Day 66 – 1 Samuel 25:18-31

Scripture Review

1 Samuel 25:18-31

"Then 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."

(1 Samuel 25:18)

Abigail, the wife of Nabal, is moving quickly because she understands the danger. "Made haste" means she did not delay. She knew this problem, Nabal holding back food, had to be met at once. Her gift is large and generous. She does not merely speak peace. She prepares peace.

"And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal."

(1 Samuel 25:19)

Abigail sends the food ahead so it will meet David before her full appeal is made. She does not come empty-handed. She comes with proof that she is seeking pardon. She told not her husband Nabal because he was stubborn and foolish. A man like Nabal would not have helped fix what his own foolishness had caused. Abigail is trying to keep his sin from destroying the household.

"And 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."

(1 Samuel 25:20)

The covert of the hill is the hidden side, the sheltered place around the hillside. Abigail comes down one way, and David is coming down the other. This sounds like a very tense moment. David is armed. His men are armed. But Abigail meets him before the sword falls. I see the mercy of God in that timing.

"Now 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."

(1 Samuel 25:21)

David is speaking out of real hurt and rising anger. He had protected Nabal's people and property. "Nothing was missed" means David's men did not steal, plunder, or abuse what belonged to Nabal. Now David says Nabal "hath requited me evil for good." That means Nabal paid back kindness with evil. David is right about Nabal's wrong. But this passage reminds me that even when I am right about the offense, I can still be wrong in the way I answer it.

"So 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."

(1 Samuel 25:22)

This is a strong vow spoken in anger. David is calling for judgment upon himself if he does not destroy Nabal's males by morning. The phrase "any that pisseth against the wall" is a blunt way of saying every male in the household. David, who spared Saul in chapter 24, is now ready to destroy Nabal's house.

"And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,"

(1 Samuel 25:23)

Abigail does not come with pride. She comes low. "Lighted off the ass" means she quickly got down from the donkey. She falls on her face and bows to the ground. She is meeting wrath with humility. Sometimes the wisest answer is not forceful at all. Sometimes it is lowly, soft, and full of reverence.

"And 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."

(1 Samuel 25:24)

This is astonishing. Abigail says, "Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be." She is not the one who sinned, yet she steps forward as if she will carry the blame in order to save others. "Thine audience" Abigail knows that if David will listen, blood may yet be stopped. This is intercession. She stands in the gap between a guilty house and judgement.

"Let 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."

(1 Samuel 25:25)

Abigail is not excusing Nabal. She is speaking the truth about the worthless, wicked, and morally corrupt man. "As his name is, so is he" means his character matches his name. Nabal means fool, and "folly is with him" means foolishness rules him. He is not merely a man who made one bad choice. Folly marks him. Then Abigail says she did not see David's young men when they came. She is separating herself from Nabal's behavior without pretending it was not evil.

"Now 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."

(1 Samuel 25:26)

Abigail says the LORD has withholden David. God has restrained him, held him back, stopped him from sinning through this providential meeting. "To shed blood" here means bloodshed without God's command. "Avenging thyself with thine own hand" means taking personal revenge instead of leaving judgment to the Lord. Abigail is helping David see that this is bigger than Nabal's insult. The danger is that David might harm his own testimony by making his own judgement.

"And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord."

(1 Samuel 25:27)

Again we see Abigail bringing a real provision to match her words. She especially asks that it be given to the young men that follow David. These men were part of the wronged party too.

"I 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."

(1 Samuel 25:28)

A sure house, a lasting house, a secure dynasty, a kingdom established by God. Abigail sees what God is doing with David. She says David "fighteth the battles of the LORD." She is reminding him that he is called to serve God's cause, not his own. This battle with Nabal must not become a fleshly fight that leaves guilt on David's soul.

"Yet 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."

(1 Samuel 25:29)

The man pursuing David is Saul. Abigail knows David is already suffering enough from unjust pursuit. Then she gives a beautiful expressions in Scripture: "the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God." The bundle of life is a picture of safety, closeness, treasured keeping, and secure preservation. David's life is tied up with God's care.

Then she says God will "sling out" David's enemies. That image would have struck David deeply, because he once used a sling against Goliath. Abigail is telling him that God knows how to cast away enemies. David does not have to do God's work by sinful revenge.

"And 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;"

(1 Samuel 25:30)

Abigail speaks with certainty. She says when, not if. She believes God's word about David's future. This lifts David's eyes above the insult of Nabal. A man who is going to be ruler over Israel must not act like a man ruled by sudden wrath.

"That 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."

(1 Samuel 25:31)

Abigail's plea. She wants David to have no grief later and no offence of heart, no wound of conscience, no bitter inward regret, no painful memory that follows him into the future. "Shed blood causeless" and "Avenged himself" means taking judgment into his own hand rather than waiting for the Lord.

Abigail is not only saving Nabal's household. She is protecting David's future testimony. She is saying, in effect, "Do not let this moment become a lifelong grief." That is deep wisdom. Her final words here, "remember thine handmaid," are humble, but they are also full of faith. She believes David will live to see the good God has promised him.