This commentary focuses on 1 Samuel 25 and highlights the story of Abigail, a woman who intervenes to prevent David from committing murder out of anger, ultimately saving many lives. It contrasts the noble character of the prophet Samuel with the foolishness of Nabal, whose wealth does not equate to goodness. Abigail is portrayed as a wise heroine, showcasing the theme of the battle between good and evil within interpersonal relationships.

1. Commentary on 1 Samuel 25
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
The purpose of this commentary is to bring together the best thoughts of past and
present commentators and preachers. Most all of this material is available to
everyone on the internet, but it takes an enormous amount of time to find it. I am
bringing it together in one place to make it easier for students of the Word to have
access to it. I try to give credit to all of those I quote, but sometimes they do not
attach their names to their material, and so if you know the author, let me know and
I will give them credit. If anyone does not wish for their quotes to be included please
let me know and I will delete them. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com
INTRODUCTION
Would you believe a story where 400 angry warriors are on the war path
determined to kill every male in a certain community, and where the leader has
vowed to do it before a day has passed, and one woman had the power to meet them
on that war path talk them out of it, stop them, turn them around, and save all those
men? That is the story of this chapter, and never will you find a woman who was a
greater heroin in preventing a slaughter of innocent people.
This is one of the most unusual chapters in the life of David, because it is not one in
which he is the hero, for his behavior leaves much to be desired. He was about to
commit an unjust murder that would damage his career, and make him an object of
God's judgment rather than an object of his favor. But a woman came riding to his
rescue, and she becomes the only hero, or heroin of this chapter. As Constable says,
"God used a woman to avert a tragedy in Israel's history, again (cf. Judg. 4; 2 Sam.
14:2-20; 20:16-22)."
Ray Pritchard writes, "In our survey of the early years of David’s life, we have
come to a little-known episode that ought to be better known. The story of David and
Nabal and Abigail is riveting. It’s got it all. There is intrigue, injustice, conflict,
anger, revenge, attempted murder, an impassioned plea, sudden death, and
unexpected romance. All in the same chapter! It’s like an episode of Baywatch or
All My Children, except that this story is entirely true."
This chapter is the story of a woman who turned a major massacre into a wonderful

2. wedding. She stood between two angry men who were acting foolish, and by her
wisdom she saved them both, one only for a short time, but the other to reign as
king for many years.
David, Nabal and Abigail
1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and
mourned for him; and they buried him at his
home in Ramah.
1. The death of Samuel was a major event in Israel, for he was the last of the judges,
and it touched the entire nation. Saying all Israel assembled may be an
exaggeration, for that would be a crowd beyond belief, but it means that all Israel
recognized and honored Samuel, and all were in mourning for the loss of this great
man. Two books of the Bible are named after this man, and he is on the honored list
of men of great faith in Heb. 11:32. He is one of the few great men of Israel who did
not stumble in his faith or in his deeds, for he was a loyal servant of God and his
people all the way to the grave. He never gave his worship to any idol as so many
did, and he never deceived or cheated any man. In the list of the really good guys of
the Bible he ranks right up near the top. People say nice things like this at the
funerals of people who are far from ideal, but in this case it is for real. Some
calculate that he lived ninety-eight years.
2. Clarke in his commentary cannot say enough good things about this man. He
wrote, "Samuel is supposed to have been the first who established academies or
schools for prophets, at least we do not hear of them before his time; and it is
granted that they continued till the Babylonish captivity. This was a wise institution,
and no doubt contributed much to the maintenance of pure religion, and the
prevention of idolatry among that people. Samuel reformed many abuses in the
Jewish state, and raised it to a pitch of political consequence to which it had been
long a stranger. He was very zealous for the honor of God, and supported the rights
of pure religion, of the king, and of the people, against all encroachments. He was
chief magistrate in Israel before the appointment of a king, and afterwards he acted
as prime minister to Saul, though without being chosen or formally appointed to
that station. Indeed, he seems on the whole to have been the civil and ecclesiastical
governor, Saul being little more than general of the Israelitish forces. In his office of
minister in the state, he gave the brightest example of zeal, diligence, inflexible
integrity, and uncorruptedness. He reproved both the people and the king for their
transgressions, with a boldness which nothing but his sense of the Divine authority

3. could inspire, and yet he tempered it with a sweetness which showed the interest he
felt in their welfare, and the deep and distressing concern he felt for their back-slidings
and infidelities.
He was incorrupt; he received no man's bribe; he had no pension from the state; he
enriched none of his relatives from the public purse; left no private debts to be
discharged by his country. He was among the Hebrews what Aristides is said to
have been among the Greeks, so poor at his death, though a minister of state, that he
did not leave property enough to bury him. Justice was by him duly and impartially
administered, and oppression and wrong had no existence. If there ever was a
heaven-born minister, it was Samuel; in whose public and private conduct there was
no blemish, and whose parallel cannot be found in the ancient or modern history of
any country in the universe."
3. Gill wrote, "....and buried him in his house at Ramah;
where he lived and died; not that he was buried in his house, properly so called, or
within the walls of that building wherein he dwelt; though the Greeks F13 and
Romans F14 used to bury in their own dwelling houses; hence sprung the idolatrous
worship of the Lares, or household gods; but not the Hebrews, which their laws
about uncleanness by graves would not admit of, see (Numbers 19:15,18) ; but the
meaning is, that they buried him in the place where his house was, as Ben Gersom
interprets it, at Ramah, in some field or garden belonging to it. The author of the
Cippi Hebraici says {o}, that here his father Elkanah, and his mother Hannah, and
her two sons, were buried in a vault shut up, with, monuments over it; and here,
some say F16, Samuel's bones remained, until removed by Arcadius the emperor
into Thrace; Benjamin of Tudela reports F17, that when the Christians took
Ramlah, which is Ramah, from the Mahometans, they found the grave of Samuel at
Ramah by a synagogue of the Jews, and they took him out of the grave, and carried
him to Shiloh, and there built a large temple, which is called the Samuel of Shiloh to
this day:"
Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon.
1. Samuel was David's good friend, and he was the one who anointed him king in the
place of Saul, and he was one David could run to when Saul sought to kill him, and
now that he was gone it could be that Saul would make even greater efforts to get
rid of him, and so he moves down into a desert area, which was a good place of
hiding.
2. William Taylor wrote, "But his grief for the loss of Samuel, great as it was, could
not be allowed to interfere with the taking of those precautions which were needed
to insure his own safety. Accordingly, that he might keep out of the way of Saul, he
led his men to the wilderness of Paran. This name was given to the entire tract of
country south of Judah, extending from the Dead Sea to the peninsula of Sinai and

4. the desert of Egypt ; so that in its largest sense it included the deserts of Kadesh and
Sin. Nearly all the wanderings of the children of Israel were in the great and terrible
wilderness of Paran. But in the present narrative it seems to be restricted to the
most northerly portion of this desert, lying to the west of the lower part of the Dead
Sea, where the waste changes gradually into an uninhabited pasture-land, in which,
at least in spring and autumn, many herds might feed."
2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there
at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand
goats and three thousand sheep, which he was
shearing in Carmel.
1. In contrast to Samuel who was a great man of God, yet never got rich, here we
have a man who was just the opposite, and yet he did get rich. His name was Nabal,
and he was the king of fools in the Bible. He was one of the worst men that we have
on record in God's Word, and yet he had every blessing that a man could ever
dream of having. He was rich in the wealth of the world, and on top of that he had
one of the most beautiful and intelligent wives in all the Bible. He had it all, and yet
he was a stupid and ornery man with not a drop of goodness in his mean heart. He is
one of the great paradoxes of life, for he was powerfully rich and yet pathetically
poor at the same time. He had the riches of wealth, but he lived in poverty of soul.
He had none of the riches that make a person attractive, such as goodness of
character.
2 Sheep shearing is still a task in our modern world, and this bit of trivia makes it
clear that for some people it is a way of life. "A professional shearer can shear a
sheep in less than 2 minutes and will remove the fleece in one piece. The world
record for shearing sheep is 839 lambs in 9 hours by Rodney Sutton of New Zealand
(2000) and 720 ewes in 9 hours by Darin Forde of New Zealand (1997). The most
sheep shorn in an 8 hour period manually using hand blades is 50 by Janos Marton
of Hungary (2003)" You can imagine how many hired hands Nabal had to have to
do this job with the primitive tools of that day. This is significant because David was
going to kill every male on Nabal's ranch, and we see that the number of men was
quite large. It would have been a major massacre.
3 His name was Nabal and his wife's name was
Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful

5. woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly
and mean in his dealings.
1. If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all is a
common saying, but it does not always apply, for sometimes you have to put labels
on people who are conspicuous for their folly and meanness. The Bible tells it like it
is, and here is a case in point. Nabal was just not nice. His servant called him a fool,
and his wife called him a fool, and apparently his parents did the same, for his name
means fool. He may have been a cute little fool as a baby, but he grew up to be a full
grown ugly fool who takes the prize for being the most stupid man David ever came
across. One author adds this to his reputation: "The text informs us that he is a
harsh and evil man. The Hebrew word translated as harsh has a variety of meanings
including: churlish, cruel, grievous, hard (hearted), heavy, obstinate, rough, stiff
(necked), stubborn, and trouble. Are you starting to see the picture? This man was
rotten to the core! In vs. 17, his own household says, “he is such a worthless man
that no one can speak to him.”
Then to add to the insults, the man was a Calebite, and Caleb signifies dog, and the
Septuagint implies by it that Nabal was a man with a canine disposition. He was a
doggish man, and not a nice dog, but the kind that calls for a beware sign on the
fence holding him back from a vicious attack. Some render it, "he was snappish as a
dog." Roe says, "The word "dog," is Hebrew for the cur that roams the streets and
eats garbage; a vicious, ugly, mangy beast. Nabal is a capable mangy beast. He has
acted like it. He has proven it." Pink says, "He was a descendant of Caleb, which is
mentioned here as an aggravation of his wickedness: that he should be the
degenerate plant of so noble a vine." Nabal was not just a fool in the sense of being
brainless in the way he thought, but it means he was evil in his thinking and choices.
JON D. LEVENSON wrote, "The characterization of Nabal begins with his very
name, which is, in fact, a form of character assassination. The Hebrew word nâbâl,
often translated as "fool," designates not a harmless simpleton, but rather a vicious,
materialistic, and egocentric misfit." He was the kind of fool that Isaiah spoke of in
Isa. 32:5-7,
"5 No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For the fool speaks folly,
his mind is busy with evil:
He practices ungodliness
and spreads error concerning the LORD;
the hungry he leaves empty
and from the thirsty he withholds water.
7 The scoundrel's methods are wicked,

6. he makes up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just."
1B. Henry wrote, "His family: He was of the house of Caleb, but was indeed of
another spirit. He inherited Caleb's estate; for Maon and Carmel lay near Hebron,
which was given to Caleb (Joshua 14:14,15:54,55), but he was far from inheriting
his virtues. He was a disgrace to his family, and then it was no honour to him.
Degeneranti genus opprobrium--A Good extraction is a reproach to him who
degenerates from it. The LXX., and some other ancient versions, read it
appellatively, not, He was a Calebite, but He was a dogged man, of a currish
disposition, surly and snappish, and always snarling. He was anthropos kynikos--a
man that was a cynic."
2. Talk about a mis-matched marriage, for she was everything he was not. He was a
fool, and that does not mean in Hebrew that he had a low IQ, but that he lacked the
skills necessary to get along with people, and to get them to like and appreciate
knowing him. Abigail was just that kind of person, for she could solve personal
problems and a crisis like we have in this chapter with her diplomacy and kindness.
She is liked from the moment she is met. So we have here the marriage of the jerk
and the jewel, the beauty and the beast. Constable wrote, "The contrast between
Nabal and Abigail could not be stronger. He was foolish; she was wise. He was evil;
she was good. He was repulsive; she was attractive. He was arrogant; she was
humble. He was ungodly; she was godly. He was antagonistic; she was peacemaking.
They were one of the mismatched odd couples of the books of Samuel along with
Hannah and Elkanah, and David and Michal. The rabbis considered Abigail one of
seven women in the Old Testament whom the Holy Spirit had graced unusually.
Someone else said, "We have the story of the princess who kissed the toad and he
stayed a toad." Another said, "A Proverbs 31 Woman Married to an April 1st
Man" If archaeologists could ever find Abigail's diary, they might find something
like this bedtime prayer for women.
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for a man, who's not a creep.
One who's handsome, smart and strong,
One who will love me all day long.
One who thinks before he speaks,
When he promises to call, he won't wait weeks.
I pray that he is gainfully employed,
And when I spend his cash he won't be annoyed.
One who pulls out my chair & opens my door,
massages my back & begs to do more.
Oh! Send me a man who will make love to my mind.

7. Knows just what to say when I ask, "How big is my behind?
I pray that this man will love me to no end,
And will always and ever be my best friend.
And as I kneel and pray by my bed,
I look at the Bone Head you sent me instead!!!
Women don't make fools of men.
Most of them are the do-it-yourself types.
Amen Author unknown
2B. A woman was walking along the beach when she stumbled upon a Genie's lamp.
She picked it up and rubbed it, and lo-and-behold a Genie appeared.
The amazed woman asked if she got three wishes.
The Genie said, "Nope. . . due to inflation, constant downsizing, low wages in third-world
countries, and fierce global competition, I can only grant you one wish. So. . .
what'll it be?"
The woman didn't hesitate. She said,
"I want peace in the Middle East. See this map? I want these countries to stop
fighting with each other."
The Genie looked at the map and exclaimed, "Gadzooks,lady! These countries have
been at war for thousands of years. I'm good but not THAT good! I don't think it
can be done. Make another wish."
The woman thought for a minute and said, "Well, I've never been able to find the
right man. You know, one that's considerate and fun, likes to cook and helps with
the housecleaning, is good in bed and gets along with my family, doesn't watch
sports all the time,and is faithful. That's what I wish for, a good mate."
The Genie let out a long sigh and said,"Let me see that map again!"
3. It is guys like Nabal who give the male sex a bad reputation, and make male and
husband bashing so popular. It is guys like him who lend credibility to the bad
things that women say of men, such things as-
So many men - so little aspirin.
Women are born with something men will never possess: a clue!
What should you give a man who has everything?
A woman to show him how to work it.

8. What's the difference between Big Foot and an intelligent man?
Big Foot has been spotted several times.
Why are men like guns?
Keep one around long enough, and eventually you're going to want to shoot it.
The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then
they marry him.
4. Victor yap has this valuable information compiled: "Nabal's wife, Abigail, was
more outstanding than other biblical beauties. She was one of the six Old Testament
beauties, along with Sarai (Gen 12:11), Rachel (Gen 29:17), Tamar (2 Sam 13:1,
14:27), Abishag (1 Kings 1:3) and Esther (Est 2:7), who was described as beautiful
in Hebrew with one exception: she was not just beauty, but beauty and brains.
Abigail is the only beauty in the Bible praised for her intelligence and beauty in the
same sentence or in one breath, and noted for her intelligence first and beauty
second. The Hebrew text extolled her for her good understanding. Not only was she
the first person in the Bible noted for her intelligence, she was the only known
individual with having good understanding in Hebrew (v 3), not just
understanding. She had something money cannot buy, makeup cannot provide, and
men cannot repress, and something more powerful than muscles, bodyguards, and
weapons to accompany her: brains. She was smart in the head, swift on her feet, and
sharp with her words." Someone else wrote, "Intriguingly, Hebrew narrative does
not often describe people of either gender in terms of their physical beauty. In fact,
only thirteen people are described as "good-looking" in Genesis-2 Kings with the
language employed in 2 Sam 25.30 All three of Israel's matriarchs and five of the
women in David's life are distinguished for their particular beauty. Joseph, David,
Absalom, Adoni-jah, and an unnamed Egyptian soldier are the five men noted for
their good looks."
5. How then did this prize of a woman ever wind up married to a rich jerk like
Nabal? The old commentator Trapp also asks, "But what meant her father to match
her to such an ill-conditioned churl? It is likely he married her to the wealth, not to
the man. Many a child is cast away upon riches." My own theory is that it was an
arranged marriage. Her parents saw that he was wealthy, and with little
understanding of how worthless wealth can be without love, they arranged for her
to marry him. She had little choice, and was stuck with him. She was a buried
treasure being wasted on the likes of him, and God in his providence saw a way to
rescue her and give her a life that she deserved with her beauty, intelligence, and
people skills. She had so much to thank God for in delivering her from a life of
bondage to a mean fool, and giving her the chance to serve as the wife of the king of
Israel. This was more than she was praying for, I am sure, but God thought she was
worth the bonus.
6. Pink sees a lesson here for parents to think about when they name a child. He
wrote, "What was in the heads of his parents to name a child fool? Come here you

9. little fool, or go out and play fool. Don’t you think this might have had some
influence on the way he grew up? Stupid names are a great affliction that parents
force upon innocent children. And so we have the folly of naming children
according to stupid whims of the parents." The world is full of innocent children
who have had foolish names branded on them for life, and it has led to much
embarrassment and teasing, and often leads to a loss of self esteem. How could it not
for a boy to be named fool? It was no doubt so cute and funny as a small boy, but
here we see the results. Someone wrote, "I Know of a woman who called her three
children Portia, Bentley and Mercedes... (girl-boy-girl)" Cute, but stupid.
7. Just in case you think that Nabal's parents were the only ones to do such a thing,
look at this:
Top 20 Most Unusual Celebrity Baby Names
1. Audio Science. Parent: Shannyn Sossamon
2. Blue Angel. Parent: The Edge (from U2)
3. God’iss Love Stone. Parent: Lil’ Mo
4. Heavenly Hiraana Tiger Lily. Parent: Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates.
5. Jermajesty. Parent: Jermaine Jackson
6. Kal-el. Parent: Nicholas Cage.
(Kat-el is Superman’s birthname).
7. Memphis Eve. Parent: Bono (U2)
8. Messiah Ya’majesty. Parent: T.I. (Atlanta Rapper)
9. Moxie Crimefighter. Parent: Penn Gillette
10. O’shea. Parent: Ice Cube
11. O’shun. Parent: Tamika Scott (Xscape)
O’shitt. (Sooner or later, some celeb will use this for an unplanned kid).
12. Peaches Honeyblossom. Parent: Bob Geldoff
13. Pilot Inspektor. Parent: Jason Lee
(Gee, how can I really mess up my child without doing anything illegal? GOT IT!)
14. Poppy Honey. Parent: Jamie Oliver.
15. Reign Beau. Parent: Ving Rhames.
(I would make a joke here but Ving Rhames is a big dude. Great names, sir).
16. Seven Sirius. Parents: Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000) and Erykah Badu
17. Sy’rai. Parent: Brandy
18. Starlite Melody. Parent: Marisa Berenson
19. Spec Wildhorse (son) Parent: John Cougar Mellencamp
20. Missing
"Parents are increasingly opting for unusual names to allow their children to stand
out from the crowd. Ikea, Moet, Bambi and Skylark have all been registered in
Britain in the last 12 months." Recent studies show that parents are having regrets
about the name they chose for their child, and they are changing them, and
sometimes more than just once. This has a negative impact on a child's identity, but
parents are searching for just the very best name to assure their child will be a

10. success. Much wiser are those who give a child a normal name that is easy for
everyone to love.
8. William Taylor refers to Nabal as having "Scottish habits." This is funny, for he
was afraid to let go of a few pennies compared to his fortune to help hungry men
who were a blessing to him. He was a miser, and a stingy rich man, but why call him
one with Scottish habits. It is a play on the age long joke that Scots have a hard time
letting go of their pennies, or any other coin for that matter. It has become a major
source of humor, even though it is not funny when you are on David's side dealing
with such so called Scottish habits. Some example of Scottish stinginess are these:
"The Scots have an infallible cure for sea-sickness. They lean over the side of the
ship with a ten pence coin in their teeth."
"In some Scottish restaurants they heat the knives so you can't use too much
butter."
You should be careful about stereotyping the Scots as mean. There was a recent
letter to a newspaper from an Aberdonian which said "If you print any more jokes
about mean Scotsmen I shall stop borrowing your paper."
4 While David was in the desert, he heard that
Nabal was shearing sheep.
1. This is good news to David, for he was low on provisions for his 600 men, and this
was a time when there was great joy and generosity among sheep owners. The
shearing time was a time when it became festive, for many workers were needed and
so it was a time for partying as well as working. They were bringing in the harvest
of wool that was a majoy part of their riches, and so the owners were generous in
sharing with all who helped, but having aboundance of food supplied so all could
have a good time in feasting. David knew this was the best time to ask for provisions
from those he and his men protected from robbers who would deplete their profits
by stealing their sheep. Robbers knew the best time to steal sheep was when they
had a full body of wool, and so protection was worth a lot to the owners.
5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go
up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.

11. 1. David is really optimistic here, for he sends ten young men to carry all of the
provisions he expects to receive from Nabal. Little does he know that one was even
more than enough, for they were all going to come back empty handed.
6 Say to him: 'Long life to you! Good health to you
and your household! And good health to all that is
yours!
1. What a paradox this greeting is with the soon reaction to his being rejected. Here
he wishes long life to Nabal, and a short time later he is putting on his sword to go
and end his life. Changes can happen quickly in life, for circumstances can change
so rapidly from what is hopeful to what is hopeless. David is being wise here as he
sends a greeting to wish Nabal the best in long life and health for all his household,
and all his servants. He knows you have to be kind and diplomatic when you are
seeking a handout.
7 " 'Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time.
When your shepherds were with us, we did not
mistreat them, and the whole time they were at
Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.
1. David and his men were like body guards to his flocks and servants so that no one
could rob them of the sheep in the fields. His men are reporting all of the value that
David has provided to him by protecting his servants and flocks from robbers. He
has lost nothing this season because of them. If Nabal kept records he could look
and see that in previous seasons he had a ten to twenty percent loss because of
bedoin bandits who stole from his flocks. This should make him grateful for the
service David provided, and lead to a generous gift of food.
2. Clarke, "It is most evident that David had a claim upon Nabal, for very essential
services performed to his herdmen at Carmel. He not only did them no hurt, and
took none of their flocks for the supply of his necessities, but he protected them from
the rapacity of others; they were a WALL unto us, said Nabal's servants, both by
night and day. In those times, and to the present day, wandering hordes of Arabs,
under their several chiefs, think they have a right to exact contributions of
provisions. David had done nothing of this kind, but protected them against those

12. who would."
3. Constable, "David's armed followers had been patrolling the wilderness of Paran
in Judah where Nabal's shepherds had been tending his flocks. They had made that
area safe from raiding Amalekites, Philistines, and occasional wild animals that
might have harassed Nabal's shepherds. It was only common courtesy that wealthy
Nabal would have expressed his appreciation to David by providing some food for
David's men. Sheep shearing was a happy time for shepherds and usually involved
feasting (cf. 2 Sam. 13:23-24)."
8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you.
Therefore be favorable toward my young men,
since we come at a festive time. Please give your
servants and your son David whatever you can
find for them.' "
1. "Now it’s customary, as well as honorable in days of old, that when somebody
guarded your sheep for several weeks, when sheep-shearing time came you
compensated them. Now this wasn’t mandatory, but it was an ethical thing to do. It’s
kind of like our American custom of tipping when certain services are provided,
thus it was generally expected."He refers to himself as the son of Nabal, and
humbles himself before this wealthy man who could supply him with what he and
his men needed.
2. Guzik does an excellent job of showing just how right David was, and how valid
was his request. David is clearly blameless in his dealing with Nabal. He wrote, "To
our modern ears, it might sound like David was running some kind of “protection
racket,” but that wasn’t the case at all. He performed a worthy, valuable service for
Nabal, and expects to be compensated. In fact, David “bent over backwards” to do
all this right, and make the request right. A close look shows just how right David
did in all this.
b. David did right in this, because he waited until he heard that Nabal was shearing
his sheep. David protected Nabal’s shepherds and flocks for a long time, but did not
expect to be compensated until Nabal himself made his money at the “harvest” of
sheep shearing.
c. David did right in this, because he was very polite to Nabal. He did this through
messengers (David sent ten young men) so Nabal would not be intimidated. He sent
the messengers with a greeting full of warmth and kindness (Peace be to you), so
that Nabal would not give out of fear or intimidation.

13. d. David did right in this, because he carefully and patiently gave Nabal an
“itemized receipt” for services rendered (Your shepherds were with us . . . nor was
there anything missing . . . ask your young men, and they will tell you).
e. David did right in this, because he politely reminded Nabal of the traditions of
generosity surrounding harvest and sheep shearing time (For we come on a feast
day).
f. David did right in this, because he did not demand any specific payment from
Nabal, or set a price - he simply left it up to Nabal’s generosity (Please give
whatever comes to your hand). Then, David’s messengers simply waited for the
reply.
3. Pink wrote, "The request to be presented before Nabal was one which the world
would call respectful and tactful. The salutation of peace bespoke David’s friendly
spirit. Reminder was given that, in the past, David had not only restrained his men
from molesting Nabal’s flocks, but had also protected them from the depredations
of invaders—compare verses 14-17. He might then have asked for a reward for his
services, but instead he only supplicates a favor. Surely Nabal would not refuse his
men a few victuals, for it was "a good day," a time when there was plenty to hand.
Finally David takes the place of a "son," hoping to receive some fatherly kindness
From him." " The appeal was suitably timed, courteously worded, and based upon
a weighty consideration. The request was presented not to a heathen, but to an
Israelite, to a member of his own tribe, to a descendant of Caleb; in short, to one
from whom he might reasonably expect a favorable response."
4. Henry wrote, " David, it seems, was in such distress that he would be glad to be
beholden to him, and did in effect come a begging to his door. What little reason
have we to value the wealth of this world when so great a churl as Nabal abounds
and so great a saint as David suffers want! Once before we had David begging his
bread, but then it was of Ahimelech the high priest, to whom one would not grudge
to stoop. But to send a begging to Nabal was what such a spirit as David had could
not admit without some reluctancy; yet, if Providence bring him to these straits, he
will not say that to beg he is ashamed. Yet see Psalms 37:25. "I have been young,
and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread."
He pleaded the kindness which Nabal's shepherds had received from David and his
men; and one good turn requires another. He appeals to Nabal's own servants, and
shows that when David's soldiers were quartered among Nabal's shepherds, (1.)
They did not hurt them themselves, did them no injury, gave them no disturbance,
were not a terror to them, nor took any of the lambs out of the flock. Yet,
considering the character of David's men, men in distress, and debt, and
discontented, and the scarcity of provisions in his camp, it was not without a great
deal of care and good management that they were kept from plundering. (2.) They
protected them from being hurt by others. David himself does but intimate this, for
he would not boast of his good offices: Neither was there aught missing to them, 1
Samuel 25:7. But Nabal's servants, to whom he appealed, went further (1 Samuel

14. 25:16): They were a wall unto us, both by night and day. David's soldiers were a
guard to Nabal's shepherds when the bands of the Philistines robbed the threshing-floors
(1 Samuel 23:1) and would have robbed the sheep-folds. From those
plunderers Nabal's flocks were protected by David's care, and therefore he says, Let
us find favour in thy eyes. Those that have shown kindness may justly expect to
receive kindness."
9 When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal
this message in David's name. Then they waited.
1. They waited with assurance that there was no reason to doubt Nabal would come
through with provisions for them, being filled with gratitude for their service that
made him richer than ever. They had no reason to be nervous, for what rich man
would not appreciate all they did for him?
10 Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this
David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants
are breaking away from their masters these days.
1. Brian Morgan wrote, "Nabal regards David's band of men as outlaws and
terrorists, and this proud businessman is not about to accede to their demands. His
question, "Who is David?" does not necessarily imply that he is unaware of who
David is (by now everyone knows about him), but that he considers him a nobody.
Nabal deals in big business; he has no time for beggars and gypsies."
1B. What a shock this must have been to these men who had waited in anticipation
of a generous gift. Nabal reveals himself to be a self centered jerk by saying he
knows nothing about this David guy, and his father. He then reveals that he knows
plenty, for he says many servants are breaking away from their master these days,
and this shows that he knows David is running from Saul, who is still the king.
Nabal is stupid, but he still gets the news, and he knows he is dealing with an outlaw
as far as king Saul is concerned. Nabal is saying David is a nobody to me, and I will
not give him anything. He would give no help to those who gave him no hurt, and so
they will give him hurt for giving them no help. This is what he was asking for by his
insulting language.
2. Not everyone is aware that we do have a holiday for celebrating such characters
as Nabal. Deffinbaugh wrote about it, "An atheist complained to a Christian friend,

15. “Christians have their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; and Jews
celebrate their holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur; Muslims have their
holidays. EVERY religion has its holidays. But we atheists,” he said, “have no
recognized holidays. It’s an unfair discrimination.”
“What do you mean, atheists have no holidays,” his friend replied, “People have
been observing a special day in your honor for years.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the atheist said, “When is this special day
honoring atheists?” “April first.”
3. There is a direct connection between ingratitude and being a fool. Paul points this
out in Romans 1:21, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as
God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools . . . “
11 Why should I take my bread and water, and
the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and
give it to men coming from who knows where?"
1. The real question is why should you not give to these men who saved you a good
part of your fortune? Nabal, however, asks why he should give to these men who are
coming from who knows where? He is making light of their request, and is treating
them as good for nothing bums who come begging for a handout. It is a great insult
that is equivelent to a slap in the face, which in turn demands a dual. He is telling
these men to go back and tell your boss to get lost. For some foolish reason Nabal
thinks he is invincible, and that he can treat David and his 600 man army like scum
and face no consequences. He has just dropped another step lower from stupid to
insanely stupid. The next drop is dead stupid. Insults are common among men who
joke and insult each other, but not very funny when in such a context as this. This is
what makes it funny however, for it is not funny at all, and it is so stupid that it is
funny. It is like a man shooting himself in the foot. It is serious but stupid, and so
funny.
2. Deffinbaugh has to point out here that women can also be mean spirited. Nabal is
dragging the name of the male into the dirt, and for the sake of some saving dignity
we need to see that the opposite sex can also be as low. He tells this story: "An
elderly woman decided to have her portrait painted. She told the artist, "Paint me
with diamond earrings, a diamond necklace, emerald bracelets, a ruby broach, and
gold Rolex." The artist said, "But you aren’t wearing any of those things." "I
know," she said. "It’s in case I die before my husband. I’m sure he’ll remarry right
away, and I want his new wife to go crazy looking for the jewelry."
3. Pink, "What an insulting answer to return unto so mild a request! To justify a

16. refusal he stooped to heaping insults on the head of David. It was not a total
stranger who had applied to him, for Nabal’s calling him "the son of Jesse" showed
he knew well who he was; but, absorbed with schemes of selfish acquisition he cared
not for him."
4. Deffinbaugh, "The final words of refusal Nabal speaks are noteworthy. He says to
David’s messengers, “Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I
have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?”
(verse 11, emphasis mine). If I understand Nabal’s words accurately, he is here
revealing his own arrogance and snobbery. Nabal is a “Calebite.” He comes from an
outstanding family. David and his men, on the other hand, seem to come from
obscure or unknown roots. Why should a man of Nabal’s standing give anything to
such riffraff? The irony of this is that David and Nabal come from the same root,
Judah. And if Nabal thinks he can boast that Caleb is a part of his family tree, he
should wake up and realize that he is nothing like his forefather, Caleb, yet David is
just this kind of hero."
5. Constable, "What a bigoted, stubborn, greedy grump. Nabal wasn’t just unkind
and mean, he also wasn’t very smart. His name fits him well, he is a fool. His reply is
not the type of thing you say to six hundred fighting men who are on the run for
their very lives and who have performed you a service for many weeks and now they
are starving to death and you tell them you can’t give them a little food."
6. The words of Dwight Eisenhower in a letter to his wife in 1945 would be so
appropriately applied to Nabal. He wrote, "George Patton has broken into print
again in a big way. That man is going to drive me to drink. He misses more good
opportunities to keep his mouth shut then almost anyone I ever knew."
7. It is always wise to know just who you are insulting, for your ignorance can be
costly. For example, " When the traveler entered the small-town bar, patrons were
(gathered around) watching (intently at) a presidential news conference (that was
blaring) on TV. The outsider listened (to the president's speech impatiently and
agitatedly) for a few minutes, then blurted out (in frustration in front of everybody):
"Boy, Bill Clinton sure is a horse’s rear."
Suddenly, nearly every person in the bar beat him to a pulp. Dismayed, the stranger
got up and exclaimed (to the bar's friendly bartender), "Wow, this must really be
Clinton country." "Nope (stranger)," responded the bartender. "(This is not
Clinton country, this is) Horse country. (Don't insult horses like that again)."
8. Henry wrote, " Nabal's churlish answer to this modest petition, 1 Samuel
25:10,11. One could not have imagined it possible that any man should be so very
rude and ill-conditioned as Nabal was. David called himself his son, and asked bread
and a fish, but, instead thereof, Nabal gave him a stone and a scorpion; not only
denied him, but abused him. If he had not thought fit to send him any supplies for

17. fear of Ahimelech's fate, who paid dearly for his kindness to David; yet he might
have given a civil answer, and made the denial as modest as the request was. But,
instead of that, he falls into a passion, as covetous men are apt to do when they are
asked for any thing, thinking thus to cover one sin with another, and by abusing the
poor to excuse themselves from relieving them. But God will not thus be mocked.
He speaks scornfully of David as an insignificant man, not worth taking notice of.
The Philistines could say of him, This is David the king of the land, that slew his ten
thousands (1 Samuel 21:11), yet Nabal his near neighbour, and one of the same
tribe, affects not to know him, or not to know him to be a man of any merit or
distinction: Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? He could not be ignorant
how much the country was obliged to David for his public services, but his narrow
soul thinks not of paying any part of that debt, nor so much as of acknowledging it;
he speaks of David as an inconsiderable man, obscure, and not to be regarded."
9. JON D. LEVENSON "In short, Nabal declares from the start his refusal to see in
David anything other than a brigand. His declaration, however, is immensely ironic,
although he does not know it. For he is about to find himself in the position of a
master whose slaves break away, telling their mistress of her husband's stupidity
and ethical vacuity (1 Sam 25:14-17). This defection is doubly ironic, since it is
concern for his staff which Nabal cites as the reason for his refusal to honor David's
demand (v 11). We sense here a man who is either dangerously out of touch with his
own workers or a deliberate liar, who seeks only to cover his callousness and greed
with a mantle of humanitarian motivation. Probably the narrator intends us to
believe that Nabal is both—out of touch and a liar."
12 David's men turned around and went back.
When they arrived, they reported every word.
1. Note how they report every word to David. They did not need notes, for their
memory could not forget a single word of the insult Nabal hurled at them. He
laughed in their face and dismissed them as worthless nobodies. Not a bite of my
food will be wasted on the likes of you and what's his name who leads you. We do
not have every word recorded in Scripture, for I am sure Nabal said a lot of nasty
things that burned in the minds of these messengers. They came back angry, and
they expected David to be angry too when they heard the report. They wanted anger
to enrage him so they could follow him back and teach this jerk a lesson. A man
with full pockets and an empty cranium like Nabal did not deserve to live was their
conviction.
13 David said to his men, "Put on your swords!"

18. So they put on their swords, and David put on his.
About four hundred men went up with David,
while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
1. It does not appear that David is going to sleep on this issue and wait to cool off.
He had an instant response to the insults of Nabal. Anger was in control and David
shouted "Put on your swords!" And nobody thought it meant we are going to have a
parade. They knew war had been declared. Proverbs 20:2 says, “A king’s wrath is
like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life.” Nabal is about to learn
the truth of those words. Ray Pritchard writes, "The odds are now 400 to 1 in favor
of David. It’s like killing a roach with a shotgun. Before going any further, it helps
to recall that just a few days earlier David had spared Saul in the cave near En
Gedi. If anything, David had a greater reason to kill Saul and he had the perfect
opportunity. But he didn’t. Now along comes Nabal and David is ready to snuff him
out. Nabal is the lesser man—a nobody, really—but somehow he has become the
greater irritation. David the merciful has become David the vengeful. If Abigail
hadn’t stopped him on the road, he would have killed Nabal in a bloody massacre.
He really meant to do it."
We need to recognize that nobody likes to do a job for somebody and then not get
paid what is accepted as a valid response for such work. It is one thing to choose to
do it for nothing, but when remuneration is expected it is an offense not to get it.
David was being normal in getting mad, but he went to an extreme, and he was out
of control.
1B. David Roper wrote, "Testosterone took over! "Strap on you guns," David
shouted to his companions. "Let's take this oaf out!" And he and his angry young
men set off to chasten the old fool. But David was the fool on this occasion -- his
passion was brutal and cold. Injustice takes us by surprise and arouses us to anger.
We may not be driven to kill like David, but we still feel like murdering someone.
Our passion, like David's becomes bitter and murderous." Dr. Thomas Erickson of
the National Presbyterian Church admits he has the same potential as David, and he
does so because he knows we all have it. He writes, "The same vengeful beast
crouches just under my surface, ready to spring at the slightest provocation. When a
driver cuts me off on Nebraska Avenue, I want to retaliate. When my bank credits
my thousand dollar deposit to someone else and then waits for over two months to
admit they made a mistake, I am ready to sue. When my electricity isn't restored
after a couple of days I want to picket PEPCO! I am just as prone to knee jerk
reactions as David was, and I often live to regret it.
2. We are dealing with a double shock here. First, we wonder how anyone can be so
stupid as Nabal to insult a man with a 600 man army in his back yard. Second, we
wonder how anger has such power to turn a godly man into a raging killer in

19. moments after hearing such insults. Human nature is scary, and that is the nature
all of us are stuck with, and this means we all need to keep our emotions under the
control of the mind and spirit or we too can be equally stupid or dangerous. David is
about to let this fool make a fool out of him. Jesus knew that any of us might have a
similar experience as David did here, and that is why he taught, "You have heard
that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I tell you not to resist
an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also."
(Matthew 5:38-39)
2B. William Taylor wrote, ""We have not a
syllable to say in Nabal's vindication ; 'but neither can we
utter a word in defense of David for this revengeful purpose.
This was not like him who so reined in his spirit when Saul
was in his power. It was altogether unworthy of one who
had received so many signal tokens of kindness from the
Lord. Who was Nabal, that for his rudeness he should let
himself be so disturbed? If the man was a fool, then as such
his words were beneath contempt, and it would have been
much more in harmony with the high-mindedness of the poet-hero
if he had taken no notice of his rudeness, and allowed
him to rail on. Hence his purpose to destroy Nabal's house
was as undignified as it was iniquitous. Human life is a
holy thing, and he who takes it away from pride, or passion,
or avarice, or lust, commits a foul outrage on the community,
and a grievous sin against the Lord. No matter what the
character of his victim may be, the man who takes the life of
another dishonors God and degrades the law ; and it bodes
ill for the commonwealth when deeds like these are allowed
to be done with impunity."
3. David was going to take the law into his own hands and murder a lot of innocent
people in his rage. A great injustice would have been done, as is the case in most of
the wars of history where the innocent die because of the folly of leaders who make
choices that are based on emotion rather than sound reason. It was going to be a
mass murder had he not been stopped by Abigail. The Sons of Thunder were ready
to call down fire and kill masses of innocent people. The folly of anger can affect the
lives of the best of people. How do we react to ingratitude? Jesus did not go after the
9 lepers he healed who did not even return to say thanks. It was an insult, but he did
not respond in anger, and continued to heal. Proverbs 29:11 "A stupid man gives
free reign to his anger. A wise man waits and lets it grow cool."
3B. Ray Pritchard wrote, "David was angry and with good reason, for he was being
rejected as of no value by one whom he had benefited greatly. Rejection is a key
cause for anger. Everybody hates to be rejected. It was an immediate impusle to
decide this man is going to pay whether he likes it or not, and I will go and take it all
instead of the little he could have shared with me. He was going to take their lives as

20. well as their wealth. With 400 angry and armed soldiers he could do just that with
little problem. His anger is understandable, but has he not been prevented from
doing what he was set on doing it could have hurt his future considerably."
4. Pink gives us excellent wisdom here as he writes, “Thomas Scott point out,
"David had been on his guard against anger and revenge when most badly used by
Saul, but he did not expect such reproachful language and insolent treatment from
Nabal: he was therefore wholly put off his guard; and in great indignation he
determined to avenge himself." Lay this well to heart, dear reader: a small
temptation is likely to prevail after a greater has been resisted. Why so? Because we
are less conscious of our need of God’s delivering grace. Peter was bold before the
soldiers in the Garden, but became fearful in the presence of a maid.”
5. Pink gives us more insight into our own danger as he writes about David's near
fall into folly here. He wrote, "In our last three chapters we have seen him
conducting himself with becoming mildness and magnanimity, showing mercy unto
the chief of his enemies. There we saw him resisting a sore temptation to take
matters into his own hands, and make an end of his troubles by slaying the chief of
his persecutors, when he was thoroughly in his power. But here our hero is seen in a
different light. He meets with another trial, a trial of a much milder nature, yet
instead of overcoming evil with good, he was in imminent danger of being overcome
with evil. Instead of exercising grace, he is moved with a spirit of revenge; instead of
conducting himself so that the praises of God are "shown forth" (1 Peter 2:9), only
the works of the flesh are seen. Alas, how quickly had the fine gold become dim!
How are we to account for this? And what are the lessons to be learned from it?
Is the reader surprised as he turns from the blessed picture presented in the second
half of 1 Samuel 24 and ponders the almost sordid actions of David in the very next
chapter? Is he puzzled to account for the marked lapse in the conduct of him who
had acted so splendidly toward Saul? Is he at a loss to explain David’s spiteful
attitude toward Nabal? If so, he must be woefully ignorant of his own heart, and has
yet to learn a most important lesson: that no man stands a moment longer than
divine grace upholds him. The strongest are weak as water immediately the power
of the Spirit is withdrawn; the most mature and experienced Christian acts foolishly
the moment he be left to himself; none of us has any reserve strength or wisdom in
himself to draw from: our source of sufficiency is all treasured up for us in Christ,
and as soon as communion with Him be broken, as soon as we cease looking alone to
Him for help, we are helpless.
What has just been stated above is acknowledged as true by God’s people in
general, yet many of their thoughts and conclusions are glaringly inconsistent
therewith—or why be so surprised when they hear of some eminent saint
experiencing a sad fall! The "eminent saint" is not the one who has learned to walk
alone, but he who most feels his need of leaning harder upon the "everlasting
arms." The "eminent saint" is not the one who is no longer tempted by the lusts of

21. the flesh and harassed by the assaults of Satan, but he who knows that in the flesh
there dwelleth no good thing, and that only from Christ can his "fruit" be found
(Hosea 14:8). Looked at in themselves, the "fathers" in Christ are just as frail and
feeble as the "babes" in Christ. Left to themselves, the wisest Christians have no
better judgment than has the new convert. Whether God is pleased to leave us upon
earth another year or another hundred years, all will constantly need to observe
that word, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).
6. Deffinbaugh gives us much the same insight as Pink, but with more points. He
wrote, "Alan Redpath, in his great little book, THE MAKING OF A MAN OFGOD,
said it this way... "David! David! What is wrong with you? Why, one of the most
wonderful things we've learned about you recently is your patience with Saul. You
learned to wait upon the Lord, you refused to lift your hand to touch the Lord's
anointed, although he had been your enemy for so many years. But, now look at
you! Your self-restraint has gone to pieces and a few insulting words from a fool of a
man like Nabal has made you see red! David, what's the matter?" And I believe if
these questions had been asked of David that day, David would have angrily replied,
"There's no reason why Nabal should treat me as he has. He's repaid all my
kindness with insults. It's one thing to take this from Saul...after all, he's my
superior, at least for the time being...but this fool, Nabal, must be taught a lesson."
There are several lessons we can learn from this chapter and the first one I want us
to see is this... 1) FAILURES OFTEN FOLLOW VICTORIES... This story tells us
that however long we've walked with the Lord And however long we may have
overcome temptation And however many victories we may have had...nothing
assures us that we will not fail tomorrow... The victories we win...by the grace of
God and through the power of the blood of Jesus...cannot impart to us strength for
the future. David didn't succumb to the temptation to slay Saul, but he was ready to
mount an attack against Nabal and all his men! And David would have done this
merely because he'd been insulted...and that brings us to a second lesson we can
learn from this passage: 2) A WOUNDED EGO IS A DANGEROUS
MOTIVATION... Now, think about it... David had refused to kill Saul who had tried
several times to kill him, but he was more than eager to kill the man who had merely
insulted him and wounded his ego. James would later write: "But let everyone be
quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger." Nabal was a fool. God had called
David to fight the battles against God's enemies...not the battles against the world's
fools. 3) DECISIONS MADE IN ANGER CAN BE DANGEROUS... Is it a sin to be
angry? No, but God's Word tells us "Be angry and sin not; do not let the sun go
down on your wrath." God's Word also tells us that "the anger of man does not
achieve the righteousness of God!" Anger is a human emotion. It becomes sin when
we react in improper ways and the best thing is never to make decisions when we're
angry. Angry words can't be unspoken. Angry deeds can't be undone. 4) IT'S
GOD'S PREROGATIVE TO TAKE REVENGE... "Vengeance is Mine, I will
repay,"says the Lord. If the cause is just and good and righteous, God will take
vengeance...maybe not in our timing, maybe not in our way...but it will be done

22. right and it will be done well! And the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey says) shows
us how God took vengeance on Nabal... Verses 14-17."
7. Dealing wisely with anger is a battle that life demands of all of us. After spending
3 hours enduring the long lines, rude clerks and insane regulations at the
Department of Motor Vehicles, a man stopped at a toy store to pick up a gift for his
son. He brought his selection, a baseball bat to the cash register. "Cash or charge"
the clerk asked. "Cash" the man snapped. Then apologizing for his rudeness he
explained, "I’ve spent the afternoon and the motor vehicle bureau." The clerk
sweetly asked, "Shall I gift wrap the bat or are you going back there?"
8. Robert Roe points out where David goes wrong in the first place by not seeking
the Lord's will in the matter. He wrote, "David now gets ready to go up into enemy
territory with four hundred men where he is going to run into trouble. He knows
this. He is not taking just a few men; he is taking an army just to kill one family, all
the males in one family. What has he not done here that he has almost always done
before when undertaking such a large expedition? He has not inquired of the Lord.
Why? What is David's problem? His name has been questioned. His parentage has
been questioned. He has been humiliated in front of his men and in front of all the
Nabalites. You just do not do that to David. Now he is angry. He is hostile. He has
one thing in mind and that is to save face, and he fails completely to inquire of the
Lord."
9. Dr. Thomas Erickson makes it clear that there is only one wise and noble person
in this chapter. He writes, "There are three main characters in this story, and two of
them are fools. The most obvious fool is Nabal. Nabal vehemently refuses to share
his wealth with anyone, least of all with David, even though David's army has been
protecting Nabal's flocks from predators and thieves. Nabal slanders David, denies
his request for food, and stomps off to a party where he becomes hopelessly drunk.
In the Hebrew language the literal meaning of Nabal, is fool, and a fool he is.
The other fool is David. Yes, God has chosen David to be the future king of Israel,
but election to public office (as this city surely knows) doesn't guarantee
unimpeachable behavior. So when David learns of Nabal's insult, he flies into a
foolish rage. "David said to his men, 'Every man gird on his sword!' And every man
of them girded on his sword; David also girded on his sword; and about four
hundred men went up after David" This is vengeance, pure and simple. "So, Nabal
wants to know 'Who is David?' I'll show him who David is! When I get through with
him, he'll wish he had showed a little more respect for the son of Jesse!"
The same vengeful beast crouches just under my surface, ready to spring at the
slightest provocation. When a driver cuts me off on Nebraska Avenue, I want to
retaliate. When my bank credits my thousand dollar deposit to someone else and
then waits for over two months to admit they made a mistake, I am ready to sue.
When my electricity isn't restored after a couple of days I want to picket PEPCO! I
am just as prone to knee jerk reactions as David was, and I often live to regret it.
Abigail is the only one who shows good sense. Abigail is the only one with a cool

23. head. Both leading men are hot heads out to get their way at any cost. Nabal wants
free labor and David wants respect, and without Abigail many would be dead that
day. She alone was in control and was using her brain to work out this dangerous
situation with logic and psychology."
10. Robert Roe wrote, "This is a basic principle. Have you ever noticed it? If you
return evil for evil, it puts you on the same level as the person who did you evil. I am
supposed to be a representative of Jesus Christ, and He says I am to love mankind
because He loves mankind. I am to have a totally different standard of conduct from
the world around me. Besides, only God understands the motivation of the one who
"did me evil." I have no idea of the circumstances leading to what he did to me.
Only God is able to judge and to give adequate retribution if necessary. Judgement
is the work of God."
11. David becomes an excellent example for the study of foolish and dangerous
anger, which is a danger in the lives of even the most godly of people. Below I share
some thoughts and illustrations about anger and it dangers.
"Someone said, “Anger like fire, finally dies out - but only after leaving a path of
destruction.”
"Although Alexander the Great conquered the known world, he couldn't conquer
his own temper. On one occasion, Cletus, a childhood friend and a general in
Alexander's army, became drunk and insulted the leader in front of his men.
Alexander became enraged and hurled a spear at Cletus, intending merely to scare
him. Instead, the spear killed Alexander's life-long friend. Remorse engulfed
Alexander as he assessed the destruction of his uncontrollable anger. If we don't
control our anger, it will control us!
Anyone know what I mean? Have you ever said or done anything in anger that you
wish you had not said or done? We all have! God help us to manage your tempers
for the glory of the Lord. Aristotle said, “It is easy to fly into a passion—anybody
can do that—but to be angry with the right person to the right extent and at the
right time and with the right object and in the right way—that is not easy, and it is
not everyone who can do it.” How true that is! An old Chinese proverb says, “He
who flies off handle always makes bad landing.”
That is what anger does! It takes control of the mind and turns sane men and
women into raving lunatics. Anger will cause you to say things you wouldn’t
ordinarily say. It will cause you to do things you would not ordinarily do. Anger
will make you act like a fool! Anger will make you do things that you will have to
repent of later!"
(Note: Listen to these quotes concerning anger and its effect on the mind.
Ø “A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away with him.”

24. Ø “Anger is a momentary madness.”
Ø “Anger blows out the lamp of the mind.”
Ø “The proud man hath no God; the envious man hath no neighbor; the angry
man hath not himself.”
That is the danger of anger. That is why the Bible has much to say to the believer
about controlling the temper. Listen to a few verses that touch on this issue.
Ø Ephesians 4:26 - “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your
wrath.”
Ø Psalm 37:8 – “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any
wise to do evil.”
Ø Proverbs 14:29 - “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he
that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.”
Ø Proverbs 19:11 - “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his
glory to pass over a transgression.”
Ø Ecclesiastes 7:9 – “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in
the bosom of fools.”
Ø Matthew 5:22 – “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his
brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
shall be in danger of hell fire.”
12. An unknown author, " Take a moment to consider the stress under which David
lived at that time in his life.
First, he was responsible for a community of 600 families. Perhaps you know the
stress of providing for a family. David had to provide for a “family” of thousands of
people.
Second, he was in constant danger of death, hunted by a powerful and irrational
king.
Third, being a fugitive, he couldn't settle down for long, establish a business or
employment, or build a base of repeat customers. While providing for this
community, many times he had to drop everything and start over again in a new
location.
Fourth, his strongest supporter, the prophet Samuel, had just died. Being a fugitive,

25. he wasn't even able to attend the funeral.
That's a lot of stress.
It was against this backdrop that David, expecting to receive only a few weeks worth
of food in return for valuable services provided, received nothing but insults
instead.
None of this excuses David's sinful response. But anyone who has faced stress can
sympathize with his reaction, doing something rash that he wouldn't have done in
his better moments."
13. Anger that is out of control so that you are willing, and even wanting, to do
something that you would ordinarily not dream of doing, is a form of insanity.
Many people may feel like killing their boss, but they know they would never do
such a thing. That is what David is going to do in his raging anger, however, for he
has been working for Nabal, and now that he is not getting his paycheck from the
boss, he is ready to go and kill him in revenge for cutting him off from just
remuneration for his service to Nabal. He is heading to kill his boss, and this is
insane. Chuck Swindoll writes of the situation: "Maybe David's out in the field. He's
got the fire going. He can already taste those shish kebabs, the onions and the green
peppers and the roasting mutton. But his guys show up empty-handed. Here's
where anger explodes into temporary insanity.!" The insanity is made obvious in
that David vows not just to kill his boss, but everybody who works for the boss. This
is a clear case of over-kill.
14 One of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail:
"David sent messengers from the desert to give
our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at
them.
1. Meanwhile back at the ranch a servant was telling secrets out loud. Thank God
for stool pigeons who blab about other people's business when that business can lead
to the death of many innocent people. The only way wise people can deal wisely with
a crisis is if they know what is going on, and so without this unknown servant, who
is a real hero in this story, Abigail could not have been the peacemaker she was in
saving the whole family. Wise people need knowledge and informtion in order to
take wise action. This servant knew that Nabal was a fool, but he also knew that his
wife Abigail was a wise person, and she was the only one with the authority to save
the situation. It was a major crisis and he knew that the only hope in a conflict with
two angry men was a level headed woman. He knew where to go in a crisis, for he

26. had much respect for Abigail. He knew it would be folly for him to go to Nabal and
urge him to apologize, for it would lead to him being punished. He knew the truth of
Proverbs 17:12, "Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his
folly."
2. One suspects that this was not the first time a servant had to rush to Abigail to
resolve some issue that Nabal's stubborness had created. She became quite an
expert in nagotion living with such a fool. She had to clean up mess after mess with
people that he offended. A fool like him does not just make one mess, but has a
consistent pattern of throwing a monkey wrench into human relationships.
3. The servant was forceful in his language, for he says he hurled insults at him. In
other words Nabal was radically abusive in his name calling far worse even that
what we have recorded. He was there and heard it, and so we have an eye and an
ear witness to the abusive language of Nabal. He went out of his way to be mean and
nasty.
4. Elysabath Simon has this excellent list of the good qualities of Abigail that reveal
just how close to Christlikeness an Old Testament saint can come. She wrote,
"Abigail was available:
Abigail was available to the young men in times of need. There was a little time left
but the young men did not have any difficulty to find this woman of great fortune.
She was right there at home to tend the needs of her family.
She was approachable:
Anybody in need could come and approach her without hesitation. Abigail did not
set rules preventing anybody approaching her anytime.
Abigail was a good listener:
She paid attention to her servants talking about David's men. The same servants
could not utter even a single word to her husband even though they were right in
front of him. They had to run to a great listener, a lady of wisdom to pour out their
hearts. She listened without any grudge, judgments, or any comments even when
the servants uttered harsh words against her own husband. (1Samuel 25:17).
Abigail was swift in action:
"She looketh well to the ways of our household and eateth not the bread o idleness".
(Proverbs 31:14) Abigail's comely body with a wise brain was full of energy and she
hasted to act right. She gave clear crystal direction to her servants. There was no
confusion under her leadership. Abigail made haste. (1 Samuel 18:23). She worked
with her own hands. She was determined and highly motivated to achieve peace

27. before calamity........through her wise move.
Abigail was a cheerful giver:
"She is like a merchant's ship; she bringeth her food from afar. (Proverbs 31:14)
Abigail gathered right food, meat and goodies for David and his men to fulfill their
hunger and to cheer up their hearts. Abigail possessed the properties of a good
women. She stretch out her to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the
needy (proverbs 31:20).
Abigail restrained her tongue:
When Abigail heard what has happened she did not say anything to her husband,
Nabal (19:36) she maintained serenity and silence when circumstances demanded
and utilized that time to think and act as needed. A time to keep silence and a time
to speak (Eccl 3:7).
Abigail was humble:
(V.23: 24,41) her humility is seen throughout the chapter but it reaches its zenith in
these verses. She showed obeisance to David to whom she is bringing provision. A
wife of a rich businessmen fell before David who literally owned nothing at that
time. Later she addressed herself as a servant and was ready to wash the feet of his
servants. How desirable was her humility!
Abigail spoke the words of wisdom: (V 25,26)
"She opened her mouth wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness"
(proverbs 31:26) Abigail's words of wisdom cooled down the minds and hands of
revenge seeking young men. Abigail verbalized great understanding she had about
David and the Lord God of Israel's spoken words concerning the future king.
Abigail's words were well planned and structured. She asked David indirectly to
stop seeking revenge and shedding blood. She reminded David about God's plans
and promises about him. (v 29,28) These words hit the target and bought peace and
harmony. A word fifty spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver (prov 25:11).
Abigail intercedes for her family:
Abigail did not try to twist the truth to defend her husband's position. She admitted
and accepted the truth (v. 24-25). She requested David to blame her for what has
happened. Abigail stood before David's men to plead for her family. David was
moved by her action and blessed her. The list of her qualities could be longer but it
was a pure God-given heart and willing hands which made the difference. Abigail
was a good example of what is described in Proverbs 31:29. "Many daughters
virtuously but thou excellent them all."

28. Dear sister's surely Abigail had a nature of God's own heart. Jesus was available
and approachable to the public and everybody could reach out to touch Him. Jesus
listened with compassion to the stories and moved top act without judging them. He
spoke as needed and kept silent when he had to. His words produced life, peace,
deliverance and pardon. Jesus was humble to come in a form of man to give every
thing even his own life in the prime o His youth. He still intercedes for us, He stands
between man and the most sovereign God. Abigail had many qualities of Jesus.
How much more a Christian women in this era can possess. Christ's nature with
the help of Holy Spirit preparing us for purity. "Favor is deceitful and beauty is
vain." But a woman that feareth the Lord, shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of
the hand and left her own works praise her in the gates (proverbs 31:30-31)."
15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did
not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in
the fields near them nothing was missing.
1. Here we have an eye witness defending the actions of David. He is telling Abigail
for he knows that a man like David will be offended by the way Nabal treated his
messengers, and knows that likely he will come with anger and power. His own life,
and the life of all on the ranch are at stake. She is the only hope they have for
survival, and so he praises David and his men to convince Abigail that they are good
people, and that they owe them what they seek. His persuasion does save the day,
and that is why we see there is one male hero in this chapter. This could be sexist,
however, for it is not impossible that this servant was female, and in that case, there
would be two female heroes in this chapter.
16 Night and day they were a wall around us all
the time we were herding our sheep near them.
1. This servant felt secure because of David and his men surrounding them day and
night. No one was about to try and rob them of any sheep with that kind of defense
all about them.
17 Now think it over and see what you can do,

29. because disaster is hanging over our master and
his whole household. He is such a wicked man that
no one can talk to him."
1. Nabal would not listen to anyone, and that is a sign of a fool. Any person who feels
like they never need the help and wisdom of others is a pure fool, for nobody but
God himself is so independant of the counsel and guidance of other minds. Malcome
Forbes said, "The dumbest people I know are those who know it all."
This servant knew that Abigail had a listening ear and a mind willing to seek for a
solution to the crisis. He made it clear that he knew disaster was near, and so she
had to come up with a plan quick or it would be too late.
2. This unknown servant is the key to the whole story and his wisdom changed the
course of history. He was a major person in the providence of God to pave the way
for David to become king. Had he not revealed the problem to Abigail she could
never have been the heroine she became. It is so often the little and unkown people
who become the cause for great and famous people to become what they become.
This is a common reality all through the Bible.
3. We observe that Abigail did not run to Nabal either, for she was fully aware of
what the servant said was true, that Nabal was one who would not listen to anyone,
and that included his wife. It is a common problem, and it has negative
consequences as the following story reveals. "A man is driving down a road. A
woman is driving down the same road from the opposite direction. As they pass
each other, the woman leans out the window and yells "PIG!!"
The man immediately leans out his window and yells, "WITCH!!"
They each continue on their way, and as the man rounds the next curve, he
crashes into a huge pig in the middle of the road.
MORAL OF THE STORY: If only men would listen.
4. How this servant knew that disaster was coming we are not told. He was there to
hear the insults of Nabal, and so he could have also heard the men that David sent
express how certain it is that David will retaliate when we tell him this bad news.
18 Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred
loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed
sheep, five seahs [b] of roasted grain, a hundred
cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed

30. figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
1. Here is a wise woman who becomes the heroin in this whole account. This is the
perfect story for a movie on Lifetime where the woman always comes out the winner
in the end. She was as quick to act in coolness as David was to act in hotheadedness.
She had to have a number of servants helping here with this enormous task of
loading up food for a small army, but they were all happy to help, for the word,
without a doubt, had spread to the whole ranch that they were in grave danger of a
deadly raid. No one was being lazy or slow, for speed was the name of the game for
survival. The enormous amount of food she could assemble in so short a time reveals
the abundance they had on this ranch. They had to have a large number of servants
to keep this kind of food supply handy. She did not start baking, or start butchering
sheep, but just took this already prepared food and packed it up. How many people
do you know with this amount of food in their pantry and freezer?
Haste makes waste is an old proverb. "The notion of haste being counterproductive
can be traced back at least to the apocryphal 'Book of Wisdom' (c. 190 B.C.) by
Jesus Ben Sirach, which contained the line, 'There is one that toileth and laboureth,
and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind.'" It is a valid concept, but it is
also true that the lack of haste in this context would have led Nabal and all his men
becoming waste, for they would soon be dead bodies all over the ranch. Nabal and
all the men would have been killed had Abigail not hastened to get provisions to
David. Some food may have been spoiled in the rush, but her quick action was the
salvation of many men. Proverbs are usually only totally true in specific situations,
for there are almost always exceptions to the rule.
Haste makes waste is often true,
But look at how this woman flew
To pack up her hungry man stew.
Apologies were well overdue,
And Abigail knew it was true.
So quickly she made up her menu,
And on the donkies each one she threw,
And off she rode to the rescue.
2. Dr. Thomas Erickson points out, "The fact that Abigail was able to gather so
much food so quickly shows how wealthy Nabal was. If this much food was on hand,
it makes Nabal's ungenerous reply to David all the worse." Nabal said no to David's
request, but Abigail said yes, and she is in a hurry to get the food to him. This was
her area of running the ranch, and so she could do it without her husband even
knowing it.
3. Clarke, "Now all this provision was a matter of little worth, and, had it been
granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured the
good offices of him and his men. Abigail showed both her wisdom and prudence in

31. making this provision. Out of three thousand sheep Nabal could not have missed
five; and as this claim was made only in the time of sheep-shearing, it could not have
been made more than once in the year: and it certainly was a small price for such
important services."
4. Ray Pritchard, "Knowing that David’s men were hot, tired, and hungry, she
whips up a meal for 400 angry men. The feast includes bread, wine, lamb, grain,
raisins and figs. It was an early version of Meals on Wheels. She intends to intercept
David’s men, feed them, and talk David out of killing her husband. She is also
fulfilling Proverbs 16:14, “A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man
will appease it.” Her offering of food illustrates the doctrine of propitiation, which
means to turn away wrath by the offering of a gift. We usually apply it to the death
of Christ, but it also applies to many human relationships."
5 Talk about a catering service! Here are multiple donkeys carrying a load of food
to an army in the field, and here is the woman who knows how to deal with hungry
men. She tells David to pay no attention to that worthless excuse of a man Nabal,
and deal with her as the real leader of the ranch, which she was, but her husband
never knew it. Someone came up with this outline of how she dealt with David.
HER PROVISION
HER PERSUASION
HER PASSION
HER PREDICTION
6.
She was beautiful physically
She was brilliant mentally
She was believable spiritually
She was bold emotionally
She was bright socially
7. Abigail and Jonathan have much in common in their willingness to cooperate
with David when loved ones want nothing to do with David. Jonathan risked his
father's wrath by his love for David, and Abigail risked her husband's wrath by her
yielding to David's request for food. In the providence of God the two who hated
David were the ones rejected by God, and the two who sided with David were
favored by God. This makes it clear that sometimes we need to disagree with those
we love, and even go against their will when we are convinced it is God's will to go a
different way than what they insist on as the only way to go.
8. The reason Abigail is the heroin of this story is because she had the attitude of a
peacemaker. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the
sons of God." In this case it was a daughter of God. She was Christlike in her
attitude and motivation. The proper attitude is the key to success in any endeavor.
She faced a serious crisis where many would just throw up their hands and say it is
too late to change anything now. She had an attitude of hope that it is never too late
to do the right thing and prevent a disaster. She had the attitude that evil does not

32. have to win. It may be late, but positive things can still be done, and good can win
even when it seems hopeless.
Someone wrote, "The people who make any organization grow are those with good
attitudes. Teddy Rosevelt said, "The most important single ingredient to the
formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." And John D.
Rockefeller said, "I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other
ability under the sun."
My life may touch a dozen lives
Before this day is done
Leave countless marks of good or ill
E'er sets the evening sun.
A young bride from the East followered her husband to the U.S. Army camp on
the edge of the California desert. Living conditions were primitive. The only
housing was in a run down shack near an Indian village. The heat was unbearable-
115 in the shade. The wind blew dust all over everything. The days were long and
boring. She wrote to her mother and said she was coming home. She just could not
take it anymore. In a short time she received a reply. It was a little poem that said,
"Two men looked out of prison bars, one saw mud, the other stars. She read these
lines over and over and realized she had to look up and not down, and change her
attitude. She began to look for stars.
She started to make friends among the Indians, and they taught her to weave
and make pottery. She learned of their history and culture, and she began to
appreicate the beauty of the desert. She collected cacti and shells that had been
deposited when it had been an ocean floor. She became an expert and wrote a book
about desert life. Nothing had changed. It was the same desert, but she had
changed her attitude, and the result was she saw stars, and was happy where she
saw only mud before."
19 Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll
follow you." But she did not tell her husband
Nabal.
1. There is controversy over her not telling her husband. This was a radical decision
and she should have let him know what she was doing many say. It was being
unsubmissive on her part. The realist point out that had she told him he would have
forbidden the whole project and all would have been wiped out due to his
foolishness. The salvation of the whole family on the ranch demanded that she not
tell him. He had to be kept out of the loop or he would have turned it into a noose to
hang them all. There are times when a wife cannot tell her husband everything
because he will not understand or support her purpose. In the providence of God

33. she did what had to be done to save the men. A wise woman has to know when to
keep quiet and when to share with her husband. Sometimes the best is to keep her
mouth shut and not say a word, and that was the case here. Solomon, her future
step-son, would later write it down as a proverb, but she probably taught it to him…
Prov. 23:9 "Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy
words."
2. Pink, “A servant of Nabal’s, moved by nothing higher than the instinct of self-preservation
(so far as his consciousness went), warns his mistress of their
impending danger. Now mark, secondly, her response: she did not laugh at the
servant, and tell him his fears were groundless; nor was she suddenly paralyzed by
feminine fright at the alarming tidings. No, a hidden Hand calmed her heart and
directed her mind. Accepting the warning, she acted promptly, setting out at once
with an elaborate present to placate the angry David; a present that would meet the
immediate needs of his hungry men: see verses 18, 19.
There are some who have criticized this action of Abigail’s, dwelling upon the last
clause of verse 19: "But she told not her husband Nabal." Such a criticism is a very
superficial conclusion. What Abigail did was necessary for the protection of the
family. Perceiving that Nabal’s stubbornness would ruin them all, the exigencies of
the situation fully justified her conduct. It is true she owed allegiance to her
husband, but her first and great duty was to take measures to protect their lives:
inferior interests must always be sacrificed to secure the greater—our property to
preserve our lives, our very lives to preserve our souls. As we shall see, verse 24, 28
make it clear that she acted from no disloyalty to Nabal. Nevertheless, it is an
extraordinary case which is here before us, and so not to be used as an example.
3. It should be the rule in any marriage that the one with the most knowledge and
best understanding of the situation be the one to make the decision on that
particular issue, and in this case that was clearly Abigail and not Nabal. This is
brought out in the following lines by an unknown author that tells the whole story
about her intelligence and wisdom.
"Abigail was more than the trophy that Nabal thought she was
for she knew what was going on
The proof is in what she knew that Nabal did not
for Abigail knew what was really happening
Abigail was personally aware
she understood her husband
that he was a fool who thought of no one but himself
she understood the danger he had put them in

34. what David's force could do
she knew when to act
immediately when threatened by disaster
after Nabal sobered up when she needed to talk with him
Abigail was socially aware
she ran a big household well
a banquet was put on when she was not present
she was respected by her servants
the came to her when Nabal was foolish
she was well spoken
just read her appeal to David
Abigail was politically aware
she knew who David was and who he had been
her choice of metaphor shows this
1 Samuel 25:29
she knew of his problems with Saul
her talk of his enemies shows this
1 Samuel 25:26
she knew that Samuel had anointed him King
her mention of his dynasty shows this
1 Samuel 25:28,30
Abigail was spiritually aware
she knew the Law of Moses
and who it said vengeance belonged to
she knew that David was in the wrong
to extract his own vengeance
she knew God

35. Abigail was more than just intelligent
she was also wise
watch how she deflected David's intentions
without attacking David himself or his men
Without asking for anything for herself
She took the blame
forcing David to see her as a target of his wrath
and then asked for permission to speak
She explained Nabal
telling the truth about her husband
and implying that she was responsible for the household
She called David's enemies fools
but tied this to God's existence and David's life
She offered a gift
the gift that David had asked for
but it was for David's men, not him, so it was not a bribe
She asked for forgiveness
for her own actions in not having responded sooner
She prophesied a good future for David
a future that was not common knowledge
a lasting dynasty because David fought God's battles
She prayed for a "good" life for David
empty of the wrongdoing that he was now committed to
She prophesied God's protection over David
pointing out that David did not need to avenge himself
God would bind David securely in the bundle of the living
a harvest metaphor David certainly understood

36. enemies God would hurl away as from the pocket of a sling
a shepherd metaphor with much meaning to David
She pointed out the blessing of not killing Nabal
the clear conscience that David would have
She asked for nothing for herself
but to be remembered for her wisdom
to be remembered when her prophecies came true
And David was bowled over by it all
seeing the justice and wisdom of her request
he immediately turned away from his intention
and then, when possible, he married her
for her intelligence and wisdom and not just her beauty."
4. Another unknown author give us a picture of how many wives have to be
unsubmissive to their husbands in order to fulfill the purpose of God for their
families.
"See God has bestowed upon many women the sense of being able to know what is
the right thing to do even before the full understanding can come. They sort of sense
potential danger; they have a strong common sense. As we realize sometimes
common sense is not so common. What would a lesser woman do? She would sit just
in the house and say, “I cannot do anything about it,” and just go and hide in a
corner while David comes and slaughter everyone. She could have been one of those
timid little women but she was not. Abigail had a sense of submission but there was
also a strong sense of righteousness in her. She stood firmly in the matter of
righteousness, even in the face of her husband’s wrongdoing. That can be very
difficult for a woman. I can tell you some of you men think that women just want to
go against their husbands, no. But a woman often finds herself in a difficult
situation when she has to choose between doing what is right and submitting to her
husband when she knows her husband is in the wrong. Christian women find
themselves in this dilemma since the bible talks about submission. When the
husband is wrong, the Christian wife may have a personal crisis on hand. However,
that sense of righteousness in Abigail prevailed and she secretly prepared all the
gifts for David and his men without Nabal’s knowledge.
Was she wrong? Well, it is a matter of situational ethics. She knows that if she told
her husband, her husband would say no. In the end, her husband would die, she
would die and all their servants would also perish. Where it is a matter of life and

37. death, the principles of situational ethics come into the picture. It is the principle of
choosing the lesser evil.
Many women are constantly caught in that kind of situation. Some husbands are
rather anti-Christ in their thinking and action. A Christian woman may send her
children to Sunday school under the pretext of sending them for ballet or piano
classes or some other excuses. She knows that if her husband finds out the truth, she
would be beaten up. However, she persistently does it because she has a common
sense of what is the right thing to do. In our day and age if a child grows up without
some form of moral education they have a higher chance of going astray. Many
godly women do not have godly husbands. They sneak their children to Sunday
school and come home late. The husband asks, “How come your church service
ended so late? A normal church service ends at twelve noon. Where did you go after
that?” She bears all the scolding, serves her husband, and cooks him a very nice
meal. One day God touches the husband through the little children who have been
growing in the Lord. The husband comes to know God. We all rejoice. We all praise
God. The husband comes to church, becomes active in church, and serves God.
However, let us not forget one thing. This came about because of the persistence of a
dear little wife, bullied by her big bully of her husband, constantly going against the
direct commands of the husband and seemingly contradicted God’s Word on the
matter of submission in order to see that her children grow in the Lord. Finally,
everybody say, “How wonderful is this family.” But they forgot the person who did
all the work, who took all the bruises and all was not in vain. The bruises and hurt
heal with time. Let us not forget the bravery of many women who have made
tremendous sacrifices to win their entire family to the Lord. All this came about
through the prayers of one faithful woman. That is where the heroine is."
5. Abigail would not have been very intelligent to inform Nabal of her plan. It is not
telling him that was an indication of how intelligent she was. Rober Roe writes,
"How do you think an intelligent, beautiful woman like Abigail, whose name meant
"joy of her father," ever got paired with a fellow like Nabal? The daughter of a
Hebrew did not choose a husband for herself. She was placed by her father. So, her
father, to get the best possible deal for her, chose a man who materially had it all.
Apparently her father did not consult the Lord about these things. He took the "joy
of his heart" and married her to Nabal, the fool. Sure, she lived in a rambling
ranch-style tent with "four-on-the-floor" camels parked outside, but look at what
she had for a husband. Remember, she was an intelligent woman
What does "intelligent" in Scripture mean? If a "fool" is one who says there is no
God, what denotes an intelligent person? What is "wisdom" according to Scripture?
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"[Psalm 111:10]. Wisdom is belief
in God, belief that he is in charge, that there is a day of reckoning. A wise man
orders his life by God's standards, by God's revelation, by the Word of God. Abigail
knew Deuteronomy 32:35, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay says YHWH." That was
written about 1400 B.C., 500 years before Abigail. It had been around a long time,
and she undoubtedly knew it well.

38. 6. Deffinbaugh sums up the issue as good as anybody can as he writes, "Abigail
illustrates the essence of all true submission. No doubt this statement will take you
by surprise. How can a woman who refuses to consult with her husband, who acts
contrary to his will and his word, and who calls him a fool, possibly be considered a
submissive wife? I would suggest that it is only in the externals that Abigail appears
to be unsubmissive. She certainly acts independently of her husband. What he
refuses to do is exactly what Abigail does. And yet, in heart she is truly submissive.
To think that submission is mere blind obedience, or giving in to the will and the
wishes of a higher authority falls short of the essence of true submission. True
submission is the active pursuit of the best interests of another, by the subordination of
our own personal interests. True submission is defined in Philippians 2:
1 If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of
love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make
my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in
spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but
with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than
himself; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the
interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a
thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and
being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross
(Philippians 2:1-8).
Abigail does not act in a way that seems to promote her own interests. She would be
far better off to act like the perfect wife by doing exactly what Nabal wants. Had she
simply stayed at home, serving Nabal another drink, she would be “liberated” by
David. Her worthless husband would be put to death, and she would be free from
his tyranny. Abigail is truly submissive in that she seeks to save her husband (and
all the other males in her household). In seeking to save them, she puts her own life
on the line. She goes out, alone, to encounter a man who is willing and able to kill
her entire household. When she encounters David, she asks that his full anger be
spent on her, on her alone. She is submissive in that she acts in a way that will
benefit her husband, yet at her expense. Doing nothing (and thus appearing to be
submissive) will further her interests at her husband’s expense.
I want to be very careful in what I am saying, and in what you think I am saying.
Most of the time, submission is evidenced by our obedience to the one in higher
authority. Most of the time, our submission is evidenced as we seek to bring honor
to the one to whom we are subject. But there are times when submission will look
like something else. There are times when we must act contrary to the wishes of the
one to whom we are in submission. This can only be in matters where God’s will is
clearly contradictory to the will and wishes of our superior. This can only be when
we act in a way that is costly to us, but is truly beneficial to the other.

39. I am trying to say that this kind of submission – Abigail’s kind of submission – is the
exception, not the rule. Nevertheless, there are times when we seek to console
ourselves for “caving in” to what is wrong by calling it submission. Godly
submission always submits first to God, and secondarily to men in conformity with
submission to God. Godly submission always seeks the best interests of the other above
our own interests. And sometimes Godly submission even requires us to act contrary
to the will and wishes of the one to whom we are in submission. I have said these
things not so that you will throw out your definition of submission, but to expand it.
Let us be careful not to turn this into a pretext for our own sin.
20 As she came riding her donkey into a
mountain ravine, there were David and his men
descending toward her, and she met them.
1. David is coming to wipe out the whole ranch, but Abigail cut him off at the pass.
Here is one woman coming to face an army of 400 angry men with a leader who has
sworn to kill every man on the ranch. This would not be a pleasant task even for
wonder woman, but Abigail was not turning back in fear. What a way to meet your
future husband. You are bringing lunch in hopes of cooling him off so he does not
become the most nortorious murderer in the land. You are part of the enemy camp,
and your only weapon is a hearty meal for all. What a picture of courage and
bravery. Samson is the only man we ever see facing such a scene with that many of
the enemy to overcome as one man. She has to do the same without breaking all
their necks. She has to defeat the army by means of kindness and humility.
2. What a way to meet your future wife. You are going to a massacre with a sword
itching to cut off some heads. You are burning with hate and all of a sudden a
woman of such beauty appears and love takes over and ends your spirit of revenge,
and you are captivated by her beauty and brains. There is much humor in the
strange ways people meet their mates, and this story is one of the most unusual.
3. Ray Pritchard, "Over the hill comes David riding full tilt, with 400 men kicking
up dust behind him. His eyes flash with anger. “I’m going to teach that so-and-so a
lesson he’ll never forget.” Then he looks down the road and there on a donkey is a
beautiful woman riding toward him—reins in one hand, a crock pot under her arm.
It’s Dear Abby to the rescue!
If there is such a thing as love at first sight, this is it. He looks at all the food,
knowing that his men are hungry. When he halts before Abigail, she does something
strange. Getting off her donkey, she bows down in the dust before David. She asks

40. David to take revenge on her because she is Nabal’s wife. David has never met a
woman like her before. He’s not about to do anything to her.
In everything she does we see her greatness. She is prompt in her actions, generous
in her gifts, and wise in her words. It is clear that she cares more for her family than
she does for her reputation."
4. Marc Axelrod has an outline of the good qualities of Abigail in this encounter
with David. He wrote, "There are a number of things to notice about this awesome
woman.
Number one. She’s a generous woman. She gave David and his men all that
delicious food to eat out of her own supply.
Number two: She’s a gallant woman. She’s brave enough to go up against an army
of 400 men all by herself! She put her life on the line to save the lives of the people in
her household. She’s a gallant woman.
Number three: She’s a gracious woman. She constantly refers to David as ’my lord,’
’my master,’ and to herself as ’your servant.’ Everything in her speech was designed
to calm David down. To encourage him in the Lord. She’s a gracious woman.
Number four. She’s a godly woman. The main point of her speech is that ’instead of
doing something you’re going to regret for the rest of your life, let God handle it!
Let God decide what will happen to your enemies. Let God create for you a lasting
dynasty. Let God bring a resolution to the situation between you and King Saul.
And let God be the One who brings my master success!"
She was generous
She was gallant
She was gracious
She was godly
21 David had just said, "It's been useless—all my
watching over this fellow's property in the desert
so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me
back evil for good.
1. David had just justified his murderous intent in his own mind, and then he meets
with a woman who can change just about any mind with her beauty, charm and

41. intelligent reasoning. Probably nothing or no one, but just such a creature, could
have changed his mind at this point. And so we see here the providence of God in
using Abigail to save the man he wanted to be the king of Israel. His whole plan
could go up in the smoke of burning anger and revenge had she not acted as she did.
She was a fire fighter, and she doused the flames in David's heart so that he could be
restored to reason again. Yes, it is true, he paid you back evil for good, and now you
are on your way to take over God's role as avenger of evil, making yourself fall to
the same level of folly as the one you are hating. Roper says, "David was fuming --
ranting and raving, muttering under his breath:"
2. In contrast to his complaint that Nabal pays him back evil for good, Abigail is
paying him back good for his evil of coming to destroy innocent people. God is also
paying him good for his evil in his providence of bringing a woman with her
intelligence to offset the folly of her husband. David is being blest by God even
though he was on a mission of hate and revenge way out of proportion to the
offense. He sent him a woman who cooled his anger and rage, and a woman he
would fall in love with, and who would be a great asset in his reign as king. Every
leader needs an intelligent woman by his side, for the fact is, not only do fools make
big mistakes, but even godly men like David do so, and they need a woman of
wisdom by them for protection from themselves.
22 May God deal with David, [c] be it ever so
severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all
who belong to him!"
1. Here is a clear case of overkill due to excessive anger. David is going to kill all of
the innocent men who work for this jerk just because he is so offended by his
rejection. This is foolish and evil behavior that makes David a fool at this point. He
is going to treat Nabal with the same spirit that he was treated, and in so doing
fulfill the Proverb, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like
him yourself" (Proverbs 26:4). David was being just as self-centered as Nabal at this
point. His pride was offended and he wanted the man who did it to suffer more than
just the loss of his life, for he wanted to kill all males, which would include any of his
sons, so that he would have no lasting name in history. He wanted to cut the man out
of history for denying him a good meal. It was an extreme and outrageous vow, and
he had much to be grateful for that God did not hold him to it, or God would have
dealt with him severely rather than rescue him from his folly.
2. There is no justification for this mass murder, but there is an explanation. David
Chadwell has given us some interesting insight into the psychology of David in his
violent anger willing to shed much innocent blood. He writes, Violence hardens the

42. hearts and minds of people. Then he give us this list-
1. In war people cope with so much dying by "getting used to death."
2. In continual work with tragedies, people cope by "getting use to suffering."
3. People who live or work around lots of blood "get used" to seeing blood.
4. People who work around a lot of pain get accustomed to seeing others in pain.
5. The process is called desensitizing.
6. Violence desensitizes people to death, suffering, blood, and pain.
7. From the death of Goliath, David was around and involved in a lot of violence.
8. As violence desensitizes a person, violence becomes the acceptable way to solve
problems.
9. Anger tempts that person to be violent.
It may make sense that a man like David can feel this way because of his exposure to
so much violence, but a man of God has to be controled by his mind and not his
emotions. Fortunate for him he met a woman who was using her mind rather than
her emotions. It is supposed to be the women who are emotional and not the men,
but in this context is it the woman who is being guided by reason and not feelings.
3. Pink, ‘This was unjust and cruel in the extreme, and if God had suffered him to
carry out such a design, would have greatly sullied his character and given his
enemies an immense advantage against him. So determined was he, that he
confirmed his intention with an oath, which was rash and savored of profanity. See
here, dear reader, what even the child of God is capable of when grace is not active
within him. The realization of this ought to make us walk softly, and work out our
salvation with "fear and trembling." It is for this reason that God so often
withdraws from us the power of His Spirit: that we may know what is yet in our
hearts (2 Chron. 32:3 1), and be humbled before Him.
4. God has been preparing a person for just such a time as this in the life of David.
He is going over the edge with rage, and there is not likely a man on the planet who
could turn him away from his angfy folly, but there was one woman who could.
Rober Roe says it as eloquently as anyone could when he writes, "What is David's
problem? Ego. His pride has been injured. It is not the welfare of his men that
bothers him, although he is undoubtedly going to take care of them by taking a
number of Nabal's sheep. The trouble is David's ego has been crushed, and you just
do not shaft David especially in front of others. All his life he has been the runt of
the litter. All his life people have stepped on him. All his life he has had this
resentment, this hostility, building up in him. Someday he is going to get even, and
here he has four hundred skilled guerilla warriors armed with iron weapons which
they have taken from the Philistines at Keilah. Nabal only has a household with a
few weapons and relatively few servants. It is going to be a total slaughter. David is
going to get even for all the things that have happened to him down through the
years. All the way up toward Nabal's home he has been turning revenge over and
over in his mind, fueling the flames of his passion. How on earth can you deal with
somebody like that? But God has an instrument. In this particular story, who also
acts like David is presently acting; who always looks after number one; who is a
hard, unteachable, unreasonable, perverse person? Nabal. Who has learned the skill

43. of dealing with a hard, unreasonable, unteachable male in his anger? Abigail. She
has had years of experience as Nabal's wife. Do you see how God takes his chosen
instruments and, over the years, trains them for a ministry. Her father thought he
was doing Abigail a big favor. He married her to a wealthy man who turned out to
be impossible to live with. Yet, through all those years, she hung in there as God's
woman and served that impossible man. I'll bet she even loved him, as far as she
could. She learned how to deal with him for the time when God's king, David, who
also needed dealing with, would come into her life. God does not mind spending
years to train a person for a single, short ministry. As far as we can tell, dealing with
David was all the ministry Abigail ever had, but it lasted a lifetime."
5. David is actually cursing himself here as he curses Nabal. It is likely that few to
none get through life without cursing someone who has made them so mad they
want to seek revenge. This often lead to swearing and calling the offender terrible
names. In Nabal's case all you had to do was call him by name to curse him, for his
name means fool. Swearing is a sign of deep frustration and anger and even those of
us who do not swear will think of some of the bad words we know in our mind when
we are provoked to anger. The following story is one that we can all identify with in
term of how it would make us remember some words we never use.
It Always Comes Back
A rabbi was making his rounds to his congregational members on a bicycle, when he
came upon a little boy trying to sell a lawn mower."How much do you want for the
mower?" asked the rabbi.
"I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bicycle," said the little boy.
After a moment of consideration, the rabbi asked, Will you take my bike in trade
for it?"
The little boy asked if he could try it out first, and, after riding the bike around a
little while, said, "Mister, you've got yourself a deal."
The rabbi took the mower and began to crank it. He pulled on the rope a few times
with no response from the mower. The rabbi called the little boy over and said, "I
can't get this mower to start."
The little boy said, "That's because you have to cuss at it to get it started."
The rabbi said, I'm a rabbi, and I can't cuss. It's been so long since I've been a rabbi
that I don't even remember how to cuss."
The little boy looked at him happily and said, "You just keep pulling on that rope.
It'll come back to ya."

44. 23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off
her donkey and bowed down before David with
her face to the ground.
1. Brian Morgan points out the humility of Abigail in all that she does here. He
writes, "Abigail approaches David with humility and tranquillity. This rare
combination is enough to capture the attention of any man. Notice that her every
movement is downward. "Coming down by the hidden part of the mountain," at
just the right moment she appears before David. She dismounts from her donkey,
and falls face down upon the ground. Notice the three statements of subjection:
dismounted her donkey, fell before David's face on her face, bowed toward the
ground at his feet. Such a display of humility is so striking, it arouses a curiosity
that displaces the thirst for revenge. "A gentle answer turns away wrath," says the
proverb. David remembered that this had been his own posture before Saul in
Engedi. Abigail takes full responsibility for what happened when David's men came
seeking provisions. Taking Nabal out of the equation, she places herself at the center
of the crisis."
2. Abigail knew how to deal with an arrogant fool, for she had lived with one for
years, and now David is one too, and she has a knack for cooling them off when
their temper is making them pursue some folly. Roper puts it so nicely when he
writes, "There's a certain amount of exaggerated, overstated Eastern courtesy going
on here, but two traits come through -- meekness and tranquility. Abigail doesn't
engage in an emotional tirade. She is remarkably composed given her situation. She
demonstrates what Peter calls "a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in
God's sight" (1 Peter 3:4). (It should be pointed out that meekness and tranquility
are not attributes enjoined on women alone. These are not feminine or masculine
traits but godly traits [see Matthew 5:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:12].)
3. Ray Pritchard, "If there is such a thing as love at first sight, this is it. He looks at
all the food, knowing that his men are hungry. When he halts before Abigail, she
does something strange. Getting off her donkey, she bows down in the dust before
David. She asks David to take revenge on her because she is Nabal’s wife. David has
never met a woman like her before. He’s not about to do anything to her."
4. Pink, “How blessedly God times His mercies. Here was David premeditating evil,
yea, on the point of carrying out his wicked purpose. But there was one, sent by the
Lord, already on the way to deliver him from himself. Ah, dear reader, have not you
and I often been the recipient of similar favors from Heaven? Were there not times,
be they recalled to our deep shame, when we had determined upon a course
dishonoring to our Lord; when, all praise unto Him, some one crossed our path, and
we were delayed, hindered, deterred? That some one may not have spoken to us as
definitely as Abigail did unto David: rather perhaps their errand was of quite
another nature, which at the time we may have resented as a nuisance for

45. interrupting us; but now, as we look back, do we not see the kind hand of God
withholding us from carrying out an evil purpose!" "This was not mere adulation,
and it was something more than an oriental salutation: it was faith’s
acknowledgment of the "anointed of the Lord." Nabal had insulted him as a
runaway slave, but his wife owns him as a superior, as her king in the purpose of
God."
5. What Abigail did was to show her respect for David. It was a custom of the day to
bow down before a visitor as a sign of respect. Abraham did the same thing when he
was visited by three men at Mamre, in Genesis 18:2. The Bible says, "Abraham
looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from
the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground." Abigail showed
herself to be humble and in total respect for who David was in contrast to her fool
husband. She referred to herself as David's maidservant six times. She referred to
David as "my lord" fourteen times
6. Robert Roe, "Let's look at this little portion first. First Abigail approaches an
angry man by humbling herself. She does not approach David whining for her
rights, and believe me, she has rights. David is up there on an ego trip. He does not
have any kind of legal or moral right to kill off all the males of Nabal's family.
However, Abigail has lived all her married life with an angry man, a fool, a man
who is ungodly, and David right now is very ungodly. She knows that ungodly angry
men do not respond to reason. You cannot argue your "rights" and expect an angry
man to listen. Angry ungodly men will not respect even God's rights, how could you
expect them to respect yours? So, she starts out with the approach of I Peter 3,
"Wives be submissive to your own husbands so if any of them are disobedient to the
word [the condition in the Greek is "and they are"], they may be won without a
word by the behavior of they wives as they observe your pure and respectful
behavior." In other words, if you have a husband who is non-persuasive to the
Word of God, then you win him without a word. [It is a play on words here.] You
keep your mouth shut and live a life before him that is both pure and respectful
when he deserves neither the purity nor the respect. That is exactly what Abigail
does here. She comes to an angry man, who is on an ego trip, who has no right to be
where he is, and the first thing she does is show him respect. She falls on her face
before David, which was the way of showing respect in that ancient East culture.
She is, by-the-way, the wife of a very wealthy man. She has servants. She has flocks
and herds. She is a "big woman on campus." She is not just some little peasant
girl."
7. Jamison, "Dismounting in presence of a superior is the highest token of respect
that can be given; and it is still an essential act of homage to the great.
Accompanying this act of courtesy with the lowest form of prostration, she not only
by her attitude, but her language, made the fullest amends for the disrespect shown
by her husband, as well as paid the fullest tribute of respect to the character and
claims of David."

46. 8. This being down on your knees, or even face down at someone's feet may be the
key to ending a conflict quickly, as we read in the following testimony.
"One of the first lessons I learned in our marriage was the necessity of saying, "I'm
sorry," My wife, christy, is much better at it than me. In fact, it seems that
whenever we had a disagreement, she would be the first to apologize. Due to my
delicate male ego, I would let her.
After one of our "discussions," Cristy decided that it was my turn to say "I'm
sorry." Since I wasn't used to apologizing, I thought nothing of the stony silence
that existed between us for the next hour. However, I caught her nonverbal message
after awhile: "Either you apologize, or face the consequences." As a newlywed, it
didn't take me long to figure out what those consequences might be!
But I was feeling stubborn that evening and thought maybe I could out wait her.
I was wrong. There was no way she was going to apologize first. She had made up
her mind, and the next move was up to me.
I knew I should do my part; Christy was a very forgiving person. And after all,
wasn't I the head of our home? Wasn't I the one who was supposed to be showing
the way? Wasn't I to love Christy as Christ loved His church?
Fianlly, I dropped to my knees. Not to pray, although I probably should have. I
dropped to my knees so I could crawl across the living room and beg Christy's
forgiveness. It was a well-calculated move, and it brought the desired result;
laughter. For all her determination, she couldn't stay mad when she saw her
penitent husband crawling on the floor.
When I finally reached her, we collapsed in each other's arms, almost
simultaneously saying, "I'm sorry!" The ice had been broken, and we could return
to the joys of our relationship.
Since that time, I've said, "I'm sorry" many times. Sometimes I've added flowers
or a gift. I doubt I'll ever be as quick to forgive as Christy, but I'll never forget the
lesson I learned that night. Love means you always have to say "I'm sorry."
J.D. Holt
24 She fell at his feet and said: "My lord, let the
blame be on me alone. Please let your servant
speak to you; hear what your servant has to say.
1. Abigail was a peacemaker, and by being that she saved the lives of all the men on
her and Nabal's ranch, and she saved Nabal's life, and also saved the reputation of
the future king of Israel. It is a noble role to be a peacemaker. Jesus said in Matt.
5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" In this case,
a daughter of God, for God loves the female peace makes as well as the male.

47. How blest are those who persevere
To bring a conflict to an end;
And if the peace of Christ takes hold,
An enemy becomes a friend. —D. De Haan
2. Henry wrote, " By a most obliging demeanour, and charming speech, she atones
for the abusive language which Nabal had given them. She met David upon the
march, big with resentment, and meditating the destruction of Nabal (1 Samuel
25:20); but with all possible expressions of complaisance and respect she humbly
begs his favour, and solicits him to pass by the offence. Her demeanour was very
submissive: She bowed herself to the ground before David (1 Samuel 25:23) and fell
at his feet, 1 Samuel 25:24. Yielding pacifies great offences. She put herself into the
place and posture of a penitent and of a petitioner, and was not ashamed to do it,
when it was for the good of her house, in the sight both of her own servants and of
David's soldiers. She humbly begs of David that he will give her the hearing: Let thy
handmaid speak in thy audience. But she needed not thus to bespeak his attention
and patience; what she said was sufficient to command it, for certainly nothing
could be more fine nor more moving. No topic of argument is left untouched; every
thing is well placed and well expressed, most pertinently and pathetically urged, and
improved to the best advantage, with such a force of natural rhetoric as cannot
easily be paralleled.
She speaks to him all along with the deference and respect due to so great and good
a man, calls him My lord, over and over, to expiate her husband's crime in saying,
"Who is David?" She does not upbraid him with the heat of his passion, though he
deserved to be reproved for it; nor does she tell him how ill it became his character;
but endeavours to soften him and bring him to a better temper, not doubting but
that then his own conscience would upbraid him with it.
3. ARTHUR G. FERRY JR. "Now we have the story of 2 caravans that are on a
collision course. One is coming in rage to seek death and revenge. The other is
coming as a peace maker to spare the life of an empty headed fool, who happens to
be her husband. At the crest of the hill the 2 processions meet and Abigail
dismounts. She walked over to where David was and knelt before him and she made
one of the most eloquent speeches ever recorded. She said, "Upon me my lord. Upon
me let this iniquity be charged." Proverbs 15:1 says, "A soft answer turns away
wrath."
4. Roe points out, "..she then begs him to listen because she is used to a man not
listening to her. "Please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words
of your maidservant." Just give me a hearing. That's all I ask."
5. DR. THOMAS ERICKSON, "She was even willing to take upon herself the
penalty for her husband's foolishness: "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt," she
said. And when the text tells us that she "fell before David on her face, and bowed to

48. the ground," we are meant to understand that she was exposing her neck to his
sword. She was offering her innocent life in place of her guilty husband.
I see Jesus in Abigail. Jesus intervened to reconcile us to God and to one another.
Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians 5:19: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to
himself, not counting their trespasses against them." And Peter wrote (1 Peter 3:18)
"Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order
to bring you to God." So when we watch Abigail intervene between these two
enemies we get a preview of Christ's reconciling work in our behalf.
Second, ABIGAIL INSISTED THAT DAVID COUNT TO TEN. When she first
meets him on the road, David is in a towering rage. Everything he says is skewed
and hateful, totally out of touch with reality. Abigail insists that he stop and count to
ten, so he can take an objective look at what is going on. And when he does, two
things become clear. First, Nabal is a fool, but he doesn't deserve to die. Second,
David will be a greater fool if he lets his anger get the best of him. If he kills Nabal
he will bring bloodguilt guilt upon himself, the guilt of taking another man's life for
an offense that was little more than a petty brush-off.
Finally, ABIGAIL INVOKED DAVID'S BETTER SELF. She said to him, "The
Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the
battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live." (25:28) In
other words, "The Lord has a magnificent future in store for you, David; don't do
something now that will stain your reputation and forfeit your future." "........I want
very much to invoke your better self today. God has a wonderful plan for your life.
Don't spoil that plan with petty resentments, trivial grudges, and foolish vendettas.
Take the high road, the Abigail road, the road of good sense."
6. No one wants to take the blame for anything anymore, and so we find ways to
make excuses for bad behavior, and blame it on someone else. The poet captures this
spirit:
I went to my psychiatrist
To be psychoanalzed,
To find out why I killed my cat
And blackened my wife’s eyes.
He put me on a downy couch
To see what he could find,
And this is what he dredged up
From my subconscious mind:
When I was one, my mommy hid
My dolly in the trunk,
And so it follows naturally,
that I am always drunk.

49. When I was two, I saw my father
Kiss the maid one day,
And that is why I suffer now’
Kleptomania.
When I was three, I suffered from
Ambivalence toward my brothers,
So it follows naturally,
I poisoned all my lovers.
I’m so glad that I have learned
the lesson it has taught,
That everything I do that’s wrong
Is someone else’s fault!
—Anna Russell
7. Constable wrote, "Abigail's approach to David was a model of tact and courage.
Visualize this solitary woman riding a donkey approaching 400 armed men who
were riding horses and were bent on slaughtering her household. It took immense
courage and boldness as well as great wisdom for Abigail to take her life in her
hands and do what she did. First, Abigail took all the blame for her husband's
foolish actions on herself. In this she reminds us of Jesus Christ who also rode into
the teeth of His enemies on a donkey, took on Himself the sins of generations of
fools, and was willing to suffer the consequences unselfishly."
8. Anne Grant wrote,
"If we want to use our power to make peace
is to humble ourselves like servants.
Abigail was a very wise woman.
She knew David was doing something very misguided,
But she didn’t go to him and say,
"What kind of a fool are you?!"
Instead she humbled herself.
She fell on her knees before David,
She called him her master 11 times.
She called herself his servant 6 times.
That was the best possible way
To get him to listen and change his behavior.
Come in a spirit of humility.
It is the best possible way to make peace."
9. "Bearing the sin of others.

50. Abigail wants to pay for the sin of Nabal. She wants David to consider her to be the
sinner and let her pay for the crime.
Paul did this with a runaway slave named Onesimus. He wrote to Onesimus’
master, Philemon and said,
(Phile 1:18 KJV) If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine
account;
Ultimately, this is what Jesus did for us. Just as Abigail is going to make peace with
David by paying for Nabal’s sins, Jesus made peace with God for us by paying for
our sins. This is why He died on the cross. We can come to have a relationship with
God not by our own efforts, but when we come to trust in what Jesus did for us on
the cross.
(Rom 5:10 KJV) For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."
25 May my lord pay no attention to that wicked
man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name is
Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your
servant, I did not see the men my master sent.
1. When a wife calls her husband a fool you get the impression that it is not a happy
relationship. We get the impression from Nabal's servant also that he is a stubborn
fool who will not listen to anybody, even if they know his folly is leading to his
violent death by the people he so rudely offends. Poole wrote, “It may be thought a
great crime, that she traduceth her husband in this manner; but this may be said for
her, that she told them nothing but what they all knew concerning him, and that she
only seemed to take away that which he never had, indeed, to wit, his good name,
that she preserve that which he had, and which was more dear and important to
him, even his life and soul.”
2 David Roper asks the question, "What kind of fool am I?" Then he gives us the
choices that are based on the Hebrew. It is an interesting study of just what level
Nabal was as a fool, for there are different levels. He wrote, "Nabal's name means
"fool" -- an ominous designation. It's unlikely that a parent would saddle a kid with
a name like that. I rather think "Nabal" was a tongue-in-cheek corruption of the
man's real name, but in whatever way he got the handle, he deserved it. As Abigail
herself said, in our modern slang, "Fool is his name and fool is his game" (25:25).

51. The Hebrew language knows five kinds of fools. In ascending order of foolishness,
there is the petî, from a Hebrew root that means "to be open." The petî is naive and
untutored, a "simpleton." This is the way we come into the world; this is the
natural-born fool. This is the young man who watches Beavis and Butthead and
thinks he knows everything there is to know about life. If he doesn't receive serious
instruction, he will soon graduate into serious folly.
Then there is the kesîl, from a root that means "to be dull, obtuse." The kesîl is a
little to the dark side of the petî. He is insensitive to wisdom and disinterested in
learning about it.
The third fool is the 'ewîl. The root suggests that this fool is characterized by
stubbornness. He is entrenched in his resistance to truth -- headstrong, willful,
unteachable. "Don't confuse me with the facts," he says. "My mind is made up."
The lîtz is darker still. The root indicates that he is full of scorn. He is the
"scoffer" of King James fame. This is the cynical, sneering university professor or
student who sits above God's wisdom and mocks those who take it seriously.
And finally there is the nabal, a composite of all other fools, and the worst of the
lot -- the fool to end all fools. This is the person who follows his own rules and acts
as if there is no God. "The fool [nabal] says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are
corrupt, and their ways are vile" (Psalm 53:1). Abigail's Nabal was the ultimate
fool.
Isaiah describes the final fool this way: "The fool [nabal] speaks folly, his mind is
busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD;
the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water" (Isaiah 32:6).
Socrates divided the world into two types of people: the wise who know they are
fools and the fools who think they are wise. It's wise to know what kind of fools we
are."
3. Some of the things that Abigail did and said lead to mixed reviews as to her
character as a wife. There is that to criticize as well as to praise. Such was the case
with the Cuban female preacher Dora Ester Arce Valentin who preached in a
sermons the following words.
"First of all, we have to recognize that if Abigail was a news maker in a newspaper
today, or was a member of one of our churches, she would be the talk of the town.
Not only did she disobey her husband when she snuck off to see another man, but
she offered to David that which Nabal had denied him and she was happy to speak
poorly of her own husband. Do not believe that any of us, including those of us who
are ordained, would be so bold as to call her blessed. I do not want to think of what
all could be said about a woman who acted this way today. God forgive our
thoughts!

52. However we cannot forget the Abigail’s context. We are talking about a story from
an era in which a woman was considered part of the property of her husband, the
same as his lands or his slaves. We are talking about a woman who was also the
victim of a society that was obliged to devalue any gift other than being fertile and
being capable of producing many children, above all male children. In this way,
Abigail was suffering because of the injustice of the social structure in which she
lived. We can speculate, based on the poor character of Nabal, that she was also
possibly a victim of domestic violence.
If there is one instinct that Abigail should have had well developed was that of
survival, to grasp her right to life in the midst of unhappiness and injustice at any
price. Generally, human beings in such circumstances develop a kind of sixth sense
to recognize in other people or situations those tendencies or attitudes that generate
injustice, destruction, and violence. This is something that we Cubans know very
well, and something we women now know well, even though we do not live in
Abigail’s time. We still live amid cultural and institutional restrictions, although
subtle, that do not allow us to develop all of our gifts and feminine creativity. It is
like an extra sense, to foresee danger, to detect actions and patterns of injustice, to
read between the lines, and to discern amid all its relativity the good and the bad,
especially when it happens within a community that we feel a part of, whether it be
within a marriage, within a family, within a church, within a country, or anything
else.
There is an undeniable bravery to her. She is not afraid to confront a man like
David, a man with a sufficient history which had proved him strong and powerful.
Abigail is not afraid to face the consequences of her plan, in spite of her vicious
husband. More than anything, Abigail’s conviction was that she had to save her
family. Although it is not described in an explicit manner, Abigail’s greatest
strength was her excluded condition, as a victim of injustice, as a woman who is
trying every way to save her life and her family’s life. She used her only weapons,
which were that of her intelligence, and why not, that of her beauty. Where did this
courage come from? In the confidence that God, was with her. Who knows if the
empathy between David and Abigail was not only from the weakness that he had for
beautiful women, but maybe it was also from something that they had in common,
the confidence in the divine. Maybe David saw in Abigail an attitude, the same
resolve that he had when he confronted Goliath the Philistine with only his slingshot
and rocks and the absolute certainty that God would guide his struggle."
4. Her opinion of her husband makes it clear that being his wife was not her choice.
She had a totally different spirit than that of her husband. It is most often the case
that a wife is a moral and spiritual person than her husband, and this is a noble
aspect of the female that they can stay more pure even though married to a man
corrupted by the world and its ways.
5. Pink, "She was not being nice toward her husband, but the fact was he was a fool

53. and she told it like it was. She agreed with David that he was a fool, and she regrets
that she was not in on the decision, for she would have responded differently." In
other words, ignorance is a valid excuse. Had I been the one your young men came
to and asked for provisions I would have gladly given them, and the proof is that I
have them right here now. It is hard to argue with a woman when what she says is
so valid.
6. Henry Smith, "Let not my Lord give any attention to that good-for-nothing man!
The reason is that his depravity has, in a sense, deprived him of judgment : His
name is Reckless, and recklessness dwells with him} as his constant companion. We
might paraphrase : " His name is Brutus and he is a brute"
26 "Now since the LORD has kept you, my
master, from bloodshed and from avenging
yourself with your own hands, as surely as the
LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies
and all who intend to harm my master be like
Nabal.
1. Talk about a brilliant woman! She assumes that David will no longer pursue his
course of revenge, and credits God with keeping him from this foolish mistake. Then
she assures him that the Lord will also make fools of all who seek to harm him in the
future. In one sentence she puts David on the spot where he has little choice but to
call off the attack, and confess that God has prevented him from great folly. She
gives God credit, and makes David feel like a blest man with a bright future in
dealing with enemies. Here we see the demonstration that words are mightier than
the sword.
2. Roe has a delightful story from Scripture of how a woman's words wield
wondrous power. He writes, "I love this argument. This is typically female. She
assumes what is to be argued as being already settled. I have never yet understood
the female mind, but some how when you get into a discussion with them, you have
lost before you even start discussing. It happened to the Lord with his own mother.
At Cana of Galilee the Lord begins his public ministry. He goes down to Cana,
which is not too far from Nazareth, and Mary his mother is part of the wedding
party. Obviously she is in charge of getting things done. They run out of wine. That
is a terrible insult and loss of face to an Easterner, an Oriental. The bridegroom is to
supply the needs of the whole family for probably up to seven days. Guests come
from long distances, and to run out of wine in the middle of the celebration shows a

54. lack of concern for your in-laws. So, the poor host is going to be greatly humiliated.
Now, here comes the Lord and his disciples as guests at the feast. Mary, as part of
the wedding party, looks at her son and says, "They have run out of wine." She
knows what she means, and he knows what she means, "Do something!" She knows
that he is the Son of God. Don't forget the angel told her that before he was
conceived, and she has seen a sinless life for 30 years. The Lord tells her, "Woman,
[which is impersonal but not an insulting term. He is saying "There is a new
relationship established now, Mary. I am no longer under your motherhood."] what
have I to do with you. My time has not yet come." This is telling her "No" very
nicely and very quietly but very firmly. What does she do? She turns to the servants
and says, "Do whatever he tells you," and walks away. There stands the Lord with
egg on his face. Every time I read that I think the Lord must have had kind of a wry
smile on his face, "Of all the people who ought to know better than to argue with
women, I who made them ought to know." Of course the Lord, in order not to
embarrass his mother and to keep the bridegroom from being humiliated, does his
first miracle and, "humanly" speaking, does it against his own will. She won.
Abigail, has come from a long line of "Marys" and assumes as true what is about to
be argued."
3. Pink, "Abigail’s piety comes out clearly in verse 26. Possibly she perceived a
change in David’s countenance, or more probably she felt in her spirit that the
object before her was now gained; but instead of attributing this unto her pleading,
or the present she had brought, she ascribed it solely unto the restraining grace of
God: "the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from
avenging thyself with thine own hand." Thus alone is God honored and given His
proper place, when we freely impute unto His working all that is good in and from
our fellow-creatures. Beautiful too is it to behold how she shields her churlish
husband: "upon me, my lord, upon me, let this iniquity be" (v. 24), "I pray thee,
forgive the trespass of thine hand maid" (v. 28). She took upon herself the blame for
the ill treatment of his men, and says, If thou wilt be angry, be angry against me,
rather than with my poor husband.
Next, we behold her strong faith: "the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure
house" (v. 28). She makes reference unto the future to draw his heart from the
present. As another has said, "To the heir of a kingdom, a few sheep could have but
little attraction; and one who knew that he had the anointing oil of the Lord upon
his head, might easily bear to be called a runaway servant." Ah, it is ever the office
of faith to look beyond present circumstances and difficulties, on to the time of
deliverance; only thus do we begin to judge things from God’s viewpoint. Then she
pointed out that David was fighting "the battles of the Lord" (v. 28), and therefore
it was not for him to think of avenging an insult to himself.
4. Abigail was gifted with the ability to be tactful. "Exercising tact entails a capacity
to perceive the needs, concerns and personal problems of others; skill in resolving
conflicts, tact in dealing with people from different backgrounds, ability to deal
effectively with people concerning emotional issues; knowing what to communicate
and to whom." A non-tactful approach would have made David all the madder and

55. he may have then included the women in his massacre. She had the gift needed to be
a peacemaker. Tom Washington wrote, " Tactful people know how to say the right
thing at the right time. They speak in encouraging terms. When they need to say
something critical they know how to say it in a way that does not offend people.
Tactful people possess a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense.
They are skilled in dealing with difficult or delicate situations. They are sensitive to
what is appropriate."
David is now the angry giant out for blood, just as Goliath once came after him.
Abigail is now the opponent with some smooth stones to sling at his head and change
his mind about his evil goal. Like David brought down Goliath, she brought him
down to earth with her smooth stones of wisdom. She cut off his angry head and
restored him to sanity by her calm and tactful insights about who he was and who
God wanted him to be.
Some attempts to be tactful do not help, however, as this example shows: "One
office supervisor called a secretary in to give her the bad news that she was being
fired. He started the conversation with: "Miss Symthe, I really don't know how
we're going to get along without you, but starting Monday, we're going to try."
27 And let this gift, which your servant has
brought to my master, be given to the men who
follow you.
1. This has to disarm David, for that is the very thing he wanted in the first place,
and now it stands before him as a gift from the very ranch from which he requested
it. His men will be delighted, and so he has little reason to feed his anger any longer.
She has removed the fuel that kept it burning by giving him this gift. Robert Roe
said, "There are four hundred hungry, thirsty young men there, and in one bold
move she just wins four hundred votes. The odds are now 401 against David. And
she does it very beautifully."
28 Please forgive your servant's offense, for the
LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for
my master, because he fights the LORD's battles.
Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you
live.

56. 1. Here is an example of positive thinking that she makes David consider. You need
to see the big picture of what God is doing and going to do in your life. You are
chosen to fight the Lord's battles and become a king of his people. It is not your
place to be fighting petty battles for yourself over trivial issues of pride. If you are
going to be proud, be proud of what God is going to do through you. Keep your
focus on the Lord's plan and not your own petty cause that is momentary and not
long lasting like that which the Lord has in store for you. Don't let wrongdoing mar
your record on the way to the top. Stay right with God all the way by leaving
revenge to him. She is building up his self image, and this is never a losing strategy
for a beautiful woman to take in pleading with a man. She begs his forgiveness and
then immediately exhalts him as a great warrior of the Lord on his way to the
throne as king. You are too great and wonderful David to be caught up in this petty
drama. You are headed for great things, and should not get bogged down in trivial
pursuits that can only tarnish your image.
2. An unknown author wrote, "These words could have come only from the lips of
one who had partaken of the wisdom from above. The piety of Abigail, like the
fragrance of a flower, breathed out all unconsciously in face and word and action.
The Spirit of the Son of God was abiding in her soul. Her speech, seasoned with
grace, and full of kindness and peace, shed a heavenly influence. Better impulses
came to David, and he trembled as he thought what might have been the
consequences of his rash purpose. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be
called the children of God." Matthew 5:9. Would that there were many more like
this woman of Israel, who would soothe the irritated feelings, prevent rash impulses,
and quell great evils by words of calm and well-directed wisdom. Abigail was a wise
reprover and counselor. David's passion died away under the power of her influence
and reasoning. He was convinced that he had taken an unwise course and had lost
control of his own spirit."
29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take
your life, the life of my master will be bound
securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD
your God. But the lives of your enemies he will
hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.
1. This is a powerful word of encouragement, for she is referring to Saul who is
perpetually on his trail trying to catch him and kill him. She prophesies that he will
be secure in the hands of God, but his enemies will not be secure but be as

57. expendable as the rock in a sling that is hurled away without thought of loss.
Someone wrote, "The life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with
the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the
pocket of a sling: This perhaps is the strongest point of Abigail’s appeal, and she
uses a wonderful turn of speech. She says, “David, you are like a bundle that the
Lord holds closely and securely to Himself. Your enemies are like rocks that the
Lord will sling away.” This invites David to act like a man who is close to the Lord!"
She is saying that you are precious to God David, and you should be careful to do
his will and not be carried away with foolish anger like those who are pursuing you
in anger. By a rock from your sling you slew the giant, and even so will it be for
your future enemies.
2. Robert Roe, "In the customs of those days, if you had something very precious,
you bound it up in something and wrapped it around with something so it would not
get hurt. She is saying, "You are the anointed of God. God has taken your life and
bound it up in the bundle of his life. Your life is in the center of the Lord's. His life
protects your life. You do not have to fight your battles, David. God has you
packaged with himself. Nor do you have to go after your enemies, David, for God
will take your enemies and put them in the cup of a sling and fling them away. You
don't even have to fight your enemies, David. God will take care of you and them."
Why do you suppose she used the word "sling?" What did David do when he was a
young lad? He slew a giant fighting for whose honor? YHWH's! He told Goliath, "I
am going to kill you because you are defying the armies, not of David or of Israel,
but of the living God." It was God's honor that was at stake when he won with that
sling shot. It was not David's honor or David's rights, and God honored that. As a
lad David, dressed in a shepherd's jacket and with only a little sling shot and five
smooth pebbles, slew that giant who stood 9 feet tall and was fully armed and
armored. She points him back to what made him famous; being a godly man and
fighting God's battles for God's honor. She points him right back to the past."
3. Henry, " She foretells the glorious issue of his present troubles. "It is true a man
pursues thee and seeks thy life" (she names not Saul, out of respect to his present
character as king), "but thou needest not look with so sharp and jealous an eye
upon every one that affronts thee;" for all these storms that now ruffle thee will be
blown over shortly. She speaks it with assurance, (1.) That God would keep him
safe: The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God,
that is, God shall hold thy soul in life (as the expression is, Psalms 66:9) as we hold
those things which are bundled up or which are precious to us, Psalms 116:15. Thy
soul shall be treasured up in the treasure of lives (so the Chaldee), under lock and
key as our treasure is. "Thou shalt abide under the special protection of the divine
providence." The bundle of life is with the Lord our God, for in his hand our breath
is, and our times. Those are safe, and may be easy, that have him for their protector.
The Jews understand this not only of the life that now is, but of that which is to
come, even the happiness of separate souls, and therefore use it commonly as an
inscription on their gravestones. "Here we have laid the body, but trust that the soul
is bound up in the bundle of life, with the Lord our God." There it is safe, while the

58. dust of the body is scattered. (2.) That God would make him victorious over his
enemies. Their souls he shall sling out, 1 Samuel 25:29. The stone is bound up in the
sling, but it is in order to be thrown out again; so the souls of the godly shall be
bundled as corn for the barn, but the souls of the wicked as tares for the fire. (3.)
That God would settle him in wealth and power: "The Lord will certainly make my
lord a sure house, and no enemy thou hast can hinder it; therefore forgive this
trespass," that is, "show mercy, as thou hopest to find mercy. God will make thee
great, and it is the glory of great men to pass by offenses."
30 When the LORD has done for my master every
good thing he promised concerning him and has
appointed him leader over Israel,
1. Abigail keeps his focus on God and what the Lord will be doing in his future as
the ruler of Israel. She is fully aware of what God is doing. She knows David is on
the run now, but she also knows he will become the king of Israel. Is she just faking
it to save their lives, or does she really know? She has to know the stories of David,
and of all he did as the leader of Israel's army. This was such popular knowledge
that even the pagan nations knew about the song of Saul killing thousands but
David killing tens of thousands. She was up on her knowledge of current affairs, and
she is convinced David will soon be the king, and she assures David of this as if she
were a prophetess.
2. Guzik writes, "Abigail's appeal to David was so glorious, because it lifted him up
instead of beating him down. David was clearly in the wrong, and Abigail wanted to
guide him into the right. But she didn't do it by being negative, by emphasizing to
David how wrong and angry and stupid he was acting - though he was in fact acting
that way! Instead, Abigail emphasized David's glorious calling and destiny, and the
general integrity of his life, and simply asked him to consider if what his present
course of action was consistent with that destiny and integrity.
3. JON D. LEVENSON "In marked contrast to Nabal ( 10), Abigail recognizes
David's coming kingship. She is the first person to say that David will be chosen
nâgîd cal yiérâ^ël, ruler over Israel (v 30). Her assertion that YHWH will build
David a bayit ne^ëmân, a secure dynasty (v 28), is an undeniable adumbration of
Nathan's prophecy which utilizes the identical language (2 Sam 7:16). It is this
element which led the rabbis, according to David Kimchi, to count Abigail among
the seven women who they believed had been graced with the holy spirit.
4. Deffinbaugh, For Abigail, there is no doubt about it, David is Israel’s next king.
God’s promise to David about this matter will be fulfilled, and God will appoint him
ruler over Israel (verse 30). How tragic it would be for David to have a dark cloud

59. over that kingdom, a cloud brought about by his own impetuous acts of seeking
vengeance and shedding innocent blood. The Old Testament Law of Moses sets
down the principle of justice: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (see Exodus
21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21; see also Matthew 5:38). Nabal has
insulted David. That is his crime. The males of his household have done no wrong to
David or his men so far as we are told. To kill Nabal and the males of his household
for being selfish and insulting is to shed innocent blood, because the punishment is
worse than the crime.
31 my master will not have on his conscience the
staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of
having avenged himself. And when the LORD has
brought my master success, remember your
servant.
1. Guzik has put together the list of the things Abigail did right, and it is impressive
to see how intelligent she really was in her whole approach to an angry man.
i. When she first heard of the crisis, she immediately went into action (Then Abigail
made haste, 1 Samuel 25:18). She knew this was an urgent situation, so she acted
with urgency.
ii. Abigail immediately, and with her first words to David, takes the blame on
herself (On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be!). Abigail didn’t do this because
she really believed she was guilty. She put herself in the place of punishment
because she knew that David would punish her differently than her husband Nabal.
iii. Abigail asks for permission to speak, instead of taking command of the
conversation (Please let your maidservant speak in your ears).
iv. Abigail smoothly suggests the positive outcome to David in her appeal (since the
Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with
your own hand). She states it in a way that almost guides David towards her
suggested outcome.
v. Abigail brought David a present (now this present), but was wise enough to say
that it was for the young men who follow David, not for David himself. To say that it
was for David himself would suggest that David was in this just for the
compensation or the money, and that David’s insulted dignity could be bought off
with money.
vi. Abigail plainly, straightforwardly, asked for forgiveness (Please forgive the

60. trespass of your maidservant).
vii. Despite David’s present anger and agitation - which is clearly sin - Abigail
speaks of David’s character in high terms, regarding his present unmentioned state
as an aberration (my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you
throughout your days).
viii. Abigail reminded David of the Lord’s promise for his life (the Lord will
certainly make for my lord an enduring house). She guides David to look beyond the
immediate aggravating circumstances to the bigger promise of God. Since Abigail
knows that God has promised David would one day be king, this must have been
known throughout Israel.
ix. Abigail asks David not to do something he will later regret, when God’s promise
is ultimately fulfilled (that this will be no grief to you . . . that you have shed blood
without cause). This is perhaps the single best thing that Abigail said; she wisely
asked David to consider the outcome of his present course, and how it would be a
bad outcome. She asks him to let the Lord settle the matter, instead of taking
vengeance into his own hands.
2. “Many good things happened to David because he controlled his temper. Number
one: His reputation as a man of God was kept intact. If David had murdered Nabal
and his family, I don’t think that the people of Israel would have been so excited
about him becoming their new king. They would have said, Man, this guy is a
hothead! This guy can’t control himself! I don’t know if I want a man like that
running the country!
Proverbs 16:32 says Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his
temper than one who takes a city.
3. Roper, This is quite a speech that Abigail makes. In essence she is saying,
David, you're wrong. In fact she says, David, what you are doing is evil. You're
trying to save yourself, trying to avenge yourself. You're trying to seek your own
rights, and what you're doing is not right. When you become king this will haunt
you, it will live in your conscience to the end of your days. You see, David, your life
is bound up with the life of God. The battle that you are fighting is God's battle; the
life that you're living is God's life. And God will take care of his own. You don't
need to fight yourself, and you don't need to defend yourself; God will defend you.
Let him. Don't take vengeance on your enemies, let God take vengeance. That is
quite a strong rebuke -- coming from an unknown woman to a man who is soon to
be king of Israel!
4. Ray Pritchard, Abigail reminds David that one day he will be king and when
that happens, little pipsqueaks like Nabal won’t matter. But what will matter is
whether or not his hands are clean. It took enormous faith to say that because at the
moment David was the leader of a rag-tag band of vagrants on the run from Saul.
But she could see that David was God’s man and that one day he would reign over

61. the nation. In light of David’s destiny, he can’t afford to give in to the temptation to
get even. Revenge feels good now but it will feel bad later. You simply can’t win by
trying to get even. So many tragedies would be avoided, so many broken
relationships would never happen, so many tears would never be shed, so many
marriages could be healed, if only we would stop and think before we act or speak.
Many of us have said or done things in anger and then wished a thousand times we
could take them back.
5. Many people read her last words about being remembered by David when he
does become king as a negative thing. They see it as inappropriate for a married
woman to say such a thing. It sounds like she is flirting or encouraging David to flirt
with her. I think Rober Roe has a better perspective as he deals with her prophetic
ability to tell David what his future will be. He then says, She also can see
something else. Why do you think she says, And when the Lord shall deal well with
my lord, then remember your maidservant? What does she also see? She sees
David's future. As a godly woman, who else's future does she see? Hers, yes, but
how would hers suddenly be available to David? How can a married woman talk
about David remembering me? What does she also see? Just as surely as David
shall be king because he is acting righteously so she is also certain something else
will happen because someone else is acting unrighteously? Nabal is going to get it.
The same God who rewards the righteous by making him king is going to deal with
the ungodly. Just as surely as one is true, so is the other. She knows her husband,
somewhere along the line, is going to get taken care of by God, and when David is
king and her husband is removed by God, she wants David to remember her.
6. One of the pastors of Peninsula Bible Church had this insight: David's anger
over Nabal's refusal to pay tribute is no longer the issue. Abigail has brought the
gift he wanted. To get him back on track, she subtly reminds him of his holy calling
by giving him a history lesson. She reminds him of his battle with Goliath, saying,
You are fighting the battles of the LORD, and your enemies He will sling out as
from the hollow of a sling. If a history lesson was not enough to motivate David, a
little forward thinking might. Abigail continues, Look ahead to your public
coronation as king over all Israel. What do you want that day to be like? Would you
want this incident on your conscience when you receive that ground to all the praise
of Israel?
I like to use this strategy to encourage youngsters to sexual purity. I ask them to cast
their minds forward to their wedding day, when they are making their vows to their
partners. How would they feel, I ask them, if they looked out over the assembled
crowd and see people with whom they already had sexual relationships? Would they
want that on their conscience? So Abigail encourages David to enlarge his
perspective to embrace both the distant past and the ultimate future of his
coronation.

62. 32 David said to Abigail, Praise be to the LORD,
the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet
me.
1. David was so delighted that she was wise enough to convince him of the folly he
was about to commit and reduce him to the same level as the fool he was going to
kill. He so admired her, and William Taylor writes, ... we also can not but admire
the dexterous female generalship with which she carried her point in such a way as
to leave David with the impression that he was laid by her under a deep obligation.
Neither can we overlook the fact, so creditable to her piety, that by the skillful
allusion which she made to his revengeful purpose, she deeply touched the
conscience of David, and turned his gratitude to her into thanksgiving to God. Only
a woman could have managed such a negotiation as this so smoothly and
successfully; but only a God-fearing woman would have managed it so as to bring
David to a sense of the sinfulness of the act which he had been about to commit.
2. David acknowledges that God got involved in history here and sent Abigail to him
to prevent his folly. Pink wrote, ‘As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine
gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear’ (Prov. 25:12). Abigail was a wise
reprover of David’s passion, and he gave an obedient ear to the reproof according to
his own principle: ‘Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness’ (Ps. 141:5):
never was such an admonition either better given or better taken (Matthew
Henry). Herein are the children of God made manifest; they are tractable, open to
conviction, willing to be shown their faults; but the children of the devil (sons of
Belial) are like Nabal—churlish, stubborn, proud, unbending. Ah, my reader, lay
this to heart: if we will listen to faithful counselors now, we shall be delivered from
much folly and spared bitter regrets in the future.
3. Deffinbaugh, Abigail’s words ring true to David. What she says squares with all
that God has taught David. He knows she is right, and he now admits it by praising
her before all of his men. David recognizes that Abigail is literally a Godsend, and
that by means of her words and deeds, God has kept him from wrong doing by
taking vengeance against Nabal, and thus shedding innocent blood. Had she not
acted quickly, as she did, David would have carried out his plan. She has saved
David from folly and guilt, and at the same time spared the life of her husband and
every male in her household. Granting her request, David accepts the gift from
Abigail and sends her home in peace.
4. David listened and changed his course due to the wisdom of a woman. He became
wise himself for doing so. Proverbs 17:10, “A rebuke impresses a man of
discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool,” and also Proverbs 15:31, “He who
listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise.” Only a fool will go
through life never listening to a woman, for she will often be the voice of God in a

63. man's life to keep him from folly. David was a fool who listened to her and became
wise. Nabal was a fool who would not listen, and he died a fool.
5. Roe, See how you win an argument with a willful, rebellious, unrepentant,
angry man? You point him to the Lord and take the humble place. You get yourself
out of the argument and get it between him and his God, instead of you and him
with God somewhere around the periphery. That is all she did. She got him focused
on her and then got out of the way and got him looking at YHWH. Pretty soon
David began to realize, Hey, I'm not fighting Nabal or my honor. I'm dealing with
the living God. That is what broke him.
6. Edersheim wrote, Wiser speech, in the highest as well as in a worldly sense, than
that of Abigail can scarcely be imagined. Surely if any one, she was fitted to become
the companion and adviser of David. Three things in her speech chiefly impress
themselves on our minds as most important for the understanding of this history.
The fact that David was God's anointed, on whom the kingdom would devolve,
seems now to have been the conviction of all who were godly in Israel. They knew it,
and they expected it. Equally strong was their belief that David's present, as his
future mission, was simply to contend for God and for His people. But most
important of all was the deep feeling prevalent, that David must not try to right
himself, nor work his own deliverance. This was a thoroughly spiritual principle,
which had its foundation in absolute, almost childlike trust in Jehovah the living
God, whatever might were arrayed against David, and however the probabilities
might seem other to the outward observer. Viewed in this light, the whole contest
between David and Saul would assume spiritual proportions. There was nothing
personal now in the conflict; least of all, was it to be regarded as an attempt at
rebellion against, or dethronement of Saul. The cause was altogether God's; only
David must not right himself, but in faith and patience await the fulfillment of God's
sure and steadfast promises. To have the matter thus set before him, was to secure
the immediate assent of David's conscience. Recognizing the great spiritual danger
from which he had just been delivered, he gave thanks to God, and then to the wise
and pious woman who had been the instrument in His hand.
7. Someone wrote a song based on this verse.
ABIGAIL, I PRAISE THE LORD FOR SENDING YOU
1. Nabal: his name means fool.
He repaid David evil for good.
He gave to David and his men insults,
Instead of the food that he should.
2. David became angry.
He gathered up his army to kill.
Nabal's wife, Abigail, said to David,
Such revenge would not be God's will.
Chorus: And David said,
Abigail, I praise the Lord for sending you.

64. May you be blessed in all you do.
You helped me to understand
I should not avenge myself with my own hand.
You kept me from bloodshed this day.
Your wisdom has shown me God's way.
3. Nabal: his heart failed him.
He became like a stone and soon died.
Abigail was sent for by King David.
She joyfully became his bride. (Repeat Chorus)
1 Samuel 25:4-40 What had David's men done to help
Nabal? When Nabal insulted David, what was David's
response? How did Abigail get David to change his
mind? What happened to Abigail in verse 40? Have you
ever helped to settle a dispute?
33 May you be blessed for your good judgment
and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and
from avenging myself with my own hands.
1. David has cooled off in the light of this beautiful woman’s plea, and he is grateful
to her for saving him from folly. She saved both her husband and her husband to be
by her wisdom and humility. She calmed a storm that could have been the biggest
tragedy ever for her family. Her life is caught in the middle of two men, both of
whom were being dangerous fools, and she was able to save them both, but only her
husband for a short time. Clarke wrote, Nothing can justify this part of David's
conduct. Whatever his provocation might have been, he had suffered, properly
speaking, no wrongs; and his resolution to cut off a whole innocent family, because
Nabal had acted ungenerously towards him, was abominable and cruel, not to say
diabolic. He who attempts to vindicate this conduct of David is, at least
constructively, a foe to God and truth. David himself condemns this most rash and
unwarrantable conduct, and thanks God for having prevented him from doing this
evil.
2. The Power of One. Here was a terrible tragedy about to happen in just a few
minutes, and there is no force equal to David and his army to stop him. It is a
disaster about to happen and it looks hopeless, and yet one level headed woman did,
in fact, prevent this disaster. Here we have a woman who brought to a standstill an
army of angry warriors. They were 400 armed men ready to wipe out all the men in
the family and now they are stopped by one women of such great courage and
wisdom that she prevented a massacure. God prevents many men from foolish
actions by the wisdom of women.

65. 3. The Power of Prevention. Abigail would have been a great nurse to help any
survivors recover from their wounds. She would have been a great comforter to the
widows left behind, and the children who are left fatherless. There is no doubt she
would have been a great asset after this bloody massacre, but far better is the role
she had in preventing the disaster. It is always better to prevent evil than to deal
with the effects of evil after it has been commited. Prevention always beats both cure
and care, as great as these values are. I love it when I can get a medicine that heals
my problem, but I much prefer to never have the problem at all because I did what
was necessary to prevent its becoming a reality.
4. Abigail is the hero in this story, but David does get some credit for avoiding the
great folly he was about to do, for he listened to this woman, and responded to her
wisdom in a wise way, and this is evidence of his own wisdom. Proverbs 12:15-16
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is
wise. A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
Nobody could talk to Nabal but Abigail could talk to David and he listens. The
reason David is a man after God’s own heart is because he listens to the Lord.
5. David Roper, David listened to her. He took it. He knew he was wrong. He saw
where his impetuousness was carrying him. The thing which distinguishes David
from Nabal is that Nabal did not listen. Nabal was a fool. I'm sure that Abigail had
tried many times to encourage him in the same way, but he did not listen. You see, it
is sometimes difficult for men to listen to the exhortation of a Christian sister.
Because of our stubbornness and pride, we are fools. We don't want to hear. But
David listened, and he allowed the Lord to use this truth to correct his life.
6. Roper goes on to point out that David saw in her discernment that which made
her the woman he loved at first sight. She was a one of a kind woman in his sight.
Roper does such a brilliant job of expounding this quality that David fell in love
with. He wrote, The second thing to note is that Abigail's ministry to David turned
David's eyes to the Lord. He says, in sequence, Blessed is the Lord, blessed is your
discernment, and blessed are you. Her ministry was to get David's eyes on the Lord
- off himself and his own anger and his own resources, and onto the Lord, who
would take care of him. And while he could have praised her for many things, not
the least of which were her intelligence and beauty, he didn't say a word about
them. She had turned his attention to the Lord. She had caused him to praise the
Lord. And notice what he does praise about her. It is not her beauty, not her
intelligence; it is her discernment, her understanding of God's principles. We read
in Proverbs 3 1,
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
That is what evokes praise from a man. A wife or a Christian sister who knows the
Lord and knows his word is able to use it in a discerning way in the life of her
husband, to help him grow to maturity. That is what David praised about Abigail --

66. her discernment. In its characteristic way, Proverbs says,
As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,
So is a beautiful woman without discernment.
That is the same Hebrew term for discernment you find here in this story. There is
something very incongruous about a gold ring in a pig's nose. And there is
something very incongruous about a beautiful woman without spiritual
discernment. But David saw that Abigail was a woman of the Word. She was
discerning. She could lead him to a higher knowledge of God, a greater
understanding and appreciation of the character of God. He praises the Lord
because of it, and he praises her because of her discernment.
As I read the above insights of Roe, it dawned on me that Abigail may have played a
role in David's writing of the Psalms. He praises God repeatedly in them, and it was
Abigail who got him to look to God as his guide and protector, and the one to whom
he owed endless praise.
7. Constable, David is deeply impressed by Abigail and praised God for her good
judgment. He realizes that he was being controlled by the spirit of anger and
revenge and not the Spirit of God in him. He had the Spirit of God, but we see that
even such a man can override that Spirit and let another evil spirit take over and
lead him to folly. It can happen to the best, but he was fortunate to have this woman
come to rescue him. David was grateful, and had the very virtue that Nabal lacked
and that was gratitude for the help of another human being. She calmed him,
convinced him and changed him so that he did not do what was folly. David was
man enough and wise enough, to take counsel from a woman. He knew that the issue
wasn’t Abigail’s gender, but that God was using her at that time and place. David
does well both to receive her advice, and to praise her for her boldness in bringing
it.
8. Spurgeon wrote, Learn from this, dear brethren, that the best of men need to be
always on the watch, lest, in some sudden temptation, they should be carried off
their feet. You may fancy that you have no occasion to fear certain forms of
temptation, but you do not know what you may do. The wall of resolution may be
strong in one particular wind; but let the wind only blow from another quarter, and
the wall may speedily fall. You may think yourself to be strong simply because, as
yet, you have not been tested and tried as you will be sooner or later; and then, in a
single moment, when you are least prepared for it, you may be overthrown.
Remember our Lord’s words to his disciples, “What I say unto you I say unto all,
Watch;” for, in such an hour as ye think not, temptation may come upon you; and
woe be unto you if you are not found watching. Therefore, commit yourselves unto
the Lord, and “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”

67. There is this blessing about being restrained from sin, namely, that it saves us from
much sorrow in after life. It should be no grief or offense of heart unto David, said
Abigail, to think that he had shed blood causelessly, or had avenged himself. No
sinner, when converted, although God has forgiven him, can ever forgive himself;
and no child of God, although God has blotted out his sin, can ever blot it out of his
own memory as long as he is here on earth. You can see that David was a different
man, after his great sin, from what he had been before. He still sang psalms to God,
but there was a hoarseness about his voice which was not there before his great
transgression. His psalms were psalms of sorrow, whereas before they were glad and
joyful psalms that tripped to lightsome music. I remember once hearing a strange
sort of preacher say that sin did a believer no hurt;—a more terrible doctrine than
that could drop from no man’s lips, but then he added,—”except that it destroyed
his peace of mind;” and it seemed to me that such a result as that was hurt enough
even if there was nothing else. “He that wears the herb called ’heart’s-ease’ in his
bosom,” says Bunyan, “is a happy man even though he sings in rags;” but he whose
heart smites him, as David’s heart did, need want no harder blow. May those of you
who are unconverted be preserved from gross sin, and may those of us who are
saved be preserved from falling by temptation into any evil, lest we have to wring
our hands in anguish, and go with broken bones to our graves.
If there be but one cataract in a river, only one in a thousand miles, everybody
hears about it, and it is marked on the map; but if another river should flow on
smoothly, gladdening the meads on either hand, and bearing navies out to sea, it
would not cause such a noise as that one cataract would make. In like manner, a
holy life is not talked of, by an ungodly world, one half so much as one unholy act of
an inconsistent professor. How they delight to speak of that! How they roll the story
of the sins of God’s people under their tongues as sweet morsels! You may repent of
your backsliding, you may become even more zealous afterwards, as you should do;
but, my dear brethren, after having once stained your escutcheon, it is not easy to
wipe out the blot. It is infinitely better to be kept true to our first profession until we
enter into heaven, upheld and preserved by the love and grace of God.
There is a house on fire. Well, we are grateful if the fire-engine comes rattling up
almost immediately, if the water supply is abundant, and if, by great exertions,
every life is saved, and much of the property is preserved from destruction. Yet it
would have been a greater blessing if there had not been any conflagration at all.
There is serious sickness in the home; but the physician is skillful, the nurse is wise
and watchful, the disease takes a favorable turn, the man’s life is preserved, he is
restored to health, and is thankful for his recovery; yet he would rather not have
been sick. There is a wounded soldier; he is carried on an ambulance to the hospital,
the surgeons extract the bullet that injured him, and bind up his wounds; the man is
ultimately restored to the ranks, but he will carry to his grave the scars of the
wounds that he has suffered. It would have been a great deal better for him if he
had not been wounded at all. So is it with the wounds that sin hath made. Let the
results of evil be never so well removed, it can never be better for any of us to fall
into sin than to be kept out of it. It if were otherwise, it would look as if sin were not

68. that damning thing that God’s Word tells us it is; it would seem as though it were
but a trifle, and that there was no need of Calvary’s cross, or of all the wondrous
arrangements of everlasting wisdom and love for the saving of men from sin and its
awful consequences. Let us cry to God, my brethren, that we may be kept from sin.
may this be our prayer night and day, As wonderful as it is to be forgiven, it is a
greater blessing to never need it because you have been prevented from doing the
sin in the first place.
9 Abigail Van Buren decided that she would make her column “Dear Abby” as a
result of reading this verse. She wanted to be one who would likewise exercise good
judgment and give wisdom in difficult situations.
10. The following examples are just to illustrate the reality in history of female
saviors of men. We usually think of men saving women, but women also save men
just as Abigail saved all the men on her ranch, and then also saved David and all of
his men from doing a great act of evil.
JEWISH FEMALE HEROINS
Jewish women who have been true heroes in saving the lives of men by their wisdom
and courage include Deborah and Esther, but there have been many others in
history, and these are just a few below.
1. Irena Sendler saved nearly 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis, organizing a
ring of 20 Poles to smuggle them out of the Warsaw Ghetto in baskets and
ambulances. The Nazis arrested her, but she didn ’t talk under torture. After she
survived the war, she expressed regret - for doing too little.
2. The Holocaust is a history of enduring horror and sorrow. It seems as though
there is no spark of human concern, no act of humanity, to lighten that dark history.
Yet there were acts of courage and decency during the Holocaust - stories to bear
witness to goodness, love and compassion. Emilie Schindler was an inspiring
evidence of human nobility. She was not only a strong woman working alongside
her husband Oscar Schindler but a heroine in her own right. This remarkable
woman worked indefatigably to save the Schindler-Jews.
3. Resistance in The Third Reich was never as strong as in the occupied countries
of Europe. Nevertheless, there were a few brave souls who risked everything to defy
Hitler and the Nazi Régime, among them the perpetual rebel Countess Maria von
Maltzan. She battled on to the end and was prepared to pay the ultimate price to
rescue Jews.

69. Countess Maria Helene Francoise Izabel von Maltzan was born on March 25th,
1909, to enormous wealth in Silesia, Germany, and was raised on a private estate -
18.000 acre - as the youngest of eight.
She decided to study veterinary medicine, quite unusual for a girl during this time.
Her family was strictly against the idea, but her teachers supported her and she got
the permission. In 1928 she made her exam in Berlin and five years later she got her
doctorate in natural sciences.
Her sense of justice made her join different resistance movements against the Nazis
as early as 1933 and for years she worked as an underground-fighter. As the
brutality of the Nazi Régime accelerated with murder, violence and terror, the seeds
of their plan for the total extermination of the Jews dawned on Maria von Maltzan
in all its horror - and she immediately decided to act ..
She always responded to calls for help and took the Jews into her own home, fed
and protected them, right under the noses of the Gestapo. Throughout the war
Maria von Maltzan provided a safe haven for more than 60 Jews, arranging for
them to escape to safety. She falsified official visas and other documents and helped
many Jews escape from Berlin in trucks that she often drove herself.
AMERICAN FEMALE HEROINS
1. Sybil Ludington was a typical 16 year old girl in 1777. She was the eldest of 12
children and was often responsible for taking care of her younger siblings. She was
putting the younger children to bed on the night of April 26, 1777, when word
reached her house that the British were burning the town of Danbury, Connecticut,
which was only 25 miles away. Her father was a colonel in the local militia. His men
were scattered over a wide area around the Ludington house in Fredericksburg,
New York (now Ludington). Sybil convinced her father to let her ride and summon
the men. She rode on horseback over 40 miles on dark, unmarked roads to spread
the alert. Her course took her down through Carmel, on to Mahopac, and around to
Kent Cliffs and Farmers Mills and back home. She rode alone with only a stick to
prod her horse Star and to knock on the doors spreading the alert in time. The men
whom she helped to gather arrived just in time to help drive the British, under the
command of General William Tyron (who was also colonial governor of New York),
back to their ships in Long Island Sound. In this day and age a sixteen year old girl
alone on a darkened street is not safe. One can only imagine what it was like being a
16 year old girl aiding the rebellion during war-time within such a short distance
from the fighting and alone with no one for protection. Sybil Ludington was a true
American Hero.
Sybil's contribution to the war was not forgotten. Present day visitors to Putnam
County New York can trace her path on that midnight ride by following markers
placed along the route, and view a statue of her erected in 1961 on Route 52 beside
Gleneida Lake in Carmel on the route. There is a smaller copy of the statue located

70. in Washington, D.C. in Constitution Memorial Hall in DAR headquarters. Written
by Mrs. Todd James.
2. The Story of Sarah Emma Edmonds by Debra Pawlak
Sarah Emma EdmondsWhen President Abraham Lincoln needed volunteers
to defend the Union, thousands upon thousands of men rose to the challenge. With a
sense of adventure and a spark of intrigue, they banded together only to find the
reality of war more than they bargained for. Despite the traumatic times, some
distinguished themselves as heroes. Private Franklin Thompson was one such hero.
A nurse turned spy for the Union, Thompson became a master of disguise as he
infiltrated enemy camps learning their secrets. To be caught meant certain death,
but Thompson was well versed in secrets. After all, he had a secret of his own—
Private Franklin Thompson was really a woman.
Born in 1839 to Isaac and Betsy Edmondson on a farm in New Brunswick, Canada,
Emma was her father’s fourth and final disappointment. He wanted sons—strong
sons who could work the farm. Fate played a cruel trick on Isaac Edmonds. Aside
from four daughters, his only son, Thomas, suffered from epilepsy making him
useless in his father’s eyes. Bitterly disappointed, Isaac forced his girls to don boys’
clothes and work the fields. As the youngest, Emma took the brunt of his temper. No
matter how hard she tried to please her father, Isaac found fault with everything she
did. Not fast enough. Not sharp enough. Not good enough.
One thing Isaac couldn’t control was his daughter’s wild imagination. Emma
dreamed of faraway places and adventure. But back in the 1800s only men could
have such things. It was no wonder that in her musings, she pictured herself as a
man. A teenage tomboy, she preferred trousers to skirts and could outshoot any boy
her age. Still her father frowned upon her bad behavior.
When a local farmer expressed interest in marrying her, Isaac gladly agreed, but
Emma hated the idea and with her mother’s help she ran away. She changed her
name to Edmonds and took a job at a millinery shop in Salisbury. Hat making,
however, didn’t bring the adventure she yearned for, but Emma bided her time.
Eventually, when Isaac discovered her whereabouts, she knew what she had to do—
vanish. Emma Edmonds disappeared and Franklin Thompson took her place.
You can read of how she entered the military and became a very successful spy, and
of all of her heroic experiences at-http://
www.themediadrome.com/content/articles/history_articles/sarah_emma_edm
onds.htm
The author ends her account with these surprising words, It’s been estimated that
at least 400 women disguised themselves as men and actively participated in the
Civil War. Sarah Emma Edmonds’ service, however, stands out making her unique

71. among both men and women. While keeping her own secrets, she managed to care
for the sick and wounded under the most devastating circumstances. She risked her
life infiltrating enemy camps uncovering classified information to help the Union.
Born a Canadian, she adopted America and proved her loyalty time and time again:
“I am naturally fond of adventure, a little ambitious, and a good deal romantic—but
patriotism was the true secret of my success.”
34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of
Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you,
if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one
male belonging to Nabal would have been left
alive by daybreak.
1. One pretty woman facing an angry mob of 400 soldiers out for blood and she
brings them to a halt. Here is not a miracle, but close, for it is the special providence
of God where he works through natural circumstances and people to bring about
the result. The power of beauty and wisdom is awesome. How do you stop an angry
army? You bring them lunch. The humor of food being a peace offering. All love
food and it makes a difference in matters of peace.
2. The incongruity of one woman and an army of 400 angry men, and she comes out
the winner. Here is a woman between two men she marries and both are making big
mistakes, and she is the one who makes no mistake but ends up the heroin and
victor with a king for a husband. All would have been different and bad without
her. The humor of mistakes because of folly in thinking and not thinking.
3. David gives credit to God and to Abigail for preventing him from his deadly goal.
He made a vow, but as Poole says, “Hereby it plainly appears that oaths whereby
men bind themselves to any sin are null and void; and as it was a sin to make them,
so it is adding sin to sin to perform them.” It is important to remember that Abigail
did not come to David empty-handed. One reason her appeal was effective was
because she paid David what was owed to him. When David received it from Abigail,
he acknowledged that Nabal had paid the bill and there was nothing outstanding.
4. Overkill is folly, for it is an outrageous response to a minor problem. It is using
dynamite to get rid of gophers. Extremism is almost always a major mistake.
William Taylor point out the importance of seeing life in its proper persective so
that we do not blow things way out of proportion. David was provoked and thought
he was going after another giant warrior in his mind, when in reality he was only
going to crush a bug. He lost perspective and let his emotions go to an extreme.
Taylor wrote,

72. Note, in the second place, from this history, that little
things are more dangerous to the believer's life than great.
David could control himself when in the presence of Saul,
and again and again resisted the entreaties of his adherents
to put his adversary to death ; but when this churlish and
altogether contemptible Nabal speaks a few insulting words,
he is completely thrown off his guard, and gives way to the
most unhallowed anger and blood-thirsty revenge. And it
is so with the people of God still. For great things a Chris-tian
braces himself up prayerfully, and so he meets them
calmly and patiently ; but a little thing frets him, and pro-vokes
him to testiness and rage, because he deems it too
trivial to go to God with, and seeks to encounter it only in
his own strength. How common is this experience among
us ! The loss of a large sum seriously affecting our comfort
will be borne with equanimity, for we are driven to meet that
upon our knees ; but if one should cheat us out of a paltry
amount, it will annoy us, and stir us up to envy and revenge,
and we will vent our spleen in all manner of attempts to
bear down with the full force of law upon our adversary.
The death of a child will fill us with sadness, but will be
borne by us with believing resignation, because we see God's
providence in that ; but the accidental upsetting of a tea-urn,
or the thoughtless stupidity of a servant, will produce in
us an explosion of temper sufficient to shake the whole es-tablishment
to its foundation. Is not this too largely the
case with us all ? and when it is so, how often are we be-holden
to the Abigail beside us for soothing us down to
reason and propriety ? Surely we ought to be on our guard
against such irritability. And that we may be so efficiently,
let us see God's hand in all things ; let us turn to God in
every thing ; and, far from despising small things, let us
watch them the more closely the smaller they are, since
their very minuteness makes them only the more dangerous.
35 Then David accepted from her hand what she
had brought him and said, Go home in peace. I
have heard your words and granted your
request.
1. David gladly took the food she brought and sent her on her way in peace, for his

73. plan of revenge was over, and she had won the day. The power of a beautiful and
intelligent women to change the course of history is what we see here. The face that
launched a thousand ships is here the face and mind that stopped 400 hundred
angry men with swords ready to slaughter the innocent. It is the power of beauty
and of wisdom.
2. Chris Kelly is likely right when he says, I can imagine that David is sitting there
stunned, as he watches her disappear, and he’s thinking… “WOW! Now that’s a
woman! Not only did she succeed in saving her husbands worthless neck, but… she
saved me from a “knee jerk reaction” as well! Now that’s the kind of woman I
need… someone who can save me from my own worst self.”
3. ROPER, First, David listened to her. He took it. He knew he was wrong. He saw
where his impetuousness was carrying him. The thing which distinguishes David
from Nabal is that Nabal did not listen. Nabal was a fool. I'm sure that Abigail had
tried many times to encourage him in the same way, but he did not listen. You see, it
is sometimes difficult for men to listen to the exhortation of a Christian sister.
Because of our stubbornness and pride, we are fools. We don't want to hear. But
David listened, and he allowed the Lord to use this truth to correct his life.
36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the
house holding a banquet like that of a king. He
was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told
him nothing until daybreak.
1. Nabal was living the life of a king. He had it all, and now he revels in his riches as
he throws this banquet to reveal just how wealthy he is. He has abundance, and he is
celebrating his good fortune by getting plastered with drink. He does not even notice
that his beautiful wife is not there at his banquet. He has his drink and that is
enough. He is do drunk that it would be foolish to try and talk to him in that state,
and so Abigail, who does not do foolish things, in contrast to the men in her life this
day, waits until the next morning to share the news.
2. Nabal is living the eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die kind of life. He
has no grasp that his life was hanging by a thread even as he was celebrating.
3. Henry, Nabal dead drunk, 1 Samuel 25:36. Abigail came home, and, it should
seem, he had so many people and so much plenty about him that he neither missed
her nor the provisions she took to David; but she found him in the midst of his
jollity, little thinking how near he was to ruin by one whom he had foolishly made
his enemy. Sinners are often most secure when they are most in danger and

74. destruction is at the door. Observe, (1.) How extravagant he was in the
entertainment of his company: He held a feast like the feast of a king, so magnificent
and abundant, though his guests were but his sheep-shearers. This abundance might
have been allowed if he had considered what God gave him his estate for, not to look
great with, but to do good with. It is very common for those that are most niggardly
in any act of piety or charity to be most profuse in gratifying a vain humour or a
base lust. A mite is grudged to God and his poor; but, to make a fair show in the
flesh, gold is lavished out of the bag. If Nabal had not answered to his name, he
would never have been thus secure and jovial, till he had enquired whether he was
safe from David's resentments; but (as bishop Hall observes) thus foolish are carnal
men, that give themselves over to their pleasures before they have taken any care to
make their peace with God. (2.) How sottish he was in the indulgence of his own
brutish appetite: He was very drunk, a sign he was Nabal, a fool, that could not use
his plenty without abusing it, could not be pleasant with his friends without making
a beast of himself. There is not a surer sign that a man has but little wisdom, nor a
surer way to ruin the little he has, than drinking to excess. Nabal, that never
thought he could bestow too little in charity, never thought he could bestow too
much in luxury. Abigail, finding him in this condition (and probably those about
him little better, when the master of the feast set them so bad an example), had
enough to do to set the disordered house to-rights a little, but told Nabal nothing of
what she had done with reference to David, nothing of his folly in provoking David,
of his danger or of his deliverance, for, being drunk, he was as incapable to hear
reason as he was to speak it. To give good advice to those that are in drink is to cast
pearls before swine; it is better to stay till they are sober.
4. Guzik, There he was, holding a feast in his house: Nabal lives up to his name; he
is a fool. His life is in imminent danger - his wife knows it, all his servants know it,
but he doesn't know it. He eats and gets drunk as if all is fine, and he hasn't a care
in the world. In this regard, Nabal is a picture of the sinner who goes on rejecting
God, without regard to God's coming judgment. Just as certain as it was that David
would have killed Nabal, so it is certain that God will judge the sinner who
continues to reject Him. Like the feast of a king: All Nabal had to do was invite
David to this tremendous feast, and Nabal's life would have been spared. Nabal's
own greed and foolishness was his undoing.
5. Constable, Abigail wisely waited until morning before telling her husband what
a close brush he had had with death. By then the wine had gone out of him. The
writer made a clever play on words here. The Hebrew word for wineskin in nebel. It
is as though he was suggesting that Nabal was a nebel. When the wine had gone out
of him, he was nothing. The writer may even have been suggesting that all there was
to Nabal was his bladder, his personal wineskin.

75. 6. Pink, Yes, the fool Nabal vividly portrays the case of multitudes all around us.
The curse of God’s broken law hanging over them, yet feasting as though all is
well with their souls for eternity. The sword of divine justice already drawn to smite
them down, yet their hearts merry with the pleasures of sin for a season. The
Water of Life neglected, but drunken with the intoxicating things of this
perishing world. A grave awaiting them in a few days’ time, but flirting with death
during the brief and precious interval. In such a benumbed and giddy state, that it
would be the casting of pearls before swine for the godly to speak seriously unto
them. O how securely the devil holds his victims! O the beguiling and paralyzing
effects of sin! O the utterly hopeless condition of the unbelieving, unless a sovereign
God intervenes, works a miracle of grace, and snatches him as a brand from the
burning!
7. Deffinbaugh, Nabal represents much of what is worst in men. Nabal is arrogant
and self-sufficient. He does not recognize that his prosperity comes from God. He
judges men by external standards, such as their ancestry and popularity. He does
not esteem wisdom and will not listen to those who could spare him much trouble,
and even save his life. He does not appreciate his wife and the wisdom God has given
to her. He thinks his wealth is the measure of a man, and thus he feels he needs no
one beyond himself. He is the man who is completely oblivious to the destruction
which lies ahead. Nabal is man at his worst. Nabal is a man desperately in need of
grace, but completely confident that he can make it on his own. Nabal cannot and
will not recognize God’s king when he sees him, and when he is told who he is.
Nabal is a man destined for death.
37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober,
his wife told him all these things, and his heart
failed him and he became like a stone.
1. Everyone was pleased with the way Abigail handled this dangerous situation, but
Nabal was livid with rage that she would waste his food on the scum like David and
his men. He had a fit like a miser would with seeing money go to waste, and his
heart froze up and he sank into a deep grief at his loss and became a stiff and lifeless
stone. His love of money was the root of his evil, and it killed him. How many fools
have died for the love of money? The number is not small, for this is a major part of
the history of fools.
2. JON D. LEVENSON The account of his demise in two stages, first the death of
his heart and then of himself (v 37), augments this effect by portraying a huge body,
alive but subhuman, breathing but not feeling, not responding, a living being turned
to stone for ten days. And what is the catastrophe that does him in? The loss of

76. various perishables and exactly five sheep (1 Sam 25:18) out of his three thousand (v
2). Nabal suffers a fatal stroke over a negligible loss. How the death fits the life!
3. Ray Pritchard As for Nabal, he comes to a sad end. While Abigail is saving his
life, he’s home having a party. When she finally arrives at home, he is drunk. The
next morning when she tells him how close he and his men came to being massacred,
the news gives him a heart attack. He became “like a stone” (meaning he was in a
coma) and died ten days later.
The fool is drunk. It’s not surprising that Nabal is drunk. Being drunk is a cheap,
destructive substitute for what God wants to do in your life. People drink for all
kinds of reasons. Sometimes it’s to try and make the pain go away. Sometimes it’s
just to try and find happiness. Being drunk can temporarily help us forget our
problems, but in the morning, they all come back. God has the answer. (Eph 5:18
KJV) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
The emptiness, the powerlessness, the hurt, the sorrow can all be resolved through
the Holy Spirit. He gives you strength and help to either change the problems or
endure them. And you don’t feel lousy in the morning. Don’t settle for Satan’s
cheap substitute.
4. Someone wrote, Nabal was a coward at heart; and when he realized how near
his folly had brought him to a sudden death, he seemed smitten with paralysis.
Fearful that David would still pursue his purpose of revenge, he was filled with
horror, and sank down in a condition of helpless insensibility. After ten days he
died. The life that God had given him had been only a curse to the world. In the
midst of his rejoicing and making merry, God had said to him, as He said to the rich
man of the parable, This night thy soul shall be required of thee. Luke 12:20.
5. Anne Grant lists some reasons for his stroke or heart attack.
He has been disobeyed.
The food and wine he wanted to protect are no longer his.
They are being devoured by his enemy.
He and his men would have been slaughtered,
But they were saved by a woman.
Like so many people who expect to be in control
And then realize there’s nothing they can do about the situation,
Nabal’s confusion turns to panic.
6. Henry, Nabal again dead with melancholy, 1 Samuel 25:37. Next morning, when
he had come to himself a little, his wife told him how near to destruction he had
brought himself and his family by his own rudeness, and with what difficulty she
had interposed to prevent it; and, upon this, his heart died within him and he
became as a stone. Some suggest that the expense of the satisfaction made to David,
by the present Abigail brought him, broke his heart: it seems rather that the

77. apprehension he now had of the danger he had narrowly escaped put him into a
consternation, and seized his spirits so that he could not recover it. He grew sullen,
and said little, ashamed of his own folly, put out of countenance by his wife's
wisdom. How is he changed! His heart over-night merry with wine, next morning
heavy as a stone; so deceitful are carnal pleasures, so transient the laughter of the
fool. The end of that mirth is heaviness. Drunkards are sometimes sad when they
reflect upon their own folly. Joy in God makes the heart always light. Abigail could
never, by her wise reasonings, bring Nabal to repentance; but now, by her faithful
reproof, she brings him to despair.
7. Henry Smith, At the shock his heart died within him and he became stone~ a
stroke of paralysis is the natural explanation. 38. Ten days later, Yahweh smote
Nabal with a second stroke which was fatal.
38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal
and he died.
1. Thanks to Abigail David saw the wisdom of waiting for God to take revenge on
the foolish. It was a New Testament principle to so wait. Paul wrote in Rom. 12:17-
19, Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all
men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take
your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written,
Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. David already knew this in
relationship to king Saul, and so he did not kill him when he had the chance. Saul
was another fool that David had to endure, and Saul admitted he was a fool in
26:21.
2. He died as a fool because he refused to put aside his greed and show gratitude to
the man who provided an important service to him that made him richer. This was
an evil in the sight of God, and he was judged as a wicked miser who only used his
wealth for his own indulgence rather than to be a blessing to others. An ungrateful
heart is a great wickedness in the eyes of God. To better understand just how much
God hates this sin of depriving people of their just wages, as he did with David, let
me share a more indepth study of this subject.
Nabal was a tightwad, and he refused to pay David for a valid service, and it made
David so mad he wanted to kill him. Abigail saved him from this folly, but God took
care of it for David and ten days later he struck him down. The question then is why
is God also so angry with Nabal enough to kill him? Is it that great a crime to not
pay legitimate wages to workers who do their job and make the employer more
wealthy than he could ever be without their help and cooperation? God’s actions are

78. a clear answer to that question, but there is plenty more to back up the answer that
says, yes, it is a great crime worthy of severe judgment to deprive anyone of their
just wages.
Jeremiah made it clear that judgment is deserved when people get so greedy that
they refuse to pay just wages for labor. He wrote, ““Woe to him who builds his
palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen
work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. 14 He says, ‘I will build myself a
great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it
with cedar and decorates it in red. 15 “Does it make you a king to have more and
more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and
just, so all went well with him. 16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and
so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD. 17
“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent
blood and on oppression and extortion.” (Jer 22.13ff)
He is saying that when you make an extra buck because you don’t pay the person
who helps you get ahead, you do not know God at all, for you have no concept of
what it is to love others. You are so self-centered and full of greed that love cannot
penetrate your heart. You have basically rejected God and love, and have placed
yourself near the head of the line of those waiting for judgment to fall. God is love
and he hates what is unloving, and one of the most unloving things anyone can do is
refuse to pay for labor done for their benefit. We read it again in Mal. 3:15, “ So I
will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,
adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who
oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear
me, says the LORD Almighty.” To gip people out of their wages was a sin and
crime right up there with the worst of them.
Leviticus 19:13 makes it clear that it was a law just like the Ten Commandments.
'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. 'Do not hold back the wages of a hired
man overnight.” The poor man is praying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and if
you withhold his wages until the next day, he goes home to a family with no bread. It
is cruel and unloving, and it makes God angry right along with the man who is
deprived of a just wage at a fair time. If this is not clear enough, try this one,
Deuteronomy 24:15 “Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor
and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will
be guilty of sin.”
Unfortunately, it was one of the miseries that laborers had to endure. They had to
wait patiently in hope that they would be paid, and it was torture for them, for they
and their families needed it desperately, but there was no guarantee that the boss
would come through. Maybe he had plans that took him away and he forgot to pay
his workers before he left to his big party with the other bosses. Maybe he was going
to mean on purpose and make them suffer until the next day to show them who was
boss. You can imagine all kinds of different reasons for this injustice, and we know

79. it happened quite often because Job used the agonizing experience of the poor man
waiting for his wages to illustrate how miserable life can be. He said in Job 6:1-3,
1 Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired
man?
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for
his wages,
3 so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned
to me.
When Jesus sent out his disciples two by two to all the towns he said in Luke 10:5-7
When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there,
your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating
and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not
move around from house to house.” Jesus establishes by these words that it is a rule
in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament that workers are to receive a
just wage, and it is a violation of the will of God to deprive them of that wage. Paul
makes this clear in 1 Timothy 5:18 “For the Scripture says, Do not muzzle the ox
while it is treading out the grain, [ Deut. 25:4] and The worker deserves his
wages. [ Luke 10:7]
James 5:4-6 hits hard at this sin of depriving workers of their wages, and he makes
it clear that judgment is the price people pay for their greed in doing so. He writes,
“Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying
out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord
Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened
yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent
men, who were not opposing you.”
All of this is to make it understandable what happened to Nabal. He was a great
sinner in this area of not paying just wages to those who served him. We know he
did it with David and his men, but there were no doubt others who were also the
victims of his greed. It seems radical how God judged him, and it almost seems that
God is picking on him unfairly, but in the light of all that Scripture says of how God
hates this sin, and of how he warns of the judgment it will bring, it makes good sense
why Nabal had to die in such a tragic way. It was a just judgment on a man of
unjust and unloving behavior toward needy people.
3. Robert Roe points out something here that few ever give a thought to, and it
reveals the grace of God even in judgment. Why in the world would God let Nabal
live for ten days when he could have struck him down the first night? Roe sees a
pattern of how God's judgment falls from the great flood of Noah's day to the end of
time. He writes,
Then the fountains of the deep opened up and the heavens opened up. [Apparently

80. there was some kind of heavy cloud canopy around the earth in those days that
came pouring down.] The intriguing thing is God did not send a gigantic flood that
swept everyone away just like that. He had the water slowly rise for 40 days and 40
nights until it finally covered the top of the highest hill. Why? Why did God
deliberately do this in an unhurried way? What were the people doing while the
water was slowly, inexorably rising, pushing them to the top of the hills before
covering them? What is God giving them? Time to repent. [What did God give the
Jews at Kadesh-Barnea? Forty days to go in and see if the promised land was
exactly the way he had said it was, but even though it was, they still refused to go in.
So they spent a total of 40 years in the wilderness until that generation died off.
[During that time, though, many did repent.] God loved those wicked people of
Noah's day. God gave them 120 years of Noah's preaching righteousness, and then
he gave them 40 days of inexorable approaching death to repent. He really wanted
them to repent. In II Peter 3:9, Peter argues that God is long suffering. God is not
slow concerning promise as some men count slowness, he says, but he is long
suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance (change their mind) I think God honored the I Peter 3:1-6 principle for
Abigail's sake. My personal feeling is that those 10 days in which Nabal had to lie
helpless looking up while Abigail loved him and ministered to him were deliberately
given to him so he would have an opportunity to repent. I like to think that he did..
4. Nabal was saved from a sudden and violent death only to suffer a longer and
more painful death as he lay dying for ten days.
5. William Taylor wrote,
Let us note, then, first, the suggestive contrast which is here
presented in the deaths of Samuel and Nabal. On the one
hand, we have a good man, taken to his reward after a long
life spent in the service of his God, and a whole nation gath-ers
to weep around his tomb. On the other, we have a sur-ly,
selfish, sottish man called to his account, and no tear is
shed over his grave ; but instead, a feeling of relief is expe-rienced
by all who were connected with him, for they are all
conscious that they will be the happier for his absence. In
the one case, the life on earth was but the prelude to a high-er,
holier, and more useful existence in the heavenly world ;
in the other, the earthly character was but the germ out of
which would spring, in the state beyond, a deeper, darker,

81. and more repulsive wickedness even than that which he had
manifested here. I do not think that David wrote the 37th
Psalm at this particular date, since, from one expression
which it contains, he seems to have penned that ode in his
old age ; but, whensoever it was written, it is hard for me to
believe that he had not before his mind at the time the con-trast
between Nabal and Samuel which this history so vivid-ly
presents. What could be more appropriate to Nabal than
these words : I have seen the wicked in great power, and
spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed
away, and lo, he was not : yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found. And surely David thought of Samuel when
he wrote this verse : Mark the perfect man, and behold the
upright : for the end of that man is peace.
5. We do not grasp the full evil of Nabal until we study more of just how much God
hated the sin of Nabal's tightwad spirit towards those who labored to increase his
wealth. When we get the whole picture we will feel it was just indeed when God took
his life. The following study will reveal just how hateful his sin was to God.
Nabal was a tightwad, and he refused to pay David for a valid service, and it made
David so man he wanted to kill him. Abigail saved him from this folly, but God took
care of it for David and ten days later he struck him down. The question then is why
is God also so angry with Nabal enough to kill him? Is it that great a crime to not
pay legitimate wages to workers who do their job and make the employer more
wealthy than he could ever be without their help and cooperation? God’s actions
are a clear answer to that question, but there is plenty more to back up the answer
that says, yes, it is a great crime worthy of severe judgment to deprive anyone of
their just wages.
Jeremiah made it clear that judgment is deserved when people get so greedy that
they refuse to pay just wages for labor. He wrote, ““Woe to him who builds his
palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen
work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. 14 He says, ‘I will build myself a
great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it
with cedar and decorates it in red. 15 “Does it make you a king to have more and

82. more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and
just, so all went well with him. 16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and
so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD. 17
“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent
blood and on oppression and extortion.” (Jer 22.13ff)
He is saying that when you make an extra buck because you don’t pay the person
who helps you get ahead, you do not know God at all, for you have no concept of
what it is to love others. You are so self-centered and full of greed that love cannot
penetrate your heart. You have basically rejected God and love, and have placed
yourself near the head of the line of those waiting for judgment to fall. God is love
and he hates what is unloving, and one of the most unloving things anyone can do is
refuse to pay for labor done for their benefit. We read it again in Mal. 3:15, “ So I
will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,
adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who
oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear
me, says the LORD Almighty.” To gip people out of their wages was a sin and
crime right up there with the worst of them.
Leviticus 19:13 makes it clear that it was a law just like the Ten Commandments.
'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. 'Do not hold back the wages of a hired
man overnight.” The poor man is praying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and if
you withhold his wages until the next day, he goes home to a family with no bread.
It is cruel and unloving, and it makes God angry right along with the man who is
deprived of a just wage at a fair time. If this is not clear enough, try this one,
Deuteronomy 24:15 “Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor
and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will
be guilty of sin.”
Unfortunately, it was one of the miseries that laborers had to endure. They had to
wait patiently in hope that they would be paid, and it was torture for them, for they
and their families needed it desperately, but there was no guarantee that the boss
would come through. Maybe he had plans that took him away and he forgot to pay
his workers before he left to his big party with the other bosses. Maybe he was going
to mean on purpose and make them suffer until the next day to show them who was
boss. You can imagine all kinds of different reasons for this injustice, and we know
it happened quite often because Job used the agonizing experience of the poor man
waiting for his wages to illustrate how miserable life can be. He said in Job 6:1-3,
1 Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired
man?
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for
his wages,
3 so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned
to me.

83. When Jesus sent out his disciples two by two to all the towns he said in Luke 10:5-7
When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there,
your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating
and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not
move around from house to house.” Jesus establishes by these words that it is a rule
in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament that workers are to receive a
just wage, and it is a violation of the will of God to deprive them of that wage. Paul
makes this clear in 1 Timothy 5:18 “For the Scripture says, Do not muzzle the ox
while it is treading out the grain, [ Deut. 25:4] and The worker deserves his
wages. [ Luke 10:7]
James 5:4-6 hits hard at this sin of depriving workers of their wages, and he makes
it clear that judgment is the price people pay for their greed in doing so. He writes,
“Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying
out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord
Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have
fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered
innocent men, who were not opposing you.”
All of this is to make it understandable what happened to Nabal. He was a great
sinner in this area of not paying just wages to those who served him. We know he
did it with David and his men, but there were no doubt others who were also the
victims of his greed. It seems radical how God judged him, and it almost seems that
God is picking on him unfairly, but in the light of all that Scripture says of how God
hates this sin, and of how he warns of the judgment it will bring, it makes good
sense why Nabal had to die in such a tragic way. It was a just judgment on a man of
unjust and unloving behavior toward needy people.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he
said, Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my
cause against Nabal for treating me with
contempt. He has kept his servant from doing
wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down
on his own head.
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to
become his wife.
Nabal was able to live in a fable

84. Where he was the king of all men.
He proudly drank himself under the table,
And vowed he would do it again, and again.
He expected life's party wound never end,
And he reveled in his riches galore,
But God had some really bad news he would send,
And quite quickly, Nabal would be no more.
When David heard it he shouted in praise
Thank God this enemy is now dead.
Your ways O Lord truly amaze,
For you brought his wrongdoing down on his head.
You brought me peace to my troubled mind,
And you removed a thorn from my side,
And to top it off you helped me find
The perfect woman to be my wife.
Abigail did not debate,
If she should become David's mate.
Not for a moment did she hesitate,
Even though they did not date,
For she just could not wait
To grab her stuff and relocate,
And with him a new future create.
Glenn Pease
1. I wonder how many people read the obituaries so eagerly as David. As soon as he
heard that Nabal was dead he began praising God for the good news. He is not only
grateful that this ungrateful man has suffered the consequences of his folly, but that
God has protected him from being as equally foolish in going to kill him. He is also
grateful to Abigail for her role in protecting him from this folly, and he is grateful
also that now he can have this gorgeous and precious woman as his bride. Some feel
the funeral of her first husband and the wedding to her second husband should not
be using the same flowers. In other words, they seem a little too close together. It
seems too quick from the modern perspective, for she had no time to even be a
widow, but it was different in that day. Many a widow was taken immediately to
become the wife of another man, for a woman alone was living in constant danger of
being abused.
2. David lost no time in courtship. He saw this women only once and was taken with
her. When he learned she was a widow he sent a messenger to take his proposal of
marriage to her. We see some unusual proposals of marriage on video, but who

85. sends someone else to propose for you? This is strange and funny. She was a widow
for a day and had little to no sorrow to get through, for Nabal was a drunken fool
who almost got everybody killed by his stubborn self-centered greed.
3. Jamison wrote, This unceremonious proceeding was quite in the style of Eastern
monarchs, who no sooner take a fancy for a lady than they dispatch a messenger to
intimate their royal wishes that she should henceforth reside in the palace; and her
duty is implicitly to obey. David's conduct shows that the manners of the Eastern
nations were already imitated by the great men in Israel; and that the morality of
the times which God permitted, gave its sanction to the practice of polygamy. His
marriage with Abigail brought him a rich estate. David had so many reasons to be
happy at this point.
4. Pink, David was charmed not only with the beauty of her person and the
prudence of her character, but also with her evident piety—the most valuable
quality of all in a wife. Abigail being now a widow, and David’s own wife living in
adultery, he sent messengers with a proposal of marriage to her.
Pink is concerned that we do not read too much into this praise of David, for it can
be read in a way that makes him rejoicing in the death of an enemy, and so it is
really a rejoicing in the very revenge he was prevented from taking. Pink wants us
to see that this is no more than the common pleasure in the defeat of evil people in
their plans. He wrote, It is not that David was guilty of unholy glee over the
wretched end of one who had wronged him, but that he rejoiced in the display of
God’s glory, of the exercise of divine justice, and the triumphing of piety over
iniquity. Therein lies the real key to a number of passages which many of our
moderns suppose breathe only a vengeful spirit: as though God erected a lower
standard of holiness in Old Testament times than is now given to us. Such was not
the case: the law, equally with the Gospel, required love for the neighbor.
As this subject has been so sadly wrested by Dispensationalists, let us add a few
words here. Take for example Psalm 58:10, The righteous shall rejoice when he
seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Superficial
people say, But that is altogether contrary to the spirit of this dispensation! But
read on: So that a man shall say. Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily
He is a God that judgeth in the earth (v. 11). It was not the exercise of a spirit of
malice, which took delight in seeing the destruction of their foes: no indeed: for in
the Old Testament the divine command was, Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth (Prov. 24:17). Instead, it was the heart bowing in worship before the
governmental dealings of God, adoring that Justice which gave unto the wicked
their due. And where the heart is not completely under the dominion of maudlin
sentimentality, there will be rejoicing today when some notoriously wicked
character is manifestly cut down by the holy hand of God: so it will be at the end of
this era: see Revelation 18:20; 19:1, 2.
5. The following poem tells the whole story of David, Abigail and Nabal.

86. Abigail - A Kinder, Happier Fate
by James Vasquez
A woman of more charm and wit,
Than any you might hail,
In Carmel or surrounding towns,
Was beauteous Abigail.
And known as well for wisdom and,
For goodness through and through,
The poor went not away denied,
Her kindness always knew.
Throughout her domicile she reigned,
A queen, as all could tell,
Beloved by servants and by kin,
Revered by them as well.
But sadly she was married to,
A man of foolish ilk,
Who loved his rowdy feasts, his drink,
His garments of fine silk.
And wealth beyond compare he had,
Of sheep and goats no end,
On land extending far beyond,
Where hill and plain did blend.
And why, some asked, did she consent,
This man to call her mate?
For with her charms she merited,
A kinder, happier fate.
And now another virtue I,
Will state that may explain,
Just why she chose to marry him,
And as his wife remain.
A life of earnest faith she led,
In hopes that one day he,
Would waken to the voice of God,
And all his folly see.
And as the years passed slowly by,
And little change she knew,

87. Her hopes began to dim somewhat,
As hopes denied will do.
And thus resigned, she lived with him,
And often sought excuse,
For boorish actions, drinking and,
Continual abuse.
She finally wondered if God's plan,
She had misunderstood,
For nothing less did she desire,
And trusted it was good.
But then one day a servant came,
Quite breathlessly to say,
From distant field he came where he,
Was shearing sheep that day,
With Nabal (spouse of Abigail),
When suddenly certain men,
Appeared and asked for food and drink,
And numbered fully ten.
And these were men from David's camp,
The servant then affirmed,
Who in the past our safety had,
Without a loss confirmed.
But now in need and seeing beasts,
Throughout our master's land,
Had come imploring meekly for,
Whatever was at hand.
'And who is David,' Nabal said,
'That I should give him food,
And who this son of Jesse now?'
He asked in peevish mood.
And none among your servants has,
A word to Nabal said,
Or e'er been able to persuade,
This man so poorly bred.
I greatly fear, the servant said,
That vengeance now is due,
For surely David will return,

88. And bring his army, too!
And quickly, then, did Abigail,
Perceive the peril and,
A gala feast for David was,
Prepared at her command,
Thus wine and bread, and roasted grain,
And sheep well-stuffed and dressed,
And fig and raisin cakes as well,
In truth, all that was best,
She loaded fast upon some mules,
And straightway then set out,
To see if with God's help she might,
Prevent a bloody route.
And this she did in secret for,
If Nabal were aware,
He would have overruled his wife,
And stopped things then and there.
And so it was she met him as,
He led his men astride,
Full bent on taking vengeance for,
His humble plea denied.
And Abigail bowed low in hopes,
This slaughter to deter,
And pleaded that the blame might fall,
Not on her spouse but her.
I saw them not when they appeared,
Your men so kindly sent,
Had I been there, no doubt, I would,
All that they asked have lent.
And Nabal as his name implies,
A fool he is at heart.
But let not vengeance guide you now,
Nor ever be your part.
The Lord has graciously restrained,
Your hand from doing wrong,
And may you ever triumph and,
Proclaim the victor's song.

89. Now let this gift, my lord, appease,
Your men who for bloodshed,
Will not bear guilt as in your path,
They turn aside instead.
And when in time the Lord has done,
All that to you he's vowed,
Remember then, your servant here,
On bended knee and bowed.
And David was quite taken as,
She humbly sought his grace,
Nor was he yet unmindful of,
Her kind and lovely face.
Now praise to God, he answered her,
For he has sent you nigh,
And all your people kept this day,
Who were about to die.
For with four hundred men I thought,
By midnight to arrive,
And truly by dawn's light there'd be,
No male left alive,
And may God's blessing be on you,
For judgment shown as well,
And thus I've not offended him,
The God of Israel.
And David turned with all his men,
Who that night feasted well,
While Abigail sought out her spouse,
Their perilous state to tell.
She found him feasting and quite drunk,
As in a stupor grand,
And so she waited till the morn,
That he might understand.
And then he heard how David's troop,
Had come to slay the lot,
And how save by his wife's bold plan,
His life would now be naught.

90. And at these words this churlish man,
Fell straightway to the ground,
His selfish life began to ebb,
And soon no more was found.
Now David waited not the day,
His nation's crown to see,
He sent at once to Abigail,
That she his wife might be.
And all her wealth she shared with him,
As every woman does,
But greater was the wealth she brought,
By who she ever was.”
6. David was thankful that justice had been done, and his name was vindicated by
the death of Nabal. He was grateful that only he died and not all the males on his
ranch, for this would have been a great evil mark on his life. He was grateful for the
women who spared him from the biggest mistake of his life.
40 His servants went to Carmel and said to
Abigail, David has sent us to you to take you to
become his wife.
1. David saw no need for delay, for he knew she did not love the man she was forced
to live with, and he knew that she was the kind of woman he needed as the king, for
she had a good head on her and could be a helpful advisor to protect him from
decisions made in anger. She was also a sight to see, and would be what any king
would want at his side. Beauty and brains were not an easy combination to come by
when seeking a wife, and so David jumped at the chance, and she jumped on her
donkey and they jumped together into marriage.
2. An unknown author wrote, Now David was not turned off by Abigail’s
seemingly insubordination to her husband, Nabal. He could have thought of her
negatively and say, “If Abigail doesn’t obey her husband Nabal all the time and if I
marry her, she would do the same to me.” David did not think of her negatively but
rather thought positively of her sense of righteousness. There is something beautiful
about Abigail and her sense of righteousness. He knew that marrying Abigail might
mean receiving rebukes from her whenever he strays from righteousness.
Nevertheless, he would not mind since he was someone who wanted to excel in

91. righteousness. He was someone who does not mind being told that he is wrong. He is
someone who wanted to base his marriage on principles. For all these, he was willing
to take Abigail as his wife. She stands out as one of the great women in the bible.
The story is not recorded here but possibly, Abigail must have been a tremendous
influence on David’s life during his formative years before he was enthroned as
king. Abigail must have been a positive influence for righteousness in David’s life.
41 She bowed down with her face to the ground
and said, Here is your maidservant, ready to
serve you and wash the feet of my master's
servants.
1. Abigail bowed to these servants of David and with her face to the ground
expressed her willingness to accept David's proposal. She reveals another virtue of
her character here by expressing her humility and submission to her man to the
point of being willing to do the most lowly task of washing the feet of his servants.
She was a woman of wealth and had many servants to do her dirty work, but she is
here saying she will stoop to those dirty tasks she never had to do in order to be a
part of the household of David. She was as smitten with him as he was of her. We
have to keep in mind, however, that the language of humility was often exaggerated
in that age, and so it is unlikely that David actually asked her to wash anyone's feet,
or that she would not be shocked if he did, and make him sleep on the couch for
suggesting such a thing.
2. Henry, Abigail's wedding. David was so charmed with the beauty of her person,
and the uncommon prudence of her conduct and address, that, as soon as was
convenient, after he heard she was a widow, he informed her of his attachment to
her (1 Samuel 25:39), not doubting but that she who approved herself so good a wife
to so bad a husband as Nabal would much more make a good wife to him, and
having taken notice of her respect to him and her confidence of his coming to the
throne. 1. He courted by proxy, his affairs, perhaps, not permitting him to come
himself. 2. She received the address with great modesty and humility (1 Samuel
25:41), reckoning herself unworthy of the honor, yet having such a respect for him
that she would gladly be one of the poorest servants of his family, to wash the feet of
the other servants. None so fit to be preferred as those that can thus humble
themselves. 3. She agreed to the proposal, went with his messenger, took a retinue
with her agreeable to her quality, and she became his wife, 1 Samuel 25:42. She did
not upbraid him with his present distresses, and ask him how he could maintain her,
but valued him, (1.) Because she knew he was a very good man. (2.) Because she
believed he would, in due time, be a very great man. She married him in faith, not

92. questioning but that, though now he had not a house of his own that he durst bring
her to, yet God's promise go him would at length be fulfilled. Thus those who join
themselves to Christ must be willing now to suffer with him, believing that hereafter
they shall reign with him.
42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended
by her five maids, went with David's messengers
and became his wife.
1. There was no need for a long period of thinking about this proposal. She
practically leaped on her donkey and was ready to go. This was a dream come true.
She did not need to spend her life serving a fool but could become the wife of a
sensible man. Here is a woman who changed history by preserving David from folly.
She was cool and humble and wise in the midst of men who were fools and hotheads.
A woman saves the day and the future. She is truly one of the greatest women in the
Bible, and an ideal character worthy of imitation by both males and females. The
speed with which she accepted David proposal indicates her marriage with Nabal
was an arranged one, and she did not love him at all, and so needed no time to
grieve at his loss.
2. David becomes wealthy by marriage, for Abigail had her five servants, and this is
a sign of her enormous wealth, and she becomes David's wife. She brings him the
resources he needs to press on until he becomes the official king of Israel. She
needed a man to protect her, for a woman alone was always at risk, and David was
just the right man at the right time in her life. She had to love him, for she knew it
was going to be difficult because he was on the run from king Saul, but she joined
him in exile rather than live on her ranch alone.
3. Her life was not always pleasant on her way to being a queen in a castle. She first
had to live as the wife of an outlaw on the run, and she faced many dangers. She had
to love in the wilderness first, and then she lived with David in the Philistine city of
Gath, as we read in I Sam. 27:3. Then she relocated to the Philistine city of Ziklag in
I Sam. 27:6. In I Sam. 30:1-5 we read that this city was raided by the Amalekites
while David was away with his men planning to go to war with Saul, and she was
carried away captive along with all the other people of the city. It had to be a time of
horror for her, but by the grace of God David rescued her and all of the people.
Finally she lived in relative peace with David as his royal wife, and when they lived
at Hebron where he was anointed king of Judah she bore him a son by the name of
Chileab or Daniel in
II Sam. 3:3. Later whe moved to Jerusalem where David was crowned the king of all
Israel in II Sam. 5:5-7. It is amazing that we do not know more about this woman as
queen in David's castle. Some suggest that she may have died in childbirth because

93. she only had the one child. Robert Roe has an interesting note on this child. He
wrote, Intriguing thing is they did have a son called Chileab, and Chileab means
restraint. The same word used in I Samuel 25, verse 33 who have kept me this
day from bloodshed. Here is this beautiful woman and what is it that David
remembers most about her still? What is the thing that lives in David's mind about
Abigail? Restraint! This godly woman who was used to keep God's king out of
trouble apparently was not given a long life by God, but her impact on David went
on for years.
4. Pink uses her as a picture of the faith of the believer in Christ. You know that life
can still be a trial in following him, but you also believe you will reign with him
forever, and so you follow him with perfect loyalty. Pink wrote, At the time, David
was an homeless wanderer, outlawed; yet Abigail was willing not only to forsake her
own house and comfortable position, but to share his trials and endure hardships
for his sake. Nevertheless, she knew it would be only for a brief season: she married
in faith, assured of the fulfillment of God’s promises (v. 30) and confident that in
due course she would reign with him! And this is what true conversion is: a
turning of our back upon the old life, willing to suffer the loss of all things for
Christ, with faith looking forward to the future.
4B. Deffinbaugh even makes her an illustration of Christ as our substitute. He
wrote, Abigail is an illustration (if you prefer, a type) of God’s provision for
man’s salvation. Due to the folly of Nabal, Abigail’s entire household is in danger.
Every male is condemned to death. Unless she does something, they will be killed by
David. In wisdom and humility, Abigail steps forward, taking the guilt of all the
condemned upon herself, offering herself in their place (see verse 24). Is this not a
picture, a prototype of our Lord Jesus Christ? Due to Adam’s sin and our own, we
have all been condemned to death. The day of our doom hastens, but the Lord Jesus
Christ (who was completely innocent and without fault) stepped forward, taking our
sin and guilt upon Himself. He offered Himself in our place on the cross of Calvary.
He bore the penalty for our sins. And through faith in Him, we can enter into eternal
life. And, in Him, we become Christ’s bride.
5. Nabal the fool made a foolish mistake, and it led to Abigail marrying a man of her
dreams. Believe it or not, foolish mistakes can lead to great marriages. The story
below gives us an example of this unlikely possibility.
Consumed by my loss, I didn't notice the hardness of the pew where I sat. I was at
the funeral of my dearest friend - my mother. She finally had lost her long battle
with cancer. The hurt was so intense, I found it hard to breathe at times. Always
supportive, Mother clapped loudest at my school plays, held a box of tissues while
listening to my first heartbreak, comforting me at my father's death, encouraged me
in college, and prayed for me my entire life.
When Mother's illness was diagnosed, my sister had a new baby and my brother
had recently married his childhood sweetheart, so if fell on me, the 27-year-old,
middle child without entanglements, to take care of her. I counted it an honor.

94. What now, Lord? I asked, sitting in the church. My life stretched out before me
as an empty abyss. My brother sat stoically with his face toward the cross while
clutching his wife's hand. My sister sat slumped against her husband's shoulder, his
arms around her as she cradled their child. All so deeply grieving, no one noticed I
sat alone. My place had been with our mother, preparing her meals, helping her
walk, taking her to the doctor, seeing to her medication, reading the Bible together.
Now, she was with the Lord. My work was finished, and I was alone.
I heard a door open and slam shut at the back of the church. Quick footsteps
hurried along the carpeted floor. An exasperated young man looked around briefly
and then sat next to me. He folded his hands and placed them on his lap. His eyes
were brimming with tears. He began to sniffle.
I'm late, he explained, though no explanation was necessary.
After several eulogies, he leaned over and commented, Why do they keep calling
Mary by the name of 'Margaret'?
Oh, Because that was her name, Margaret. Never Mary. No one called her
'Mary', I whispered. I wondered why this person couldn't have sat on the other
side of the church. He interrupted my grieving with his tears and fidgeting. Who
was this stranger anyway?
No, that isn't correct, he insisted, as several people glanced over at us.
Whispering, Her name is Mary, Mary Peters.
That isn't who this is.
Isn't this the Lutheran Church?
No, the Lutheran Church is across the street.
Oh.
I believe you're at the wrong funeral, Sir.
The solemnness of the occasion mixed with the realization of the man's mistake
bubbled up inside me and came out as laughter. I cupped my hands over my face,
hoping it would be interpreted as sobs. The creaking pew gave me away. Sharp
looks from other mourners only made the situation seem more hilarious. I peeked at
the bewildered, misguided man seated beside me. He was laughing, too, as he
glanced around, deciding it was too late for an uneventful exit. I imagined Mother
laughing. At the final 'Amen', we darted out a door and into the parking lot.
I do believe we'll be the talk of the town, he smiled. He said his name was Rick

95. and since he had missed his aunt's funeral, asked me out for a cup of coffee. That
afternoon began a lifelong journey for me with this man who attended the wrong
funeral, but was in the right place.
A year after our meeting, we were married at a country church where he was the
assistant pastor. This time we both arrived at the same church, right on time. In my
time of sorrow, God gave me laughter. In place of loneliness, God gave me love. This
past June we celebrated our twenty-second wedding anniversary. Whenever anyone
asks us how we met, Rick tells them, Her mother and my aunt Mary introduced us,
and it's truly a match made in heaven.
Here was a mistake that led to marriage, and so it was the mistake of Nabal that led
to David marrying Abigail.
Fairy tale endings are sometimes really historical realities.
6. An unknown author has this interesting note on the frequency of Abigail being in
a hurry. This is the fourth time this word “haste” is used in connection with
Abigail.
1Sa 25:18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of
wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an
hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
1Sa 25:23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell
before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, 1Sa 25:34 For in very
deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee,
except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto
Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. {Pardon my King
James Version.1Sa 25:42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass,
with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of
David, and became his wife.
7. After being married to Nabal and then getting the chance to be the wife of a real
man, she could not wait to get on that donkey and ride like the wind into the arms of
a man who would love and appreciate her. This was a dream come true for Abigail,
for she imagined she would have to life the rest of her life cleaning up the messes of
her fool husband. The fact that David had another wife did not bother her, for it
would be paradise compared the the nightmare she had been living.
8. JON D. LEVENSON Abigail is as well matched with David as she is mismatched
with Nabal. And if she is anything like almost everyone else with whom David has
come in contact—Saul, Jonathan, Michal, indeed, all Israel and Judah—the
outcome of their chance meeting can only be passionate. David came before Saul
and stood in front of him, and Saul loved him greatly, and he became Saul's armor-bearer
(1 Sam 16:21; cf. 18:1, 16, 20). The theme of the episode can already be

96. sensed dimly merely from the brief description of Abigail, which is as
unambiguously laudatory as that of her husband is derogatory. The implication of
what he is saying is that David and Abigail had an instant connection with each
other in their first meeting, and so we have a love at first sight story here. People
tended to love David in their first encounter with him, and how much more likely
this would be for a woman married to a fool like Nabal when she encountes a man
like David. It is no wonder she accepted his proposal and hurried to be his wife.
9. The final note on Nabal is that it cost him his wife and his life and all he possessed
to save the price of a lunch for David and his men. He saved a buck and lost it all by
his selfish greed. A simple act of kindness and generosity could have saved it all for
him, but at least he became a good example for confirming the truth of the proverb
that says, A fool and his money are soon parted.
10. This is actually a great love story that would make a wonderful movie. Abigail is
trapped in a loveless marriage, and David has had his first wife given away to
another man by her father Saul. He did this to cut off all lines for David to have any
claim to the throne. They each became the savior of the other. She saved David from
being as big a fool as her fool husband, and he saved her from a life of bondage to a
fool. Love and salvation from negative situations are a very common theme in the
history of romance. Women are often portrayed as saving men from dire and
dangerous circumstances.
Laura Sweeney writes about such women on her internet blog. I have edited some of
what she wrote. For example, she tells us of what Dostoyevsky wrote about in his
famous Crime and Punishment. In lurid, crime-ridden St. Petersburg, the
murderous lover found salvation and reformation in angelic Sonya. Raskolnikov
undertook a journey much like that of Dante, finally understanding that Sonya’s
love was the key to salvation. Love and redemption served as the very basis for his
journey as he learned en route that mercy awaits even those who have committed
crimes provided they find spiritual love and serve penitence.
Courtly love is the secret language that was spoken where it was least expected, even
among the lower classes of realist fiction when they had noble aspirations and
desires. Sonya’s presence brought joy to Raskolinov, the repentant murderer
incarcerated in a Russian prison camp, as he unexpectedly discovered Sonya beside
him:
Her face still bore the signs of her illness, it had grown thin and pale and sunken.
She gave him a pleased, friendly smile, but, following her habit, extended her hand
to him timidly (Dostoyevsky 654).
Raskolinov, having received his lady’s grace, was overcome by bliss and outwardly
revealed his adoration for Sonya, his female savior and equivalent of Christ’s
mother. He survived the city, which was like Dante’s “hell,” and eventually found
himself in a prison that was metaphorically a rural paradise on earth where Sonya

97. would return to save him: She understood everything. Her eyes began to shine with
an infinite
happiness; she had understood, and now she was in no doubt that he loved her,
loved her infinitely, and that at last it had arrived, that moment . . .
They tried to speak but were unable to. There were tears in their eyes. Both of them
looked pale and thin; but in these ill, pale faces there now gleamed the dawn of
renewed future, a complete recovery to a new life. What had revived them was love,
the heart of one containing an infinite source of life for the heart of the other
(Dostoyevsky 654-5).
Dostoyevsky’s story concludes with Raskolinov’s salvation through love, acceptance
and adoration, “A new story begins, the story of a man’s gradual renewal, his
gradual rebirth, his gradual transition from one world to another…” (Dostoyevsky
656).
Raskolnikov is reborn through faith in his female savior for whom he has carried a
secret admiration throughout the tortuous journey. Wishing to follow Sonya just as
Dante emulated Beatrice’s grace, Raskolinov ponders whether he can be more like
Sonya, “What if her convictions can now be mine, too? Her feelings, her strivings, at
least. . . “(Dostoyevsky 656).
Raskolinov, much like Dante, attains salvation as he travels from Purgatory to
Paradise, but whereas Dante and Beatrice are upheld to be superb models of ethical
behavior, the dual protagonists of Crime and Punishment, Raskolinov and Sonya,
are ennobled from humankind’s inner spirit, even after having committed crimes.
The imperfections of these realist characters reflect authentic struggles.
43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel,
and they both were his wives.
1. Many think that this was his wife before he took Abigail; she is always mentioned
first in the list of his wives, and she was the mother of his eldest son Amnon. We
read of David's wives and children in 2 Samuel 3:1-5-
1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time.
David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
2 Sons were born to David in Hebron:
His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel;
3 his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel;
the third, Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

98. 4 the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;
the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5 and the sixth, Ithream the son of David's wife Eglah.
These were born to David in Hebron.
2. But if we turn to 1 Chronicles 3:1-9, we'll get a fuller picture of David's family,
including his other wives.
1. Now these were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the first-born
was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second was Daniel, by Abigail the
Carmelitess;
2. the third was Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of
Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith;
3. the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth was Ithream, by his wife Eglah.
4. Six were born to him in Hebron, and there he reigned seven years and six months.
And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.
5. And these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and
Solomon, four, by Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel;
6. and Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet,
7. Nogah, Nepheg, and Japhia,
8. Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine.
9. All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar
was their sister.
Six sons were born to David in Hebron, each by a different wife, and another
thirteen were born to him in Jerusalem by different wives, besides the children of
his concubines.
3. Amnon, David's eldest son became guilty of the rape of Tamar in II Sam. 13
4. Abigail became David's third wife. First, he had married Me-KAWL, King
Saul's daughter. But after David had fled the kingdom and Me-KAWL told her
father that he'd threatened to kill her if she hadn't helped him escape, Saul gave his
daughter to Pal-TEE, the son of LAH-yish, from Gal-LEEM in marriage.
Then, during his time in the wilderness, David married Akh-ee-NO-am of Yiz-reh-

99. ALE. Now he is marrying his third wife, one of two that are still with him.
5. The following is a parable about a king with 4 wives, and it has a message to all of
us with one wife or no wife, and those who do not learn the truth of it are fools like
Nabal.
Four Wives
Once upon a time there was a rich King who had four wives.
He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to
the finest delicacies. He gave her nothing but the best.
He also loved his 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighboring
kingdoms. However, he feared that one day she would leave him for another.
He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidant and was always kind, considerate
and patient with him. Whenever the King faced a problem he could confide in her
and she would help him get through the difficult times.
The King's 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in
maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the 1st wife.
Although she loved him deeply he hardly ever noticed her.
One day the King fell ill and he knew his time was short. He thought of his luxurious
life and wondered, I now have 4 wives with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone.
Thus, he asked the 4th wife, I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest
clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I am dying, will you follow me
and keep me company?
No way! replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word. Her
answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart.
The sad King then asked his 3rd wife, I have loved you all my life now that I'm
dying will you follow me and keep me company?
No! she replied Life is too good! When you die, I am going to remarry! His
heart sank and turned cold.
He then asked the 2nd wife, I have always turned to you for help and you've
always been there for me. When I die will you follow me and keep me company?
I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time! replied the 2nd wife. At the very most, I
can send you to your grave. Her answer came like a bolt of lightning, and the King
was devastated.

100. Then a voice called out: I'll leave with you and follow you no matter where you
go.
The King looked up, and there was his first wife. She was so skinny as she suffered
from malnutrition and neglect. Greatly grieved, the King said I should have taken
better care of you when I had the chance!
In truth, we all have four wives in our lives:
Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort was lavish in making
it look good, it will leave us when we die.
Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, it will all go to
others.
Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they been there for us,
the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.
And our 1st wife is our Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and
pleasures of the world. However our Soul is the only thing that will follow up
wherever we go. So cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is the only part of
us who will follow us to the throne of God and continue with up throughout eternity.
[ Author unknown ]
44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal,
David's wife, to Paltiel [d] son of Laish, who was
from Gallim.
1. You win some, you lose some. This is the story of David and his wives. Someone
wrote, The plot, as well as the characters, could be reduced to: fair maiden
Abigail is freed from the wicked ogre and marries prince charming.
2. Constable wrote, As mentioned before, this chapter opens and closes with a
tragedy in David's life, the death of Samuel and the departure of Michal. Evidently
Saul considered David as good as dead, and so, sometime during these events, he
gave David's wife to another man. He may also have done this to remove the
possibility of David's claiming Saul's throne because he was Saul's son-in-law. David
later reclaimed Michal (2 Sam. 3:13-16), which proved to be a source of grief to
David.

101. JON D. LEVENSON is a scholar with a fascinating theory that it was David's
marriage to Abigail that was a key factor in him being anointed king in II Sam. 2.
The following is a part of his writing on this theme.
After this, David inquired of YHWH, Should I go up to one of the cities of
Judah? YHWH answered, Go up! David asked, To which one should I go up,
and he answered, To Hebron. David went up there, and his two wives were with
him, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. The men
who had joined him David also brought up, with their households, and they settled
in the towns around Hebron. The men of Judah came and anointed David there as
king over the House of Judah. (2 Sam 2:1-4a)
There are several very curious aspects to this brief notice of David's assumption of
kingship at Hebron. For one thing, the text is tantalizingly cryptic. We are told
nothing about how David the brigand came to be seen as a royal figure, the
successor, it would seem, to King Saul. Nor do we hear any explanation of how a
non-Calebite like David managed to assume kingship at the capital of the Calebite
patrimony, Hebron. One would have expected some resistance to David's falling
heir to the Calebite grant, which figures so importantly in the history of that region
(Num 14:20-25; Deut 1:22-36; Josh 14:6-15; 15:13-19; Judg 1:20). Finally, it is
strange that the passage takes explicit but apparently superfluous note of David's
wives. This last oddity includes the especially curious point that Abigail is described
as the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, as if her past marital history, far from being
something the Davidic historian would want to forget, were actually somehow
relevant to the present situation. But how? All three aspects can be explained under
one assumption, that David's marriage to Nabal's wife was the pivotal move in his
ascent to kingship at Hebron. If this assumption is correct, then David's anointing is
no longer so discontinuous with the material before it. On the contrary, it follows
quite unremarkably upon 1 Samuel 25, especially once Saul has perished (1 Samuel
31). Furthermore, if David is the successor to Nabal the Calebite and the husband of
a prominent Calebite woman,26 then his acceptance in Hebron and the reference to
Abigail as the wife of Nabal are no longer extraordinary.
The notion that marriage could play a critical role in a man's ascent to kingship in
Israel is well-known. As Matitiahu Tsevat observes, the early history of the
Israelite kingdom affords several examples of the fact that the marriage of a former
king's wife bestows legitimacy on an aspirant who otherwise has no sufficient claim
to the throne.
The two clearest examples occur within David's immediate family. Absalom, on
Ahitophel's advice, has intercourse with David's concubines as part of his effort to
wrest the throne for himself (2 Sam 16:20-23), and Adonijah asks for the hand of
Abishag, David's last mistress (1 Kgs 2:13-25), to which Solomon, with
characteristic discernment, replies, You might as well ask for the kingdom! (v
22). Less explicit, but still probably relevant is Abner's assumption of Rizpah, one of

102. Saul's concubines, a move which causes Ish-baal to suspect Abner's loyalty to the
House of Saul (2 Sam 3:6-10). Nor is the underlying notion unique to Israel. Tsevat
finds a reflex of it at Ugarit,28 and de Vaux finds it alive much later in Persia in the
sixth century (B.C.E.).29 If this practice is relevant to David's marriage to Abigail,
then the man whose name has been altered to Nabal must have been a very powerful
figure in the Calebite clan of his day. If his three thousand sheep and one thousand
goats (1 Sam 25:2) are not a gross exaggeration, then it was perfectly true that his
feast was fit for a king (v 36), for he must have been at the pinnacle of social
status.