King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 7 notes
1And 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.
So Samuel was alive all this while. No one at this stage could restrain the madness of the king, not even Samuel.
2And 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.
3Now 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.
4And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5And 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:
6And 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.
7And 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.
8Ask 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.
9And when David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
10And 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.
11Shall 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?
12So David’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
13And 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.
14But 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.
We need young, wise men who notice things.
15But 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:
16They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
17Now 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.
Nabal, there are some people like that.
They lack wisdom, and it's further enhanced by the fact that they are rich.
A rich fool is such a lethal combination.
18Then 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.
19And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
20And 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.
21Now 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.
22So 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.
23And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
24And 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.
25Let 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.
26Now 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.
27And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28I 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.
29Yet 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.
Wow... This woman was indeed wise.
The sling of David was his popular hallmark, his strength and the apex of his skill...
Here Abigail uses it figuratively and poetically to illustrate how the enemies of David will be slinged out.
She also mentions David's deepest needs and fear 😱.
That of his master Saul, of which Abigail wishes him the protection of the Lord.
30And 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;
It seems common knowledge now, or maybe the people saw it and desired David to rule over them... How else did Abigail know that
David was appointed ruler 📐 over Israel?
These rumours are what made Saul hate David to start with, and it didn't seem to go away anytime soon.
Especially since Saul was mad and unstable.
It made David all the more desirable and a worthy replacement.
31That 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.
32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
God's people were no cowards. They were men of war — mighty warriors who fearlessly took cities and could completely wipe out entire cities.
They were to be feared, for they took their lives in their hands and fought the battles of the Lord. Yet they were humble before the LORD and submitted to him.
This was the nature of the men of God of those times. And I see the same thing in the men of God today. Strong and hardened and well trained for battle.
Taking on nations and systems for the Lord.
Same with the disciples of Jesus, men who could face lions without sword and spear and die a martyr's death.
This advancement of the Gospel is not for sissies.
33And 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.
34For 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.
It was expected that your household is with you in counsel, so the consequences of your actions also fall on them.
David was going to kill Nabal and all his house.
35So 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.
36And 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.
37But 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.
38And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
39And 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.
40And 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.
41And 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.
42And 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.
43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
44But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.