Bible Commentaries

And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his ^a house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

(a) That is, among his own kindred.

And [there was] a man in ^b 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.

(b) Maon and Carmel were cities in the tribe of Judah. Carmel the mountain was in Galilee.

And thus shall ye say ^c 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.

(c) Or, for salvation.

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 ^d cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

(d) Whatever you have ready for us.

And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who [is] David? and who [is] the ^e son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

(e) Thus the covetous wretches instead of relieving the needs of God's children, reviled their persons and condemned their cause.

But the men [were] very good ^f 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:

(f) When we kept our sheep in the wilderness of Paran.

And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her ^g husband Nabal.

(g) Because she knew his crooked nature, that he would rather die than agree to her enterprise.

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 ^h pisseth against the wall.

(h) Meaning by this proverb that he would destroy both small and great.

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 ⁱ hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

(i) That is, that you should not be revenged by your enemy.

I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a ^k sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days.

(k) Confirm his kingdom to his posterity.

Yet ^l a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the ^m 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.

(l) That is, Saul.

(m) God will preserve you long in his service, and destroy your enemies.

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 ⁿ avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.

(n) That he did not avenge himself, which would have tormented his conscience.

And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, ^o and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

(o) Read (1 Samuel 25:31).

For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, ^p 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.

(p) He attributes it to the Lord's mercy, and not to himself that he was stayed.

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 ^q nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

(q) For he had no reason either to consider, or to give thanks for this great benefit of deliverance.

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] ^r a stone.

(r) For fear of the great danger.

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 ^s take her to him to wife.

(s) For he had experienced her great godliness, wisdom and humility.