's men and property in the wilderness was wasted, for Nabal had only returned him evil for good. He was forgetting that he himself had returned good for evil to Saul. Then he used God's name to call down vengeance on the enemies of David. He declared that he would not leave one male alive in all of Nabal's household. We would expect him to make only Nabal suffer for his insulting words. But his temper would not let him make any distinction.

David never thought of asking the Lord. He decided at once to strike back at Nabal's insulting treatment, and he took four hundred armed men with him. Nabal had not set out to kill David, as Saul had. Yet David is ready to kill Nabal, though he would not kill Saul when he had the chance. When people treat us with contempt, we give way far too easily to our own outrage, and we are ready to take revenge. Yet when we take these matters into our own hands, we are nearly always in danger of an unrighteous reaction. We do WORSE to the offender than he did to us.

Nabal's answer to David's messengers was surely meant to stir up any hidden resentment David may have had. It was so uncalled for, so brutal, that most of us can only say we would probably have done the same. But the question is not whether his resentment was natural. Was it an expression of the faith, patience and self-denial that had made his life so beautiful until now? There can be only one answer. David failed badly here. He was ready to take his case into his own hands instead of waiting on God alone.

This is only a lapse, as we have said, and not the true bent of his heart. In mercy God steps in to stop His servant from carrying out a vengeance that would have stayed the regret of his life. The one God chose is striking too — Abigail, the wife of Nabal. God has often used the lips of a woman to call His people back to the path of faith and obedience.

She took the blessed place of intercession. David, in his anger, was just about to strike the blow. He would have avenged himself with his own hand, instead of leaving the case in God's hand. This would have taken away one of the most blessed features in David's character — his leaving of all things to God.

By this wise and well-timed action Abigail saved the lives of herself and her household. She also won an honoured standing in Israel. She became the chosen companion of the Lord's anointed, in hard times as well as good ones. David not only avoided the guilt of shedding innocent blood. His heart was comforted and strengthened beyond words by this proof of God's guard, care, and working on his behalf. The danger was past and his needs were met. David's heart was now so full of the goodness of the Lord that he could only worship where he had meant to fight.

Here again Abigail makes haste. She hurries to acknowledge David's lordship, his rights over her, and her own unworthiness. She begs him, and so admits that she depends on his good pleasure. More than that, by taking this attitude she, the woman of faith, admits that she is guilty. She takes on herself all the consequences of her ties to Nabal. She does not come to plead her innocence, although she knew nothing of what had happened (v. 25). In David's presence she wants only to find herself guilty. She hurries to confess it, because she knows David's grace.

What a beautiful contrast Abigail makes to both Nabal and David here! She fell on her face before David and bowed to the ground (v. 23). But the humility of her words goes further than the humility of her bow (v. 24). She tells David that she will take the blame for Nabal's evil, and she humbly asks David to hear what she has to say. Though Nabal was her husband, she would not hide the truth about his harsh character.

These words often refer in Scripture to a female slave, as applied to Hagar the Egyptian, Gen. 25:12; but they were also used by women themselves as a term of humility, as when Hannah spoke to the Lord and to Eli, 1 Sam. 1:11, 16, 18; as Abigail did to David, 1 Sam. 25:24-41; and as Mary and Elizabeth did, as handmaids of the Lord. Luke 1:38, 48.

When she learns that "evil is determined" against Nabal and against all his household, she hurries to act. She prepares everything her husband had refused David, and much more besides, holding nothing back. Then she goes quickly to meet him. Oh, that souls who have heard that evil is decided against them might do the same! There is no time to lose. Haste is essential; the avenger is already on His way… Abigail had only one fear: that she might not meet David before he drew his sword. She knew that then it would be too late. But she had no fear about the outcome of their meeting, because she knew the character of the one she would speak to.

Fitting punishment hung in the balance. All were ready to rush on Nabal and his household… What a fine witness to the power of the Spirit of grace, where the carrying out of judgment was so well deserved! She had an instinctive spiritual conviction about it. The matter was best left in the hands of Him who would deal solemnly with her guilty husband.

Abigail's service was precious not because she saved Nabal from David's sword, but because she kept David from drawing the sword at all.

Abigail serves David. More than that, she saw the God-given dignity resting on him in the middle of the sorrows of his outcast place. She meets him in a way that fits it. To her, Saul is only "a man" (v. 29). She cares so much for David's reputation that she pleads with him on that ground for her unworthy husband, identifying herself with his iniquity. And she asks one thing only: that David would remember her "when he comes into his kingdom."

We are now introduced to a man of Israel. He lives in Maon, and his possessions are in Carmel. But he is Nabal, "a fool," and he is struck down for his folly… He is, as already said, Nabal. That is the word used where it is written, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Indeed, this is what Scripture mostly connects or identifies folly with, just as Scripture also says, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

His home is at Maon, "a dwelling-place." That perhaps suggests a sense of security in earthly things. He is much like the man in Luke 12, who said, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." Indeed, God's answer to him, "Fool!" is a translation of Nabal, which means "folly." His end, too, like Nabal's, stands in solemn contrast to the luxury around him.

The Hebrew word means "worthless, lawless." It is not a proper name. Scripture uses it as a picture of evil itself, so we have "son of Belial," "daughter of Belial," and so on: Deuteronomy 13:13; Judges 19:22; 1 Samuel 1:16; 1 Samuel 25:17, 25. In the New Testament it stands in contrast to Christ, as though it meant Satan (2 Corinthians 6:15).

Nabal had claimed full and absolute right and control over everything God had given him in His fruitful garden ("Carmel"). He spoke of it as "my bread," "my water," "my flesh." God gave him a chance to own and serve His anointed, the future king, and it would not have gone unrewarded. But he had no faith. He fell short here, failed to seize the moment, and so lost everything, even his own life… God alone has absolute right over all things. Man is only a steward, and must give account of it all to God… All hangs on the person of David.

Though Nabal was her husband, she would not hide the truth about his harsh character. She plainly admits he is a man of Belial — a worthless man. She tells David that his name, Nabal, meaning "fool," described his character. She had not seen the men David sent, so she did not know until afterwards what had happened.

By taking this attitude she, the woman of faith, recognises that she is guilty. She takes on herself all the consequences of being tied to Nabal. She does not come to plead her innocence, even though she knew nothing of what had happened (v. 25). In David's presence she wants only to find herself guilty. She hurries to confess it, because she knows David's grace.

What a fine witness to the power of the Spirit of grace, where the carrying out of judgment was so richly deserved! She had the instinctive spiritual conviction that it was best left in God's hands. He would deal solemnly with her guilty husband.

In verse 26 she pleads with David on the basis that the Lord lives and that David's soul lives. Was it not clear that the Lord had sent her to hold David back? He was about to kill in order to avenge himself with his own hand. She does not excuse Nabal. She wishes that David's enemies, and all who seek his harm, would be as Nabal. What did she mean? Not that they should prosper in wealth as Nabal had done. She wanted them left in God's hands, for Him to deal with in His own way. David had left Saul in God's hands; now Nabal would be left there too. In fact, God dealt with him more quickly than David would have imagined. It seems this wise woman was speaking prophetically.

Look again at David: he was in danger, not only of failing to overcome, but of being overcome and falling into deep sin. How did he act as the servant of God, meekly bearing Nabal's taunts and cutting insults? Did he take it up in the name of God? No; it was in the spirit of his own wounded pride.

She was humble. She didn't take the credit for what she was doing. She credited it to the Lord. It was He who had restrained David and kept him from shedding Nabal's blood in revenge. David had been in grave danger. He was about to break a command of the Lord: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18).

Before receiving this teaching from the mouth of godly Abigail, David had strapped on his sword and had ordered his companions to do the same. He was getting ahead of the moment for vengeance; the hour of judgment had not yet struck; it would come through One greater than David. Of Him it is said: "Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty" (Ps. 45:3); but as long as David was a stranger in his inheritance it was still the time of grace.

It is good not to avenge ourselves. There is no indecision in her words. We need not claim a prophetic spirit for her, yet we can see — and she is not the only case — that God not only listens and hears, but also suggests when He sees fit, and confirms it perhaps far beyond anything she herself expected.

This weak woman, knowing what was appropriate to grace, becomes God's instrument to keep the greatest of His servants, the very anointed of the Lord himself, from evil. Only one Man never needed a reminder of the feelings that suited the position He had taken here on earth. He is Grace in person, the grace of God which has appeared to all men, and He never errs.

Think of the most trying things that happen to us. If we can by faith link ourselves with God, if we can see Him with us as our friend — the One who has said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord" — we shall never feel inclined to avenge ourselves. We shall think of nothing except intercession for those who have grieved and wronged us. God's present dealings are in grace and mercy. "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Nature could see nothing in David but a runaway servant. Faith does not look at outward circumstances. Faith sees the coming king in this hunted and needy man. So she takes her place as a subject of the king. She acts with the deference that is fitting in the presence of a king. She prepares her present, and when she meets David she falls at his feet, bows to the ground, and owns David as her lord. She takes sides with David against both her husband and king Saul. She admits that Nabal, though her husband and a great man in the world, is acting in a godless and foolish way, and that Saul, though the reigning king, is only a man opposing God's anointed.

These words often refer in Scripture to a female slave. They are used of Hagar the Egyptian, Genesis 25:12. But women also used them of themselves as a term of humility. Hannah spoke this way to the LORD and to Eli, 1 Samuel 1:11, 16, 18. Abigail spoke this way to David, 1 Samuel 25:24-41. Mary and Elizabeth called themselves handmaids of the Lord, Luke 1:38, 48.

She fell on her face before David and bowed to the ground (v.23). But the humility of her words goes further than her lowly posture (v.24).

She begs David to receive the supplies she has brought for the young men who followed him (v.17). She asks him to forgive her own trespass, because she was sure the Lord would make David a sure house.

Abigail ministers to David. More than that, she saw the God-given dignity that rested on him in the sorrows of his outcast place, and she meets him as that dignity deserves. She bows to the earth before his messengers, and she speaks the most perfect words a humble heart can speak — "Let your handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." (Compare John 13:5, 14.)

In Abigail we see someone who was used to correct David himself. The value of Abigail's service was not that she saved Nabal from David's sword. It was that she kept David from drawing the sword at all.

David accepted her person and her present, and left Nabal in God's hands. The next morning Abigail told Nabal the danger he had escaped, and his heart died within him. About ten days later God struck him and he died. So God avenged the insult against His servant during his rejection, and saved David from avenging himself.

Abigail hurries to acknowledge David's lordship, his rights over her, and her own unworthiness. She begs him, and so admits that she depends on his good will. More than that, by taking this place she, the woman of faith, admits that she is guilty. She takes on herself all the results of her tie to Nabal. She does not come to plead her innocence, although she had had no knowledge of what had happened. In David's presence she has no other wish but to find herself guilty, and she hastens to confess it, for she knows David's grace.

Who David was, and what he was, was all plain to her; there was nothing mysterious about it. She knew that he fought the Lord's battles, and that no evil had been found in him all his days. What folly, then, to be against him... A runaway servant he was in Nabal's eyes; one fighting the Lord's battles he was in Abigail's eyes. In this she was right. To refuse him help, then, was to take sides against God.

Abigail, in verse 28, shows the clear faith that recognised David as the king of God's choice even while he was in exile. She knew that David cared about fighting the battles of the Lord. Saul was the opposite. He thought only of fighting his own enemies — real or imagined.

She shows him the evil of taking revenge for himself. She shows the weakness and folly of the man he means to take revenge on. She reminds him of his proper work: "fighting the battles of the LORD." This must have brought home to his heart how humbling it was that Abigail met him as he rushed out to fight his own battle.

"My lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live." How could the sight of perfection in a man fail to draw her heart? Yet David, a picture of Christ, is in himself only an imperfect man. Christ would never have been in danger of seeking justice for Himself. Only the grace of God kept David back, when he had already decided to leave none of his enemies alive.

Abigail speaks of Saul as a man. The LORD, she says, will make a sure house for David. This is the insight of faith. On this point it is the truth of God's purpose, and in its fulness. Without knowing it, she was forming for herself the place of the church, in the future she was preparing for herself.

The leading point in this address is the special reference to the future. All these references to David's future blessing and glory were well suited to draw his heart away from his present grievance. The sure house, the bundle of life, and the kingdom were far better than Nabal's flocks and herds. In view of these glories, David could well afford to leave Nabal his portion, and to leave him to it.

She had seen David's true character and position. Nabal, her husband, is a worthless man — Saul, the king, is only a man. But David was fighting the battles of the Lord, and he would yet reign over Israel. When David was the chief figure before her eyes, the whole political history of her day was plain to Abigail. How plain, too, things can become now, when the Lord Jesus Christ is before the soul.

Everything Abigail says is the fruit of her communion with God's thoughts. It is not prophecy, but she knows what will happen to David because she knows what God thinks of him. Saul, the king of Israel, is in Abigail's estimation only "a man … risen up to pursue [David] and to seek [his] life." In his opposition to David, the son of Jesse, he does not even deserve to have his name mentioned.

She was right. Speaking in the power of the Spirit she says, "the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God." She sees him taken up by God intimately and for ever: this alone explains and justifies her conduct.

Returning to her husband, Abigail finds him disgracing himself at a drunken feast. When he is sober, he hears what has happened. At once "his heart died within him, and he became as a stone." About ten days later the Lord struck him. To use Abigail's own figure, he is flung aside in judgment just as a stone is slung from the middle of a sling (29, 36-38).

Notice that the leading point in this address is the special reference to the future. "The LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house." "The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God." "When the LORD shall have done to my lord," and so on; "and shall have appointed you ruler over Israel." All these references to David's future blessing and glory were well suited to draw his heart away from his present grievance. The sure house, the bundle of life, and the kingdom were far better than Nabal's flocks and herds; and in view of these glories, David could well afford to leave him to his portion, and his portion to him.

"The bundle of life" — the phrase used by the woman who confessed David's glory on the day of his humiliation — is a firm bundle, well packed and sure. It holds because the Lord Himself is in it, as He was long ago in the burning bush. In man's thoughts that bundle looks weak and despised, like a bramble bush. Yet outside its limits everything is tottering.

The love of God gathers us into the presence of God Himself. It gives the life of His Son to those dead in trespasses and sins. They have a life locked up in the Son, and nothing can touch it. Life hidden with Christ in God! If Christ Himself, up there, is my life, it links me up with Him in whom is the whole bundle of life. Why can the head never say, "I have no need of you," to the weakest member passing through the trials and sorrows of this wilderness? Because we are bound up in one bundle of life.

Everything Abigail says is the fruit of her communion with God's thoughts. It is not prophecy, but she knows what will happen to David because she knows what God thinks of him... Saul, the king of Israel, is in Abigail's estimation only "a man... risen up to pursue David and to seek his life." In his opposition to the son of Jesse he does not even deserve to have his name mentioned.

The Lord, she says, will make a sure house for David. This is the understanding that faith gives. It is the truth of God's counsels (2 Samuel 7:11), in its fullness as far as this point goes.

She knew that he fought the Lord's battles, and that no evil had been found in him all his days. What folly, then, to be against him... And she was no less clear about his future. She was sure... that he would rule by divine appointment over Israel... In Nabal's eyes he was a runaway servant; in Abigail's eyes he was a man fighting the Lord's battles.

Notice that the leading point in this address is the special reference to the future. "The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house." "The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God." "When the Lord has done to my lord... and has appointed you prince over Israel." All these references to David's future blessing and glory were well suited to draw his heart away from his present grievance. The sure house, the bundle of life, and the kingdom were far better than Nabal's flocks and herds. In view of these glories, David could well afford to leave Nabal to his portion, and his portion to him.

With wise foresight she speaks of the day he ascends the throne. On that day he would be most thankful to have no record of shedding blood without cause, and no record of taking the law into his own hands to avenge himself (v. 31). If such a blot was on his past record, it would remain a great grief to his own heart.

How sweet to see, in a dark and cloudy day, a woman of Israel whose faith lets her see clearly, and feel such concern — not only for the unstained honour of the future king of Israel, but also that his soul should be kept, simply and to the end of the trial, from what was contrary to the grace of the Lord.

The place of faith is always to look beyond present circumstances, on to the time of the end. Then we begin to see and judge things according to God. That is how it was with Abigail. When we realise our association with God, and the appointed end of glory, we shall act as she did. In the most trying things that happen to us, if by faith we can see God with us as our friend, the One who has said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord," we shall never feel inclined to avenge ourselves.

In view of that glory, and in confidence in the king, she can say, "When the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant." Those words cannot help recalling that far greater scene, when a dying thief saw in a crucified Man the Lord of glory and the King of kings... So the high-born Abigail and the low-born thief, with the same faith, look beyond the present. They act and speak in the light of the future, and the future proves their faith right.

If David had looked ahead like this to the time of his glory, he would never have thought of raising his hand to give the blow, or of shedding blood without cause. Yet we know he came close to staining his hands with the blood of the very young men who spoke so well of him to Abigail. Had he thought, "How, in the hour of my glory, will this action appear to me?" he would have been checked.

Notice that the leading point in this address is the special reference to the future. "The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house." "The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God." "When the Lord shall have done to my lord … and shall have appointed you ruler over Israel." All these references to David's future blessing and glory were well suited to draw his heart away from his present grievance. The sure house, the bundle of life, and the kingdom were far better than Nabal's flocks and herds; and in view of these glories, David could well afford to leave Nabal to his portion, and his portion to him.

She took the blessed place of intercession. David, in his anger, was about to strike the blow. He would avenge himself with his own hand instead of leaving the case in the hand of God. That would have taken away one of the most blessed features in the character of David — leaving all things to God.

How sweet to see, in the dark and cloudy day, a woman of Israel whose faith lets her see clearly and care so deeply. Her care was not only for the unstained honour of the future king of Israel. She also wanted his soul kept, in simplicity and right to the end of the trial, from what was contrary to the grace of the Lord.

Before godly Abigail taught him this, David had strapped on his sword and had ordered his companions to do the same. He was getting ahead of the moment for vengeance. The hour of judgment had not yet struck. It would come through One greater than David. Of Him it is said: "Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty" (Ps. 45:3); but as long as David was a stranger in his inheritance it was still the time of grace.

A very striking parallel may be drawn between Abigail and the criminal crucified beside Jesus. Abigail's prayer is, "When the LORD has dealt well with my lord" — that is, when David should sit on the throne of Israel — "then remember your servant." The criminal prayed, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."… David answered Abigail's request at once, and accepted her person. As soon as Nabal died, he married her. So he made her his companion in rejection while he waited for the kingdom… In both cases the answer went far beyond the prayer. And such is grace — divine grace. It loves to go beyond our desires, and to bless according to the heart of the Giver rather than according to the need we put into words.

David had no choice but to recognize that it was the Lord who had sent Abigail. He blessed God first for His great grace in this matter. Then he blesses Abigail's wise advice, and then Abigail herself. She had prevented David from carrying out his purpose of shedding blood and avenging himself with his own hand. He tells her the terrible truth: if she had not hurried to meet him, he and his men would have killed every male in Nabal's household. He stresses again that it was the Lord God of Israel who had kept him back from harming Abigail by the destruction he had planned for her household. Otherwise he would not have controlled his own temper until it was too late.

It was a remarkable thing for David to find a faith greater than his own. And yet who can doubt that, in this at least, no faith in Israel that day matched Abigail's?

Abigail, in her quiet, hidden life, stood far more in communion with the truth than David did. She was able to check the wrong feeling of even the man of faith. David was lost, as it were, in the mist of his own thoughts. Abigail brought the clear light of the truth to bear on his actions. And David owned it, and thanked God for her counsel.

Notice that the leading point in this address is the special reference to the future. All these references to David's future blessing and glory were well suited to draw his heart away from his present grievance. The sure house, the bundle of life, and the kingdom were far better than Nabal's flocks and herds. In view of these glories, David could well afford to leave Nabal to his portion, and his portion to him.

If David had looked ahead like this to the time of his glory, he would never have thought of raising his hand to give the blow, or of shedding blood without cause. Yet we know how close he came to staining his hands with the blood of the very young men who spoke so kindly of him to Abigail. Had he thought, "How will this action appear to me in the hour of my glory?" it would have stopped him.

Happy David! He has found a wife after his own heart, a wife whom he blesses and whose wisdom he blesses (v. 33), a true helper in the difficulties of his career. He blesses her for stopping him from doing evil which would have dishonoured his God. Saul had blessed the Ziphites, who had offered themselves to carry out his evil plans against David. In the name of the Lord he had hailed as deliverers the men who would have helped him make war against His anointed!

Nabal (Israel) is set aside, the one who rejected David; and Abigail becomes the wife of the despised one, while he is in the wilderness. This is not the church in the strict sense, but she stands on the principle of the church. Abigail goes to meet David before the death of Nabal: so it is with the church before the nation is judged. The faith of this woman is very remarkable.

How sweet to see, in the dark and cloudy day, a woman of Israel whom faith enables to see clearly. She felt such jealousy — not only for the unstained honour of the future king of Israel, but also for his soul. She wanted it kept free, right to the end of the trial, from what was contrary to the grace of the Lord.

This was terrible! And David was rashly taking himself out of the place of dependence — the only happy, the only holy place. Nor was it on behalf of the congregation of the Lord. No, it was to avenge himself on one who had treated him badly. Sad mistake! It was a happy thing for him that there was an Abigail in the house of Nabal. God was about to use her to keep him from answering a fool according to his folly. This was just what the enemy desired. Satan used Nabal's selfishness to trap David, and Abigail was the Lord's instrument to deliver him.

David had no alternative but to recognize that it was the Lord who had sent Abigail. He blessed God first for His great grace in this matter. Then he blesses Abigail's wise advice, and then Abigail herself. She had stopped him from carrying out his purpose of shedding blood and avenging himself with his own hand. Then he tells her the terrible truth. If she had not hurried to meet him, he and his men would have killed every male in Nabal's household.

Notice that the leading point in this address is the special reference to the future. "The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house." "The soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God." "The Lord... will have appointed you ruler over Israel." All these references to David's future blessing and glory were well suited to draw his heart away from his present grievance. The sure house, the bundle of life, and the kingdom were far better than Nabal's flocks and herds. In view of these glories, David could well afford to leave Nabal to his portion, and his portion to him.

Abigail, in her place of quiet retirement, stood much more in the place of communion with the truth than David. She was able to check the wrong feeling of even the man of faith. David was wandering, as it were, in the fog of his own thoughts. Abigail brought the clear light of the truth to bear on his actions. And David owned her counsel, and thanked God for it.

The words of the righteous Abigail reproved David. They proved an excellent oil for his head. They anointed him with a spirit of wisdom and of the fear of the Lord, and turned him away from the counsel of his heart.

The place of faith is always to look beyond present circumstances, on to the time of the end; then we begin to see and judge things according to God. So it was with Abigail... In the most trying things that happen to us, faith can associate us with God. We can see Him with us as our friend, the One who has said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." If we do, we shall never feel inclined to avenge ourselves, or think of anything except intercession for those who have grieved and wronged us. The present dealings of God are in grace and mercy... "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Abigail hurried to calm David's anger. David accepted her person and her present, and left Nabal in God's hands. The next morning, when Abigail told him the danger he had escaped, his heart died within him. About ten days later God struck him and he died. So God avenged the insult done to His servant while he was rejected, and saved him from taking revenge himself.

How good to see, in a dark and cloudy day, a woman of Israel whose faith made her see clearly and care so deeply. She cared not only that the future king of Israel keep his honour unstained. She cared that his soul be kept in simplicity, right to the end of the trial, from what was against the grace of the Lord… It was a rare thing for David to find a faith greater than his own. Yet who can doubt that, in this at least, no faith like Abigail's was seen in Israel that day?

The value of Abigail's service was not that she saved Nabal from David's sword. It was that she kept David from drawing the sword at all.

Only the grace of God keeps David, when he had already decided to leave none of his enemies alive. God uses Abigail to make him take back that decision, and to keep him from losing the character of grace that fits the Lord's anointed.

And so David blesses her. He will indeed remember her, just as she asked. Her "Remember your servant" finds an ear as ready as the "Remember me" of the converted thief much later. David sends her back to her house with the peace Nabal had not wanted, and with the assurance of his favour (vv. 6, 35). There she will patiently wait for the message of the beloved one calling her to himself.

To her, Saul is only "a man" (v. 29). She cares so much for David's good name that she pleads with him on this ground for her unworthy husband, taking his guilt as her own. She only asks to be remembered by David "when He comes into his kingdom." A crucified thief could ask the same, and it was fitting… David received Abigail's offering, listened to her voice, and accepted her person (v. 35). Ten days later Nabal died under the Lord's judgment, and David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her as his wife.

Abigail is a picture of the Church. And since David here pictures the Lord, she makes up to him, in the day of his rejection, for all he had lost in the kingdom. She is with him where even Jonathan cannot follow. She becomes his wife and shares his suffering, and later she shares his throne and glory.

Such is man! Nabal puts himself in David's place and thinks only of treating himself well. He becomes drunk and is in no condition to know anything of what awaits him. His doom is fixed.

This "harsh and evil" man (v. 3) refused to give anything. Yet we read in verse 36, "he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king." It mattered little to him that outside, the servants of David were in dire need of help. He was keeping for himself what he had, and enjoying himself with it all. But God was displeased and struck him... We should also be careful about what we keep for ourselves and what we spend on ourselves. Otherwise people may see us living like a king while the Lord's servants go without.

This is the way of the world. When an awful judgment was just about to fall on him suddenly, he was utterly insensible to his danger. Men have no conscience about the past and no fear of the future. So they throw themselves into self-indulgence, standing on the very edge of God's devastating judgment!

What a picture of a man of the world, enjoying himself and crying out that all is peace and safety while destruction hangs over him. What must Abigail have felt as she watched that? Could she have stayed quietly at home and joined in that feast?

David spared Nabal, but God was about to deal with him in His own way. He cared for none of the things happening around him. He did not understand them. Someone had interceded for him, and he was careless about it; he had received mercy, and he passed it by.

He had lost the opportunity of repaying David's kindness. Was there any regret for the past, any repentance for what he had done? There is not a trace of it... He never showed kindness to David when he had the power to do it. And he never repented of his foolishness when the chance to repent came.

Abigail returned from her meeting with David and found Nabal "very drunk," so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning the wine had gone out of him. His wife told him what had happened, and "his heart died within him, and he became as a stone." What a sad picture of a man of the world! He sank into drunkenness during the night. When morning came, terror struck him, and the arrow of death pierced him.

Abigail returned from her interview with David and found Nabal "very drunk." So she told him nothing at all, less or more, until the morning light... What a sad picture of a man of the world! Sunk in drunkenness during the night, and when the morning dawned, struck with terror, pierced by the arrow of death.

How solemnly like the crowds the enemy has lured in every age! He makes them drunk on the passing joys of a world that lies under the curse of God. That world waits for the fire of His judgment. "Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night." But the morning is near. Then the wine — a fitting symbol of this world's joy — will have all evaporated.

The foolish man had no idea this was coming, and when he heard it his heart died within him and he became as a stone (v. 37). Clearly he was so terrified that he became like a man paralysed. But fear of judgment does not save a man's soul, and it does not soften his heart to respond to God: his heart became as hard as a stone.

The next morning, when he was sober, Abigail told him of the danger she had stepped in to prevent. He was filled with fear. His heart died within him, and he became as a stone. He had lost the opportunity of repaying David's kindness. Was there any regret for the past, any repentance for what he had done? There is not a trace of it. His wife's account now gave him a chance to judge his past ways, and he neglected that too. How intensely foolish he appears. He showed no kindness to David when he had the power to do it. He did not repent of his folly when the chance came.

Man hardens himself against God by his own choice. In time God answers by hardening that heart Himself, as Judge and Ruler. Then the grace of God can no longer reach him: he becomes dead while he lives.

About God, Romans 9:18 tells us: "He hardens whomever He wills." This is the result of a man hardening his own heart. Whom does God will to harden? Those who will not repent.

His doom is fixed... He is already dead before being struck dead ten days later.

Intercession had been made for him; he was careless about it. He had received mercy, and he passed it by... But when the feast was over, his wife simply told him what had happened — a story of mercy and of grace. Yet though she told it in plain truth, it was like words of death to Nabal. It withered his heart, and "he became as a stone." The hand of God was against him.

One day this will be felt in full. People will look back at mercies they received. But they will see themselves cut off from every blessing, and from the God who gave them. This is remorse. Nothing is so painful as remorse. It is the sense that times of mercy have gone for ever, and that the person who received them is separated from God for ever.

David accepted her person and her present, and left Nabal in God's hands. The next morning, when Abigail told him the danger he had escaped, his heart died within him. About ten days later God struck him and he died. In this way God avenged the insult given to His servant while he was rejected. He also saved him from avenging himself.

Only ten days later God took away Nabal's life (v.38). What control did he then have over all those things he had called his own (v.11)? We are certainly reminded here of God's words, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Romans 12:19).

His doom is fixed. When he does learn of it, "his heart died within him, and he became as stone." He was already dead before the stroke ten days later struck him dead.

He did not show kindness to David when he had the power to do it. He did not repent of his foolish acts when the chance to repent came. Can we wonder that God at length took up the matter with him? The Lord struck him, and he died. His time of testing had ended, and his future was fixed beyond changing.

When he heard it, his heart died within him and he became as a stone (v.37). Clearly he was so terrified that he became like a man paralysed. But fear of judgment does not save a man's soul. It does not soften his heart to respond to God. Instead his heart became as hard as a stone. We are told about God in Romans 9:18: "He hardens whomever He wills." This is the result of a man hardening his own heart. Whom does God will to harden? Those who will not repent.

What a sad picture of a man of the world! He sank in drunkenness during the night. Then morning dawned, and terror struck him — the arrow of death pierced him.

Nabal did not even meet David face to face; yet the very thought of his avenging sword filled his soul with deadly fear. How much more terrible will it be to meet the gaze of a despised and rejected Jesus! Then the Abigails and the Nabals will find their places, those who had known and loved the true David, and those who had not.

The rest of the chapter sets out the judgment that fell on Nabal at once. There is no judgment so solemn as when a man falls into the hand of the living God.

People's fate hangs on this choice. Do they despise Christ today while He is rejected? Or do they value Him as God values Him and appeal to His grace, which alone can "accept their person"?

The danger was past and his needs were met. David's heart was now so full of a sense of the goodness of the Lord that he could only worship where he had thought to fight.

When David hears the news (v.39) he is afresh reminded of the great mercy of the Lord that had kept him back from the evil of avenging himself. He blessed God for taking this matter into His own capable hand. God rewarded the evil-doer himself and did not punish the men of his household, as David was ready to do.

A few days are enough to show that there is never any need for someone to avenge himself. God strikes Nabal, and his lamp of life goes out in hopeless gloom.

The rest of the chapter sets out the judgment that fell on Nabal at once. No judgment is as solemn as when a man falls into the hand of the living God.

He neither showed kindness to David when he had it in his power, nor did he repent of his follies when the chance to repent came. Can we wonder that God at last took up the matter with him? The Lord struck him, and he died. His time of testing was over, and nothing could change his future now. Nabal might have been remembered as a man who served the Lord's anointed in the days when he was hunted. Instead he stands out on the page of history as a harsh man, a worthless man, and a fool.

This request is remarkably like the one the dying thief made to the Lord Jesus. It teaches us much, especially when we remember that, as far as sight went, neither of them had anything to build a hope on. In both cases too, the answer went far beyond the request. In about ten days the Lord struck Nabal so that he died, and David took Abigail to be his wife, to suffer with him and to reign.

There is no delay. She hurries to meet the one who loves her, the king of grace. She does not wait for better times, when David's throne would be secure. She leaves everything without a thought for what she was leaving behind.

Death sets Abigail free from the chain of such a marriage. David then brings her into his own household and links her with himself. It may picture the Church — sinners who recognised our Lord in the time of His rejection. Set free from the bondage of sin, they are brought into bridal relationship with the Lord in glory.

Nabal (Israel) is set aside, the man who rejected David; and Abigail becomes the wife of the despised one while he is in the wilderness. She is not the church itself, but she stands on the principle of the church.