Bible Commentaries
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
1 Samuel 25
The death of Samuel is inserted here, because it occurred at that time. Thefact that all Israel assembled together to his burial, and lamented him, i.e.,mourned for him, was a sign that his labours as a prophet were recognisedby the whole nation as a blessing for Israel. Since the days of Moses andJoshua, no man had arisen to whom the covenant nation owed so much asto Samuel, who has been justly called the reformer and restorer of thetheocracy. They buried him “in his house at Ramah.” The expression “hishouse” does not mean his burial-place or family tomb, nor his native place,but the house in which he lived, with the court belonging to it, whereSamuel was placed in a tomb erected especially for him. After the death ofSamuel, David went down into the desert of Paran, i.e., into the northernportion of the desert of Arabia, which stretches up to the mountains ofJudah (see at Numbers 10:12); most likely for no other reason than because hecould no longer find sufficient means of subsistence for himself and his sixhundred men in the desert of Judah.
The following history of Nabal's folly, and of the wise and generousbehaviour of his pious and intelligent wife Abigail towards David, showshow Jehovah watched over His servant David, and not only preserved himfrom an act of passionate excitement, which might have endangered hiscalling to be king of Israel, but turned the trouble into which he had beenbrought into a source of prosperity and salvation.
1 Samuel 25:2-3
At Maon, i.e., Main or the mountains of Judah (see at Joshua 15:55), there lived a rich man (גּדול, great through property andriches), who had his establishment at Carmel. מעשׂה, work,occupation, then establishment, possessions (vid., Exodus 23:15). Carmel isnot the promontory of that name (Thenius), but the present Kurmul onthe mountains of Judah, scarcely half an hour's journey to the north-westof Maon (see at Joshua 15:55). This man possessed three thousand sheepand a thousand goats, and was at the sheep-shearing at Carmel. His namewas Nabal (i.e., fool): this was hardly his proper name, but was a surnameby which he was popularly designated on account of his folly. His wifeAbigail was “of good understanding,” i.e., intelligent, “and of beautifulfigure;” but the husband was “harsh and evil in his doings.” He sprangfrom the family of Caleb. This is the rendering adopted by the Chaldee andVulgate, according to the Keri כּלבּי. The Chethibh is to be readכּלבּו, “according to his heart;” though the lxx ( ἄνθρωπος κυνικός )and Josephus, as well as the Arabic and Syriac, derive it from כּלב,and understand it as referring to the dog-like, or shameless, character of theman.
1 Samuel 25:4-8
When David heard in the desert (cf. 1 Samuel 25:1) that Nabal wasshearing his sheep, which was generally accompanied with a festal meal(see at Genesis 38:12), he sent ten young men up to Carmel to him, and badethem wish him peace and prosperity in his name, and having reminded himof the friendly services rendered to his shepherds, solicit a present forhimself and his people. לשׁלום לו שׁאל,ask him after his welfare, i.e., greet him in a friendly manner (cf. Exodus 18:7). The word לחי is obscure, and was interpreted by the earlytranslators merely according to uncertain conjectures. The simplestexplanation is apparently in vitam, long life, understood as a wish in thesense of “good fortune to you” (Luther, Maurer, etc.); although the wordחי in the singular can only be shown to have the meaning life inconnection with the formula used in oaths, נפשׁך חי,etc. But even if חי must be taken as an adjective, it is impossible toexplain לחי in any other way than as an elliptical exclamationmeaning “good fortune to the living man.” For the idea that the word is tobe connected with אמרתּם, “say to the living man,” i.e., to theman if still alive, is overthrown by the fact that David had no doubt thatNabal was still living. The words which follow are also to be understoodas a wish, “May thou and thy house, and all that is thine, be well!” Afterthis salutation they were to proceed with the object of their visit: “Andnow I have heard that thou hast sheep-shearers. Now thy shepherds havebeen with us; we have done them no harm (הכלים, as in Judges 18:7: on the form, see Ges. §53, 3, Anm. 6), and nothing was missed bythem so long as they were in Carmel.” When living in the desert, David'smen had associated with the shepherds of Nabal, rendered them variousservices, and protected them and their flocks against the southerninhabitants of the desert (the Bedouin Arabs); in return for which theymay have given them food and information. Thus David proved himself a protector of his people even in hisbanishment. וימצאוּ, “so may the young men (those sent byDavid) find favour in thine eyes! for we have come to a good (i.e., afestive) day. Give, I pray, what thy hand findeth (i.e., as much as thoucanst) to thy servant, and to thy son David.” With the expression “thyson” David claims Nabal's fatherly goodwill. So far as the fact itself isconcerned, “on such a festive occasion near a town or village even in ourown time, an Arab sheikh of the neighbouring desert would hardly fail toput in a word either in person or by message; and his message both in formand substance would be only the transcript of that of David” (Robinson,Palestine, p. 201).
1 Samuel 25:9
David's messengers delivered their message to Nabal,ויּנוּחוּ, “and sat down,” sc., awaiting the fulfilment oftheir request. The rendering given by the Chaldee (פּסקוּ, cessaverunt loqui) and the Vulgate (siluerunt) is less suitable, and cannot bephilologically sustained. The Septuagint, on the other hand, has καὶ ἀνεπήδησε , “and he (Nabal) sprang up,” as if the translators had readויּקם (vid., lxx at 1 Samuel 20:34). This rendering, accordingto which the word belongs to the following clause, gives a veryappropriate sense, if only, supposing that ויּקם really didstand in the text, the origin and general adoption of ויּנוּחוּ could in any way be explained.
1 Samuel 25:10
Nabal refused the petitioners in the most churlish manner: “Whois David? who the son of Jesse?” i.e., what have I to do with David?“There by many servants now-a-days who tear away every one from hismaster.” Thus, in order to justify his own covetousness, he set downDavid as a vagrant who had run away from his master.
1 Samuel 25:11
“And I should take my bread and my water (i.e., my food anddrink), and my cattle, … and give them to men whom I do not know whencethey are?” ולקחתּי is a perfect with vav consec., and thewhole sentence is to be taken as a question.
1 Samuel 25:12-13
The messengers returned to David with this answer. Thechurlish reply could not fail to excite his anger. He therefore commandedhis people to gird on the sword, and started with 400 men to takevengeance upon Nabal, whilst 200 remained behind with the things.
1 Samuel 25:14-31
However intelligible David's wrath may appear in thesituation in which he was placed, it was not right before God, but a suddenburst of sinful passion, which was unseemly in a servant of God. Bycarrying out his intention, he would have sinned against the Lord andagainst His people. But the Lord preserved him from this sin by the factthat, just at the right time, Abigail, the intelligent and pious wife of Nabal,heard of the affair, and was able to appease the wrath of David by herimmediate and kindly interposition.
1 Samuel 25:14-16
Abigail heard from one of (Nabal's) servants what had takenplace (בּרך, to wish any one prosperity and health, i.e., tosalute, as in 1 Samuel 13:10; and יעט, from עיט, to speakwrathfully: on the form, see at 1 Samuel 15:19 and 1 Samuel 14:32), and also what hadbeen praiseworthy in the behaviour of David's men towards Nabal'sshepherds; how they had not only done them no injury, had not robbedthem of anything, but had defended them all the while. “They were a wall(i.e., a firm protection) round us by night and by day, as long as we werewith them feeding the sheep,” i.e., a wall of defence against attacks fromthe Bedouins living in the desert.
1 Samuel 25:17
“And now,” continued the servant, “know and see what thoudoest; for evil is determined (cf. 1 Samuel 20:9) against our master and all hishouse: and he (Nabal) is a wicked man, that one cannot address him.”
1 Samuel 25:18-19
Then Abigail took as quickly as possible a bountiful presentof provisions, - two hundred loaves, two bottles of wine, five prepared (i.e.,slaughtered) sheep (עשׁוּות, a rare form for עשׂוּית: seeEwald, §189, a.), five seahs (an ephah and two-thirds) of roasted grains(Kali: see 1 Samuel 17:17), a hundred צמּקים (dried grapes, i.e.,raisin-cakes: Ital. simmuki), and two hundred fig-cakes (consisting ofpressed figs joined together), - and sent these gifts laden upon asses onbefore her to meet David whilst she herself followed behind to appease hisanger by coming to meet him in a friendly manner, but without saying aword to her husband about what she intended to do.
1 Samuel 25:20
When she came down riding upon the ass by a hidden part of themountain, David and his men came to meet her, so that she lighted uponthem. ההר סתר, a hidden part of the mountain, wasprobably a hollow between two peaks of a mountain. This would explainthe use of the word ירד, to come down, with reference both toAbigail, who approached on the one side, and David, who came on theother.
1 Samuel 25:21-22
1 Samuel 25:21 and 1 Samuel 25:22 contain a circumstantial clause introducedparenthetically to explain what follows: but David had said, Only fordeception (i.e., for no other purpose than to be deceived in myexpectation) have I defended all that belongs to this man (Nabal) in thedesert, so that nothing of his was missed, and (for) he hath repaid me evilfor good. God do so to the enemies of David, if I leave, etc.; i.e., “as trulyas God will punish the enemies of David, so certainly will I not leave tillthe morning light, of all that belongeth to him, one that pisseth against thewall.” This oath, in which the punishment of God is not called down uponthe swearer himself (God do so to me), as it generally is, but upon theenemies of David, is analogous to that in 1 Samuel 3:17, where punishment isthreatened upon the person addressed, who is there made to swear; exceptthat here, as the oath could not be uttered in the ears of the personaddressed, upon whom it was to fall, the enemies generally are mentionedinstead of “to thee.” There is no doubt, therefore, as to the correctness ofthe text. The substance of this imprecation may be explained from the fact thatDavid is so full of the consciousness of fighting and suffering for the causeof the kingdom of God, that he discerns in the insult heaped upon him byNabal an act of hostility to the Lord and the cause of His kingdom. Thephrase בּקיר משׁתּין, mingens in parietem, is only metwith in passages which speak of the destruction of a family or householdto the very last man (viz., besides this passage, 1 Kings 14:10; 1 Kings 16:11; 1 Kings 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8), and neither refers primarily to dogs, as EphraemSyrus, Juda ben Karish, and others maintain; nor to the lowest class ofmen, as Winer, Maurer, and others imagine; nor to little boys, as L. deDieu, Gesenius, etc., suppose; but, as we may see from the explanatoryclause appended to 1 Kings 14:10; 1 Kings 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8, to every male(quemcumque masculi generis hominem: vid., Bochart, Hieroz. i. pp. 776ff., and Rödiger on Ges. Thes. pp. 1397-8).
1 Samuel 25:23-24
1 Samuel 25:23 is connected with 1 Samuel 25:20. When Abigail saw David, shedescended hastily from the ass, fell upon her face before him, bowed to theground, and fell at his feet, saying, “Upon me, me, my lord, be the guilt;allow thy handmaid to reveal the thing to thee.” She takes the guilt uponherself, because she hopes that David will not avenge it upon her.
1 Samuel 25:25-26
She prayed that David would take no notice of Nabal, for hewas what his name declared - a fool, and folly in him; but she (Abigail) hadnot seen the messengers of David. “The prudent woman uses a goodargument; for a wise man should pardon a fool” (Seb. Schmidt). She thenendeavours to bring David to a friendly state of mind by three arguments,introduced with ועתּה (1 Samuel 25:26, 1 Samuel 25:27), before asking for forgiveness(1 Samuel 25:28). She first of all pointed to the leadings of God, by which David hadbeen kept from committing murder through her coming to meet him.
(Note: “She founds her argument upon their meeting, which was somarvellously seasonable, that it might be easily and truly gatheredfrom this fact that it had taken place through the providence of God; i.e., Andnow, because I meet thee so seasonably, do thou piously acknowledgewith me the providence of God, which has so arranged all this, thatinnocent blood might not by change be shed by thee.” - Seb. Schmidt.)
“As truly as Jehovah liveth, and by the life of thy soul! yea, the Lord hathkept thee, that thou camest not into blood-guiltiness, and thy hand helpedthee” (i.e., and with thy hand thou didst procure thyself help). אשׁר, introducing her words, as in 1 Samuel 15:20, lit. “as truly as thoulivest, (so true is it) that,” etc. In the second place, she points to the factthat God is the avenger of the wicked, by expressing the wish that all theenemies of David may become fools like Nabal; in connection with whichit must be observed, in order to understand her words fully, that, accordingto the Old Testament representation, folly is a correlate of ungodliness,which inevitably brings down punishment.
(Note: Seb. Schmidt has justly observed, that “she reminds David ofthe promise of God. Not that she prophesies, but that she hasgathered it from the general promises of the word of God. Thepromise referred to is, that whoever does good to his enemies, andtakes no vengeance upon them, God himself will avenge him upon hisenemies; according to the saying, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And this is what Abigail says: And now thine enemies shall be asNabal.”)
The predicate to the sentence “and they that seek evil to my lord” must besupplied from the preceding words, viz., “may they become just suchfools.”
1 Samuel 25:27
It is only in the third line that she finally mentions the present,but in such a manner that she does not offer it directly to David, butdescribes it as a gift for the men in his train. “And now this blessing(בּרכה here and 1 Samuel 30:26, as in Genesis 33:11: cf. ἡ εὐλογία , 2 Corinthians 9:5-6), which thine handmaid hath brought, let it begiven to the young men in my lord's train” (lit. “at the feet of:” cf. Exodus 11:8; Judges 4:10, etc.).
1 Samuel 25:28
The shrewd and pious woman supports her prayer forforgiveness of the wrong, which she takes upon herself, by promises ofthe rich blessing with which the Lord would recompense David. Shethereby gives such clear and distinct expression to her firm belief in thedivine election of David as king of Israel, that her words almost amount toprophecy: “For Jehovah will make my lord a lasting house (cf. 1 Samuel 2:35;and for the fact itself, 2 Samuel 7:8., where the Lord confirms this piouswish by His own promises to David himself); for my lord fighteth thewars of Jehovah (vid., 1 Samuel 18:17), and evil is not discovered in thee thywhole life long.” רעה, evil, i.e., misfortune, mischief; for thethought that he might also be preserved from wrong-doing is not expressedtill 1 Samuel 25:31. “All thy days,” lit. “from thy days,” i.e., from the beginning ofthy life.
1 Samuel 25:29
“And should any one rise up to pursue thee, … the soul of mylord will be bound up in the bundle of the living with the Lord thy God.”The metaphor is taken from the custom of binding up valuable things in abundle, to prevent their being injured. The words do not refer primarily toeternal life with God in heaven, but only to the safe preservation of therighteous on this earth in the grace and fellowship of the Lord. Butwhoever is so hidden in the gracious fellowship of the Lord in this life,that no enemy can harm him or injure his life, the Lord will not allow toperish, even though temporal death should come, but will then receive himinto eternal life. “But the soul of thine enemies, He will hurl away in thecup of the sling.” “The cup (caph: cf. Genesis 32:26) of the sling” was thecavity in which the stone was placed for the purpose of hurling.
1 Samuel 25:30-31
Abigail concluded her intercession with the assurance that theforgiveness of Nabal's act would be no occasion of anguish of heart toDavid when he should have become prince over Israel, on account of hishaving shed innocent blood and helped himself, and also with the hopethat he would remember her. From the words, “When Jehovah shall do tomy lord according to all the good that He hath spoken concerning him, andshall make thee prince over Israel,” it appears to follow that Abigail hadreceived certain information of the anointing of David, and his designationto be the future king, probably through Samuel, or one of the pupils of theprophets. There is nothing to preclude this assumption, even if it cannotbe historically sustained. Abigail manifests such an advance and maturityin the life of faith, as could only have been derived from intercourse withprophets. It is expressly stated with regard to Elijah and Elisha, that atcertain times the pious assembled together around the prophets. Whatprevents us from assuming the same with regard to Samuel? The absenceof any distinct testimony to that effect is amply compensated for by thebrief, and for the most part casual, notices that are given of the influencewhich Samuel exerted upon all Israel.
1 Samuel 25:31
1 Samuel 25:31 introduces the apodosis to 1 Samuel 25:30: “So will this (i.e., theforgiveness of Nabal's folly, for which she had prayed in 1 Samuel 25:28) not be astumbling-block (pukah: anything in the road which causes a person tostagger) and anguish of heart (i.e., conscientious scruple) to thee, andshedding innocent blood, and that my lord helps himself. וגו ולשׁפּך is perfectly parallel to וגו לפוּקה, and cannot be taken assubordinate, as it is in the Vulgate, etc., in the sense of “that thou hast notshed blood innocently,” etc. In this rendering not only is the vav cop. overlooked, but “not” is arbitrarily interpolated, to obtain a suitable sense,which the Vulgate rendering, quod effuderis sanguinem innoxiam, does notgive. והיטיב is to be taken conditionally: “and if Jehovah shalldeal well with my lord, then,” etc.
1 Samuel 25:32-34
These words could not fail to appease David's wrath. In hisreply he praised the Lord for having sent Abigail to meet him (1 Samuel 25:32), andthen congratulated Abigail upon her understanding and her actions, thatshe had kept him from bloodshed (1 Samuel 25:33); otherwise he would certainlyhave carried out the revenge which he had resolved to take upon Nabal (1 Samuel 25:34). ואוּלם is strongly adversative: nevertheless. מהרע, inf. constr. Hiph. of רעע. כּי, ὅτι ,introduces the substance of the affirmation, and is repeated before theoath: אם כּי … לוּלי כּי, (that) if thou hadstnot, etc., (that) truly there would not have been left (cf. 2 Samuel 2:27). Thevery unusual form תּבאתי, an imperfect with the termination of theperfect, might indeed possibly be a copyist's error for תּבאי (Olsh. Gr. pp. 452, 525), but in all probability it is only an intensifiedform of the second pers. fem. imperf., like תּבואתה (Deuteronomy 33:16; cf. Ewald, §191, c.).
1 Samuel 25:35
David then received the gifts brought for him, and bade Abigailreturn to her house, with the assurance that he had granted her request forpardon. פּנים נשׂא, as in Genesis 19:21, etc.
1 Samuel 25:36
When Abigail returned home, she found her husband at a greatfeast, like a king's feast, very merry (עליו, “therewith,” refersto משׁתּה: cf. Proverbs 23:30), and drunken above measure, so thatshe told him nothing of what had occurred until the break of day.
1 Samuel 25:37
Then, “when the wine had gone from Nabal,” i.e., when he hadbecome sober, she related the matter to him; whereat he was so terrified,that he was smitten with a stroke. This is the meaning of the words, “hisheart died within him, and it became as stone.” The cause of it was not hisanger at the loss he had sustained, or merely his alarm at the danger towhich he had been exposed, and which he did not believe to be over yet,but also his vexation that his wife should have made him humble himself insuch a manner; for he is described as a hard, i.e., an unbending, self-willedman.
1 Samuel 25:38
About ten days later the Lord smote him so that he died, i.e., theLord put an end to his life by a second stroke.
1 Samuel 25:39-44
When David heard of Nabal's death, he praised Jehovah thatHe had avenged his shame upon Nabal, and held him back from self-revenge. וגו רב עשׁר, “who hath pleaded the cause ofmy reproach (the disgrace inflicted upon me) against Nabal.” “AgainstNabal” does not belong to “my reproach,” but to “pleaded the cause.” Theconstruction of ריב with מן is a pregnant one, to fight (anddeliver) out of the power of a person (vid., Psalm 43:1); whereas here thefundamental idea is that of taking vengeance upon a person.
1 Samuel 25:40-41
He then sent messengers to Abigail, and conveyed to her hiswish to marry her, to which she consented without hesitation. With deepreverence she said to the messengers (1 Samuel 25:41), “Behold, thy handmaid asservant (i.e., is ready to become thy servant) to wash the feet of theservants of my lord;” i.e., in the obsequious style of the East, “I am readyto perform the humblest possible services for thee.”
1 Samuel 25:42
She then rose up hastily, and went after the messengers to Davidwith five damsels in her train, and became his wife.
1 Samuel 25:43
The historian appends a few notices here concerning David'swives: “And David had taken Ahinoam from Jezreel; thus they also bothbecame his wives.” The expression “also” points to David's marriage withMichal, the daughter of Saul (1 Samuel 18:28). Jezreel is not the city of thatname in the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19:18), but the one in the mountains ofJudah (Joshua 15:56).
1 Samuel 25:44
But Saul had taken his daughter Michal away from David, andgiven her to Palti of Gallim. Palti is called Paltiel in 2 Samuel 3:15. Accordingto Isaiah 10:30, Gallim was a place between Gibeah of Saul and Jerusalem. Valentiner supposes it to be the hill to the south of Tuleil el Phul (Gibeahof Saul) called Khirbet el Jisr. After the death of Saul, however, Davidpersuaded Ishbosheth to give him Michal back again (see 2 Samuel 3:14.).
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