1 Sam. 25:14-17, 32-38 - THE POWER OF PEACE-MAKING
INTRODUCTION: Last Week, in 1 Sam. 22:6-27, we came into the story of David when he and his band of followers were moving from place to place in hiding from Saul, who plans to kill him. Saul, at this point, is willing to do anything in his power to hunt David down and kill him. Doeg, an Edomite informant, tells Saul that he saw David at Nob, meeting with Ahimelech the priest, who gave him a blessings and provisions (lies). Saul then summoned Ahimelech before him and accused him of conspiring with David, blessing him, and giving him provisions, all of which was untrue. Saul then ordered Ahimelech and all 85 of his priests to be put to death by his guards. However, the guards, who feared God more than they feared Saul, refused to kill them. Saul then ordered Doeg to do the dirty deed, and he proceed to kill all of the priests, plus every man, women, child, and animal in Nob-a complete massacre. As a whole, the chapter depicted an extreme example of what can happen to a person-a king in this case-who repeatedly refuses to repent of wrongdoing and accept responsibility for his sins. In Saul's case it turned him into a paranoid monster-a homicidal maniac.
This week, in 1 Sam. 25:14-17, 32-38, we'll cover the story of David and Abigail. The chapter opens with a report of the death of Samuel, who as a prophet and the last judge of Israel, was David's mentor. David, who will not become king for some time yet, will eventually take Samuel's place as God's major channel of blessing to the nation of Israel. One commentator suggests that, but for the intervention of Saul's kingship demanded by the people, David probably would have continued Samuel's ministry and become the first king by acclamation, and the political chaos reported in these recent chapters never would have happened. The setting for today's lesson takes place near Hebron, in the Engedi wilderness area (see map) and has a triangle of three characters: Nabal, a very wealthy landowner of the region with large flocks of sheep, his wife Abigail, and David. As we shall discover, the real champion in this story will be Abigail, not David.
BACKSTORY: We find that David and his band of followers have been encamped in Nabal's area for some time. While there, David's men have not only been friendly towards Nabal's shepherds and careful not to steal anything from them, but have been protecting them from all the marauding bandits who frequent the area. In return for this protection, David sends word to Nabal, respectfully requesting that in return for this help, that he donate some lambs as food for his men. However, when Nabal responds, he not only refuses to give food to David but denounces him as a rebel against Saul, the rightful king. Insulted and angered, David immediately set out with 400 armed men with the intention to kill Nabal and every male in his household. This is where we come into today's story.
Read 1 Sam. 24:14-17 - THE YOUNG MEN TOLD ABIGAIL, NABAL'S WIFE
14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, nor did anything go missing as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields. 16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. 17 Now then, be aware and consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him."
v. 14a: "Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he spoke to them in anger." - First, we need to see is that David has overreacted to Nabal's insult out of personal pride, and what he's planning to do-slaughter all of Nabal's men-is an obvious case of overkill, trading sin for sin.
v. 14b: "and he spoke to them in anger." - To head-off this coming disaster, one of Nabal's young shepherds runs to Nabal's wife, Abigail, to warn her of the catastrophe that's about to take place.
v. 15: "Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, nor did anything go missing as long as we went with them, while we were in the fields." - The young shepherd is careful to tell Abigail that David had been unfairly provoked by Nabal. That David and his men, though they had the power to do so, had never taken advantage of them but had always treated them with consideration.
v. 16: "They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep." - As Nabal's young shepherd continued to explain, he told Abigail that David and his men not only helped them herd the sheep but had protected them day and night from marauding bandits (like the Amalekites) that were common to that region, and in doing so, David and his men had actually done Nabal a great service by protecting his people, his land, and his livestock.
v. 17a: "Now then, be aware and consider what you should do, because harm is plotted against our master and against all his household;" - After delivering Nabal's thoughtless reply, his shepherds correctly anticipated how David would react to it: David would not accept such an insult-being called a rebel and a outlaw (in effect, a criminal) lying down-but would retaliate in force. In reality, what David was preparing to do-unwarranted mass murder-was overkill. He was in the process of responding to Nabal's sin with far more serious sins.
v. 17b: "and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him." - The shepherds, referring to Nabal as a "worthless man," knew that warning their master of this impending disaster would have been a complete waste of time. Since the word "Nabal" translates to "fool" in Hebrew, it may have been a reference to the man's character rather than his real name. In this context, a fool can be defined as a person who refuses to accept advice from others, even from God Himself. (At this juncture, we can't help but notice the parallel between Saul and Nabal: both behaving as self-absorbed, prideful men.) So here, knowing that giving a warning to Nabal would be a waste of time, the shepherds very rightly and wisely appeal to Abigail to intervene for the sake of the household.
Read 1 Sam. 25:32-35 - YOU HAVE KEPT ME THIS DAY FROM BLOODSHED
32 Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, 33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. 34 Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, there certainly would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male." 35 So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and granted your request."
NOTE: Verses 18-31 report that upon hearing the shepherd's warning, Abigail rushed home and began preparing a veritable feast for David and his men, and then, taking it with her, she set out in person to meet David and deliver an apology that set a new standard for courtesy in the OT: She fell on her face at David's feet, submitting to him as would a slave and begged him to place all blame for the insult upon her. After explaining that Nabal was a foolish and thoughtless man, she begged David to forego his planned bloodshed and to forgive her and all her men in the name of the LORD.
v. 32: "Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me," - It's apparent here that David heard the voice of the LORD behind Abigail's words, and like a breath of fresh air, it washed away David's outraged desire to seek revenge against Nabal.
v. 33: and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. In response to Abigail's humble plea, David blesses "the LORD God of Israel" for this woman's gracious discernment and for her words of godly wisdom. We should notice the contrast this sets up between David and Nabal: Nabal, who refused to listen to anyone, compared to David, who drops everything he's doing to and take the time to listen to the words of a wise woman who was a complete stranger to him. David openly admits that Abigail's words of godly wisdom prevented him from sinning by committing "bloodshed" out of a personal and prideful desire to seek revenge against Nabal, a foolish and stupid man.
v. 34: "Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, there certainly would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male." - In verse 22 (skipped), David, out of anger, had made a vow to exterminate Nabal and every male in his household, and giving it up meant breaking a vow. But for Abigail's timely intervention, David never would have broken this vow. But on a personal level, it forced him to stop and see that if you vow to do something sinful, it's better in the eyes of God to break the vow than to commit the sin. In the broader context of Israel, David's personal self-control, humility, and wisdom showed David to be far better qualified to be king of Israel than Saul.
v. 35: "So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and granted your request." - This was much more than the casual Hebrew expression of "shalam" (peace). David is promising Abigail that she and her household (Including Nabal) are now safe and secure. For himself-his own peace-David knew that he had experienced the blessing of being kept from sinning. While it's a blessing to be forgiven of sin, it's even a greater blessing to be kept back from committing the sin in the first instance.
Read 1 Sam. 25:36-38 - HIS HEART DIED WITHIN HIM
36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was cheerful within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all until the morning light. 37 But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.
v. 36: "Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was having a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was cheerful within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all until the morning light." - This verse completes the picture of Nabal as a wealthy landowner. The dissimilarity of character and behavior drawn between him, an ill-natured, greedy, and obstinate friend of the old regime, and his wife, a godly, high-minded and wise woman, is striking and illustrates yet another contrast between the leadership styles of Saul and David.
v. 37: "But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became like a stone." - After hearing Abigail's explanation of how close he had come to losing his life at David's hand, Nabal's "heart died within him so that he became like a stone." Scholars think the shock of this news caused him to have a heart attack or a stroke. He'd been such a fool that he didn't realize until that moment that he'd been just a hair's breath away from certain death at the hand of the same man who had defeated Goliath.
v. 38: "about ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died." - At the very end, David didn't need to avenge himself; God judged Nabal and did it for him.
POSTSCRIPT: Verses 39-42, which we aren't covering, report that when David learned of Nabal's death, he sent a marriage proposal to Abigail, and she returned with his messengers and became his wife. Verse 43 also reports that David had also taken (past tense?) Ahinoam as a wife, and v. 44 reports that Saul had previously given Michal, David's first wife, to another man.
APPLICATION-A Lesson in Anger Management
A man reaps what he sows (Gal. 6:7). This simple truth tells us that our conscious actions and attitudes toward conflict have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of the people around us. In today lesson, we saw three distinct examples:
• In response to David's respectful request, Nabal sowed to foolishness and insulted him.
• In response to Nabal's insult, David sowed to anger and was prepared to commit mass murder.
• In response to both adversaries, Abigail sowed to the Spirit and brought peace.
