The pastures of Carmel of Judah at shearing time in late afternoon: wide green-gold slopes on the edge of the wilderness covered with great flocks of sheep and black goats, stone sheepfolds, a few black tents and a small hilltop town far off, under a calm, warm sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 25

A rich fool insults David. David reaches for his sword. A wise woman rides out to stop him.

44 verses≈ 9 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listened
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waitsChapter 25
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

The Death of Samuel

When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

David, Nabal, and Abigail

A huge sheep-shearing on the open slopes at Carmel in bright spring light: shearers kneeling over sheep on woven mats, heaps of creamy fleece, flocks waiting in stone pens across the hillside and smoke from cooking fires.

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

Ten young men in plain dark wool set out at dawn from a rough wilderness camp, walking in a loose line down a dusty track toward the green shearing slopes far off.

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name

and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and to your house and to all that belongs to you. Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.’”

When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.

Nabal

But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

David

And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!”

So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them. Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them. They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

They were a wall around us, both day and night

1 Samuel 25:16

Question

Quick question

Nabal sent David’s young men away empty-handed, and David’s answer was swords.

How many men went with David toward Nabal’s house?

Abigail Intercedes for Nabal

Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”

In the ravine, Abigail kneels with her face to the ground on the stony path before David, her gray donkey behind her and the loaded donkeys beyond, while David has stopped short with his armed men crowded on the slope behind him, all looking down at her.

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.

She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

1 Samuel 25:29

When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your servant.”

1 Samuel 25:32

Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

Late afternoon in the ravine: Abigail on her gray donkey turns for home along the path, while behind her David stands with his hand raised in blessing and his men lift the baskets and skins from the donkeys, under a calm golden sky.

Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

0:10

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

“Blessed is your discernment”

Abigail stepped between an angry man and a foolish one, and God used her words to keep David from doing wrong. David said, “Blessed is your discernment.” Who might God be asking you to make peace with, or between? Write down what a humble, wise word from you might sound like.

Night, seen from a dark doorway: a large lamp-lit room of a wealthy house with long low tables of roast meat, bread and wine jars, guests reclining, and at the head a heavy man in a gaudy robe with his cup raised, seen far off; in the doorway's shadow, Abigail stands still with her back to us.

When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

David Marries Abigail

Who avenges?

Whiteboard

Nabal paid David “evil for good,” and David set out to pay him back with four hundred swords. Abigail met him on the road: “the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand.” David listened. Then, with no sword raised, “the LORD struck Nabal dead.” David’s verdict: the LORD “has restrained His servant from evil.” What David had done for Saul in the cave, God now did for David.

On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

David’s servants

When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

Abigail

She arose, bowed facedown, and said, “Here is your servant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives. But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Pray

Bound in the bundle of the living

Thank God that He holds His people safe, “bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living,” and that He fights their battles. Ask Him for wisdom and humility like Abigail’s, and for a heart like David’s that listens when God sends a rebuke, even through someone unexpected.

You’ve experienced

1 Samuel 25

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A verse to carry with you

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!

1 Samuel 25:32

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