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1 SAMUEL 25

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:1
  ¹Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

25:1 "Samuel died" This brief historical note has no seeming relationship to what follows (cf. 1 Sam. 28:3).

▣ "mourned for him" See SPECIAL TOPIC: GRIEVING RITES.

▣ "buried him" See SPECIAL TOPIC: BURIAL PRACTICES.

▣ "the wilderness of Paran" The LXX has "the wilderness of Maon" (cf. 1 Sam. 23:24-25), probably because Paran was so far south.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE WILDERNESSES OF THE EXODUS

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:2-8
  ²Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel ³(now the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite), ⁴that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name; ⁶and thus you shall say, 'Have a long life, peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷Now I have heard that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.'"

25:2 "Maon. . .Carmel" These two locations are in the hill country of Judah south of Hebron (cf. 1 Sam. 15:12).

This is not the "Carmel" on the seacoast, known as Mt. Carmel, where Elijah confronted the prophets of Ba'al (i.e., 1 Kings 18).

▣ "thousand. . .thousand" These are round numbers implying Nabal was very wealthy in livestock.

25:3 Verse 3 is in parenthesis in the NASB, which denotes an editorial comment. The information sets the literary stage for the events in chapter 25.

1. Nabal ‒ the word play on his name meant "churlish (BDB 615 II, cf. v. 25)
   1. harsh (BDB 904)
   2. evil in his dealings
2. Abigail
   1. good, understanding (BDB 373 CONSTRUCT BDB 968)
   2. beautiful in appearance (BDB 421 CONSTRUCT BDB 1061)

▣ "a Calebite" This may mean

1. he was a descendant of Caleb (cf. Num. 32:12; Josh. 14:14)
2. possibly a play on the name "dog" (BDB 477); dogs were not pets but unclean street scavengers
3. an adjective of "dog" meaning "dog-like" (LXX, Peshitta)
4. Josephus, Antiq. 6.13.6 calls him a "Ziphite"
5. MT possibly read "as his heart" (UBS Handbook, p. 516)

Nabal was a bad man (TEV).

25:5-6 This was the blessing that David told his men to give Nabal.

1. have a long life
2. peace be to you
3. peace be to your house
4. peace be to all within your house

25:5 "sent ten young men" David expected a generous food provision for his protection of Nabal's flocks.

The MT has "and thus you say ‒ of life." The UBS Text Project, p. 199, suggests that this is an idiomatic expression, "thus (i.e., in peace, prosperity) may it be for next year," which is how the REB translates it.

▣ "Peace" This is repeated three times.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PEACE (OT)

25:7 David gives the reasons why Nabal should help him with provisions for his men for a special feast (v. 8).

1. he protected Nabal's shepherds and flocks (vv. 15-16,21)
2. he had not taken any of Nabal's animals for food (vv. 15-16,21)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:9-13
  ⁹When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David's name; then they waited. ¹⁰But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. ¹¹Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?" ¹²So David's young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words. ¹³David said to his men, "Each of you gird on his sword." So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.

The MT has "and then they waited" (BDB 628, KB 679, Qal IMPERFECT with waw). There are several ways to interpret this phrase.

1. making them wait was meant to show them disrespect
2. the LXX links this to v. 10
3. the UBS Text Project does not mention any options to the MT
4. the Anchor Bible suggests "he behaved arrogantly," based on DSS

25:10-11 This was Nabal's harsh reply.

25:11 "my water" The LXX has "my wine" (cf. v. 18; REB, NJB), which makes more sense in this context. The Peshitta follows the MT.

It is possible that "bread and water" were an idiom for "food" in general.

25:13 "gird on his sword" The intensity of David's feelings is conveyed in the repetition of this phrase, three times.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:14-17
  ¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them. ¹⁵Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. ¹⁶They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep. ¹⁷Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him."

This is literally "son of Belial" (cf. 1 Sam. 1:16; 2:12; 10:27; 25:17,25; 30:22; 2 Sam. 16:7; 20:1; 22:5; 23:6; 1 Kgs. 21:10,13). It denotes a worthless person (BDB 116; see full note at 2 Sam. 20:1).

In the NT it becomes a title for Satan (cf. 2 Cor. 6:15).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:18-22
  ¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹She said to her young men, "Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them. ²¹Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good. ²²May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him."

25:18 "measures" This is the Hebrew word seah (BDB 684), which was about 1/3 ephah. The Jewish Study Bible, p. 609, has "more than six quarts."

SPECIAL TOPIC: ANE WEIGHTS AND VOLUMES

25:22 This is an oath (cf. 1 Sam. 3:17; 14:44; 20:13). Notice Nabal's household and servants were to bear the judgment of David as well as Nabal himself. This is the ANE concept of "corporality" (i.e., Adam, Achan).

▣ "May God do so to the enemies of David" This follows the MT but both the LXX and Peshitta have "May God do so to David." The UBS Text Project, p. 199, gives the LXX form a "B" rating (some doubt). The JPSOA has a comment in the footnote, "The phrase (MT) is intended to avoid the imprecation of David against himself."

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:23-25
  ²³When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground. ²⁴She fell at his feet and said, "On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant. ²⁵Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

25:23-31 Abigail tries to placate David's anger. We clearly see in this chapter the weaknesses and strengths of David's personality.

25:25 "this worthless man" See full note at 2 Sam. 20:1.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:26-31
  ²⁶"Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷Now let this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord. ²⁸Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil will not be found in you all your days. ²⁹Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰And when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel, ³¹this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant."

25:26 This is the key verse. David must not avenge himself. He must let YHWH act on his behalf.

▣ "as the Lord lives" This is a play on the covenant name of Israel's God, YHWH, which is a form of the verb "to be." He is the ever-living, only-living God (cf. v. 34).

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, D.

25:28 "the Lord will certainly make" This is the intensified construction of a INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and an IMPERFECT VERB of the same root (BDB 793, KB 889).

YHWH will assure David an enduring house (i.e., 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17).

1. Abigail knows YHWH will fight David's battles
2. evil must not be found in David's life and reign (YHWH's promises have a conditional element)

25:29 Abigail is obviously referring to Saul's pursuit of David.

The imagery of "a bundle of life"

1. according to the Jewish Study Bible, p. 609, is a metaphor denoting a long, prosperous life
2. according to NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 843, it denotes God's care and safekeeping (i.e., tied up in a leather bag)
3. possibly it is parallel to the book of life where the names of YHWH's faithful followers are recorded (cf. Daniel 12:1)

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TWO BOOKS OF GOD

25:30 This verse shows that the people of Israel, as well as Saul and Jonathan, knew David would be king.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:32-35
  ³²Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, ³³and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male." ³⁵So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and granted your request."

25:32-34 David recognizes Abigail's good words. He receives them (cf. v. 35) and blesses her for them.

1. blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent her
2. blessed be her discernment (v. 3)
3. bless her because she kept David from revenge on innocent people
4. bless God who restrained David by means of Abigail's words, v. 34

25:34 "male" The MT has the idiom "one who urinates against the wall" (cf. v. 22, 1 Kgs. 14:10; 16:11; 21:21; 2 Kgs. 9:8).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:36-38
  ³⁶Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all until the morning light. ³⁷But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. ³⁸About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

25:36 "he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king" The time of sheep shearing was traditionally a time of feasting and parties (i.e., Genesis 38; 2 Sam. 13:23-24). The descriptive phrase shows that Nabal had the resources to help David but he refused, and by his refusal, depreciated David and his family.

▣ "he was very drunk" See SPECIAL TOPIC: BIBLICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOL ABUSE.

25:37-38 These verses imply that when Abigail told Nabal about David's plans and presence, he had a stroke and survived for only ten days.

The stroke could have been caused by

1. fear of David
2. anger about David
3. anger about what his wife did behind his back

25:38 "the Lord struck Nabal" This kind of statement often causes problems for modern western people.

1. all causality is attributed to YHWH in the OT (cf. 2 Chr. 20:6; Eccl. 7:14; Isa. 14:24-27; 43:13; 45:7; 54:16; Jer. 18:11; Lam. 3:33-38; Amos 3:1)
2. people reap what they sow (the two ways, cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28)
3. YHWH is taking action on behalf of His future king (cf. 1 Sam. 25:28-29,39)

One must not take this verse as a proof-text for Divine Determinism. This is ANE imagery/theology (see G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible). Two books that have really helped me in this area of how to interpret events in my life are

1. Hannah Smith's The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life
2. John W. Wenham The Goodness of God

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:39-42
  ³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has kept back His servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you as his wife." ⁴¹She arose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your maidservant is a maid to wash the feet of my lord's servants." ⁴²Then Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

25:39-44 David, as the future king, had many wives. Three are listed here.

1. Michal, Saul's youngest daughter, v. 44 (but Saul took her and gave her to another man, cf. 2 Sam. 3:13-16)
2. Abigail, Nabal's widow
3. Ahinoam of Jerzreel (cf. 2 Sam. 3:1; 1 Chr. 3:1)

Wives were for both descendants and political alliances. By the time of 1 Chronicles 3, David had six wives and more later (cf. 2 Sam. 5:12-13).

25:41 "your maidservant is a maid to wash the feet of my lord's servants" Abigail is a humble person (cf. vv. 23-25). This act was the job of household servants, not the wife. One wonders how much good advice this lady shared with David throughout her life.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:43
  ⁴³David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 25:44
  ⁴⁴Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why do some translations change "Paran" to "Maon"?
2. What does "Calebite" mean? (v. 3)
3. How is Nabal characterized in this chapter?
4. How did Abigail save the household of Nabal?
5. What reasons did she give for David not to fulfill his vow?
6. List the reasons David praises her. (v. 32)
7. What does "the Lord struck Nabal, and he died" mean? (v. 38)
8. Why did Saul give his daughter, David's wife, to another man?

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