CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
1 Samuel 25
Chapter 25 of 31
Chapter Overview
What happens in 1 Samuel 25
Samuel dies and all Israel mourns. David asks a wealthy but foolish man named Nabal for food, and Nabal insults him. Nabal's wise and beautiful wife Abigail acts quickly to prevent bloodshed. When Nabal dies shortly after, David marries Abigail.
Scripture
1 Samuel 25
Samuel Dies
Study note
Samuel died and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. He was buried at his home in Ramah. Samuel had been the last judge and the greatest prophet since Moses. His death marked the end of an era for Israel.
1 Samuel passed away, and the whole nation of Israel came together to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. After the funeral, David moved down to the wilderness of Paran. And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
Nabal Insults David
Study note
David and his men moved to the wilderness of Paran. A very wealthy man named Nabal lived in Maon and had his business in Carmel. He owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. His wife Abigail was intelligent and beautiful, but Nabal was harsh, rude, and mean. During sheep-shearing time, which was like a festival, David sent ten young men to politely ask Nabal for food, since David's men had protected Nabal's shepherds. Nabal rudely refused, insulting David as a runaway servant. David was furious and told four hundred of his men to strap on their swords.
2 There was a wealthy man living in Maon who owned property over in Carmel. He was extremely rich, with three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was in Carmel at the time, shearing his sheep. And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 The man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was smart and beautiful. He, on the other hand, was rough, mean-spirited, and hard to deal with. He came from the family line of Caleb. Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
4 While David was living in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5 David sent ten young men to find Nabal. He told them, "Go up to Carmel, find Nabal, and greet him in my name." And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
6 "Tell him, 'May you have a long life! Peace to you, peace to your household, and peace to everything you own." And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
7 "I hear that you are shearing sheep. When your shepherds were near us, we never bothered them, and nothing they owned went missing the whole time they were in Carmel." And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
8 "Ask your own workers and they will back up what I am saying. So please be generous to my men, especially since we are here during a celebration. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.'" Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 David's men went to Nabal. They gave him the whole message in David's name and waited for an answer. And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
10 Nabal barked at David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? These days, servants everywhere are running away from their masters." And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.
11 "Should I take my bread and water and the meat I cut up for my own sheep shearers? Should I give it to a bunch of men who could be from anywhere?" Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
12 David's young men turned around and headed back. When they arrived, they told David every word Nabal had said. So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
13 David said to his men, "Strap on your swords." Every man buckled on his weapon, and David did the same. About four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed behind to guard the supplies. And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
Abigail's Quick Action
Study note
One of Nabal's servants told Abigail about her husband's rude refusal and warned that trouble was coming. Without telling Nabal, Abigail quickly gathered a generous supply of food: bread, wine, sheep, grain, raisins, and fig cakes. She rode out on a donkey to meet David. When she saw him, she bowed to the ground and took the blame upon herself. She made one of the wisest speeches in the Bible, urging David not to take revenge with his own hands. She prophetically spoke of David's future as king and warned that bloodshed would be a stain on his conscience.
14 One of Nabal's workers ran to Abigail. He said, "David sent men from the desert to greet our master. But Nabal yelled insults at them." But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
15 "But David's men treated us very well. They never harmed us, and we never lost a single thing the entire time we were out in the fields near them." But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
16 "Day and night, they were like a protective wall around us the whole time we were herding the sheep near them." They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17 "You need to figure something out fast. Disaster is about to crash down on our master and his whole family. He is such a mean person that nobody can even talk to him." Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.
18 Abigail sprang into action. She quickly gathered two hundred loaves of bread, two large jugs of wine, five butchered sheep, five bags of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred fig cakes. She loaded everything onto donkeys. 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.
19 She told her workers, "Go on ahead. I will be right behind you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal anything about it. And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
20 As she rode her donkey down a mountain path, she saw David and his men marching straight toward her. And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.
21 David had just been saying, "I protected that man's property out in the wilderness for nothing! Not a single thing of his went missing, and he repays me by spitting in my face!" Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
22 "May God strike me dead if I leave a single man alive in Nabal's household by morning!" So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
23 The moment Abigail spotted David, she jumped off her donkey and bowed down before him with her face to the ground. 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,
24 She fell at his feet and said, "My lord, please let me take all the blame. Please allow me to speak, and hear me out." And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25 "Please pay no attention to that worthless man Nabal. His name literally means 'fool,' and he lives up to it. I, your servant, never even saw the young men you sent." Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26 "Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, the Lord himself has kept you from bloodshed and from taking revenge with your own hands. May all your enemies and everyone who wants to harm you end up like Nabal." Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27 "Please accept this gift that I have brought for you and your men." And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28 "Please forgive me for being so bold. The Lord is definitely going to build a lasting dynasty for you, my lord, because you fight the Lord's battles. No one will ever find any wrongdoing in you." I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
29 "Even when someone hunts you down and tries to take your life, the Lord your God will keep you safe, bundled securely in his care. But your enemies' lives he will fling away like stones from a sling." Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30 "When the Lord has done every good thing he promised you and has made you ruler over Israel," And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31 "you will not have the weight of unnecessary bloodshed on your heart or the regret of having taken revenge by yourself. And when the Lord has brought you success, please remember me." That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
Nabal's Death and David's Marriage to Abigail
Study note
David praised God for sending Abigail to stop him from taking revenge. He accepted her gifts and told her to go home in peace. When Abigail returned, Nabal was drunk from a feast. She waited until morning to tell him what had happened. When he heard, his heart failed him and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead. When David heard, he praised God for defending his honor. David then sent a proposal to Abigail, and she agreed to become his wife. The chapter also notes that David married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and that Saul had given David's first wife Michal to another man.
32 David said to Abigail, "Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, for sending you to meet me today!" And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
33 "And praise God for your good sense! You have kept me today from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands." And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
34 "I swear by the Lord, Israel's God. He stopped me from hurting you. If you had not rushed to meet me, no man in Nabal's house would be alive by sunrise." 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.
35 David took the gifts she had brought and said, "Go home with a peaceful heart. I have listened to you, and I will do what you asked." So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36 When Abigail got home, Nabal was hosting a feast fit for a king. He was in a great mood and heavily drunk, so she waited and told him nothing until morning. And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37 In the morning, once Nabal had sobered up, his wife told him what had happened. The shock hit him so hard that his heart gave out, and he became as lifeless as a rock. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise the Lord! He stood up for me when Nabal insulted me. He kept me from doing something wrong. The Lord brought Nabal's own wickedness right back down on his own head." After that, David sent a proposal to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
40 David's servants traveled to Abigail at Carmel and said, "David has sent us to ask you to come and be his wife." And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
41 Abigail quickly bowed with her face to the ground. She said, "Here I am, a servant ready to wash the feet of my lord's servants." And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 Abigail wasted no time. She climbed onto a donkey and took five of her servant girls with her. She went with David's messengers and became his wife. 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.
43 David had also married Ahinoam from Jezreel. So now he had two wives. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
44 Meanwhile, Saul had taken his daughter Michal, who was David's wife. He gave her to another man named Palti, the son of Laish, from the town of Gallim. But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.
Key Themes
Themes in 1 Samuel 25
Wisdom preventing the rash decisions of angerThe contrast between foolishness and wisdomGod's justice operating without human violenceThe role of wise counsel in leadership
Apply This Today
Living 1 Samuel 25
Abigail's intervention prevented David from committing a terrible act of violence in anger. Her wisdom, speed, and humility turned away David's wrath and preserved his integrity for the throne. We all need Abigails in our lives: wise people who speak truth to us before we make irreversible mistakes. And we should be willing to be that voice for others.
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Study 1 Samuel in Covenant Path
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