The Death of Samuel. Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah. Then David left and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. 1Sa 25:1
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION
The authorship of these books cannot be determined, but there is abundant evidence that they embody the report of eye-witnesses. Some of the more prominent characters in the scenes described are name as writers in 1Ch_29:29.
The First Book of Samuel records the rise of a new political and spiritual order represented by the kings and the prophets. The establishment of the monarchy, with Saul as the first king, is an epochal event in the development of Israel’s national life.
Of no less importance is the appearance of the “schools of the prophets” under the leadership of Samuel. In these institutions we see the beginning of the movement which made Israel spiritually supreme among the nations.
III. FROM THE ANOINTING OF DAVID TO THE DEATH OF SAUL, I Samuel 16-31
34. Saul Pursues David to Slay Him, I Samuel 21-26
51. Why did Nabal refuse to show David hospitality?
THE DEATH OF SAMUEL
Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah. Then David left and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
Now there was a man in Maon whose business and possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel
(now the man’s name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings; he was a Calebite).
David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name;
and this is what you shall say, ‘Have a long life! Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.
Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us and we have not harmed them, nor were they missing anything all the time they were in Carmel.
Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight [and be well-treated], for we have come on a good (festive) day. Please, give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.'”
When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David; then they waited.
But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today, each of whom is breaking away from his master.
So should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”
So David’s young men made their way back and returned; and they came and told him everything that was said [to them by Nabal].
David said to his men, “Each man put on your sword.” So each man put on his sword. David also put on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed back with the provisions and supplies.
But one of Nabal’s young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Listen, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless (greet) our master, and he shouted at them [in contempt].
But David’s men were very good to us, and we were not harmed or treated badly, nor did we miss anything as long as we were with them, when we were in the fields.
They were a wall [of protection] to us both night and day, all the time that we were with them tending the sheep.
Now then, know this and consider what you should do, for evil is [already] planned against our master and against all his household; but he is such a worthless and wicked man that one cannot speak [reasonably] to him.”
A RICH MAN’S CHURLISHNESS
This Carmel was a city in the mountains of Judah, ten miles south of Hebron. See Jos_15:55. Though a descendant of Caleb, Nabal had none of that hero’s spirit. He had great wealth, but little wit. Today the Arab tribe which guards the shepherd or caravan, or restrains itself from plundering, expects some acknowledgment. It was unfair that the rich sheep-master should take all the advantage and make no return, and altogether too bad to cap injustice with a coarse jest. Nabal’s shepherds were quite explicit in their testimony to the benefits they had received, 1Sa_25:7; 1Sa_25:15-16. His jibes and churlishness justified the general estimate entertained by those who knew him best.
For David to take the sword to avenge the insult stands out in striking contrast to Him who, “when He was reviled, reviled not again.” Revenge for an insult where one has personally suffered has no place in Christ’s teaching, and is separated by a whole heaven from the magisterial use of the sword referred to in Rom_13:4. In after-years, David must have been very thankful for the interposition, through Abigail, of God’s grace that arrested his hand. See Rom_12:17.
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