Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.
Parallel Translations
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Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.
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And 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.
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And 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.
Cross-references (25)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 25:36 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 25:19 She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal.
- 2 Samuel 13:23 After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
- 2 Samuel 13:28 Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!”
- Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:7-8 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
- Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- Romans 13:13 Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
- 1 Kings 20:16 They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.
- Esther 1:3-7 in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him. He displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even one hundred eighty days. When these days were fulfilled, the king made a seven day feast for all the people who were present in Susa the palace, both great and small, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. There were hangings of white and blue material, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and marble pillars. The couches were of gold and silver, on a pavement of red, white, yellow, and black marble. They gave them drinks in golden vessels of various kinds, including royal wine in abundance, according to the bounty of the king.
- Psalms 112:5 It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
- Ecclesiastes 2:2-3 I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.
- Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes the life glad; and money is the answer for all things.
- Isaiah 5:11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
- Isaiah 28:3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.
- Isaiah 28:7-8 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.
- Jeremiah 51:57 I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
- Daniel 5:1-5 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded that the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem be brought to him; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of God’s house which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour, the fingers of a man’s hand came out and wrote near the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace. The king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
- Hosea 4:11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- Nahum 1:10 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
- Habakkuk 2:15-16 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
- Luke 14:12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.
- Luke 21:34 “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
- Ephesians 5:14 Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Ephesians 5:18 Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
- Proverbs 23:29-35 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine. Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things. Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging: “They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For he had no reason either to consider, or…
For he had no reason either to consider, or to give thanks for this great benefit of deliverance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 25:36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold,…
1Sa 25:36 And 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.
Ver. 36. He held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king.] We use to say, it is good going to a niggard’s feast, for such do it but seldom, and then they usually lay on, measuring their cheer not by the necessity of nature, but by that which, greedy appetite appointeth. Oh, the gourmandise and excess of this age! It is hateful that peasants should expend as princes, &c. The Great Turk entertaineth ambassadors with rice and mutton, and fair water out of the river - Adam’s ale. {a}
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And Nabal’s heart was merry within him.] When yet he was so near to a mischief. Carnal men give themselves over to pleasures, while there are deadly quarrels depending against them in heaven.
For he was very drunken.] And so had no consideration of the present danger; as neither had Belshazzar, Amnon, Elah. Drunkenness had robbed Nabal of himself, and laid a beast in his room. Abigail therefore said nothing to him for present, till he had slept out his drunkenness, which is, saith Augustine, Flagitiorum omnium mater, radix criminum, culparum materia, origo vitiorum, turbatio capitis, subversio sensus, tempestas linguae, procella corporis, naufragium castitatis, {b} &c. That is, the mother of misdemeanour, the matter that ministereth all mischief, the root of wretchedness, the vent of vice, the subverter of the senses, the confounder of the capacity, raising a storm in the tongue, billows in the body, and shipwreck in the soul: the loss of time, the corrupter of conversation, the discredit of carriage, the infamy of honesty, the sink that swalloweth chastity, the infirmity whose physician is ignominy, and the madness whose medicine is misery.
{a} Turk. Hist.
{b} August., Ad Sacr. Virg.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Like the feast of a king; as the manner…
Like the feast of a king; as the manner was upon those solemn occasions. Sordid covetousness and vain prodigality were met together in him.
She told him nothing; he being then incapable of admonition, his reason and conscience being both asleep.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We are now to attend Nabal's funeral and Abigail's…
We are now to attend Nabal's funeral and Abigail's wedding.
I. Nabal's funeral. The apostle speaks of some that were twice dead, Jde 1:12. We have hare Nabal thrice dead, though but just now wonderfully rescued from the sword of David and delivered from so great a death; for the preservations of wicked men are but reservations for some further sorer strokes of divine wrath. Here is,
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1. Nabal dead drunk, Sa1 25:36. Abigail came home, and, it should seem, he had so many people and so much plenty about him that he neither missed her nor the provisions she took to David; but she found him in the midst of his jollity, little thinking how near he was to ruin by one whom he had foolishly made his enemy. Sinners are often most secure when they are most in danger and destruction is at the door. Observe, (1.) How extravagant he was in the entertainment of his company: He held a feast like the feast of a king, so magnificent and abundant, though his guests were but his sheep-shearers. This abundance might have been allowed if he had considered what God gave him his estate for, not to look great with, but to do good with. It is very common for those that are most niggardly in any act of piety or charity to be most profuse in gratifying a vain humour or a base lust. A mite is grudged to God and his poor; but, to make a fair show in the flesh, gold is lavished out of the bag. If Nabal had not answered to his name, he would never have been thus secure and jovial, till he had enquired whether he was safe from David's resentments; but (as bishop Hall observes) thus foolish are carnal men, that give themselves over to their pleasures before they have taken any care to make their peace with God. (2.) How sottish he was in the indulgence of his own brutish appetite: He was very drunk, a sign he was Nabal, a fool, that could not use his plenty without abusing it, could not be pleasant with his friends without making a beast of himself. There is not a surer sign that a man has but little wisdom, nor a surer way to ruin the little he has, than drinking to excess. Nabal, that never thought he could bestow too little in charity, never thought he could bestow too much in luxury. Abigail, finding him in this condition (and probably those about him little better, when the master of the feast set them so bad an example), had enough to do to set the disordered house to-rights a little, but told Nabal nothing of what she had done with reference to David, nothing of his folly in provoking David, of his danger or of his deliverance, for, being drunk, he was as incapable to hear reason as he was to speak it. To give good advice to those that are in drink is to cast pearls before swine; it is better to stay till they are sober.
2. Nabal again dead with melancholy, Sa1 25:37. Next morning, when he had come to himself a little, his wife told him how near to destruction he had brought himself and his family by his own rudeness, and with what difficulty she had interposed to prevent it; and, upon this, his heart died within him and he became as a stone. Some suggest that the expense of the satisfaction made to David, by the present Abigail brought him, broke his heart: it seems rather that the apprehension he now had of the danger he had narrowly escaped put him into a consternation, and seized his spirits so that he could not recover it. He grew sullen, and said little, ashamed of his own folly, put out of countenance by his wife's wisdom. How is he changed! His heart over-night merry with wine, next morning heavy as a stone; so deceitful are carnal pleasures, so transient the laughter of the fool. The end of that mirth is heaviness. Drunkards are sometimes sad when they reflect upon their own folly. Joy in God makes the heart always light. Abigail could never, by her wise reasonings, bring Nabal to repentance; but now, by her faithful reproof, she brings him to despair.
3. Nabal, at last, dead indeed: About ten days after, when he had been kept so long under this pressure and pain, the Lord smote him that he died (Sa1 25:38), and, it should seem, he never held up his head; it is just with God (says bishop Hall) that those who live without grace should die without comfort, nor can we expect better while we go on in our sins. Here is no lamentation made for Nabal. He departed without being lamented. Every one wished that the country might never sustain a greater loss. David, when he heard the news of his death, gave God thanks for it, Sa1 25:39. He blessed God, (1.) That he had kept him from killing him: Blessed be the lord, who hath kept his servant from evil. He rejoices that Nabal died a natural death and not by his hand. We should take all occasions to mention and magnify God's goodness to us in keeping us from sin. (2.) That he had taken the work into his own hands, and had vindicated David's honour, and not suffered him to go unpunished who had been abusive to him; hereby his interest would be confirmed, and all would stand in awe of him, as one for whom God fought. (3.) That he had thereby encouraged him and all others to commit their cause to God, when they are in any way injured, with an assurance that, in his own time, he will redress their wrongs if they sit still and leave the matter to him.
II. Abigail's wedding. David was so charmed with the beauty of her person, and the uncommon prudence of her conduct and address, that, as soon as was convenient, after he heard she was a widow, he informed her of his attachment to her (Sa1 25:39), not doubting but that she who approved herself so good a wife to so bad a husband as Nabal would much more make a good wife to him, and having taken notice of her respect to him and her confidence of his coming to the throne. 1. He courted by proxy, his affairs, perhaps, not permitting him to come himself. 2. She received the address with great modesty and humility (Sa1 25:41), reckoning herself unworthy of the honour, yet having such a respect for him that she would gladly be one of the poorest servants of his family, to wash the feet of the other servants. None so fit to be preferred as those that can thus humble themselves. 3. She agreed to the proposal, went with his messenger, took a retinue with her agreeable to her quality, and she became his wife, Sa1 25:42. She did not upbraid him with his present distresses, and ask him how he could maintain her, but valued him, (1.) Because she knew he was a very good man. (2.) Because she believed he would, in due time, be a very great man. She married him in faith, not questioning but that, though now he had not a house of his own that he durst bring her to, yet God's promise go him would at length be fulfilled. Thus those who join themselves to Christ must be willing now to suffer with him, believing that hereafter they shall reign with him.
Lastly, On this occasion we have some account of David's wives. 1. One that he had lost before he married Abigail, Michal, Saul's daughter, his first, and the wife of his youth, to whom he would have been constant if she would have been so to him, but Saul had given her to another (Sa1 25:44), in token of his displeasure against him and disclaiming the relation of a father-in-law to him. 2. Another that he married besides Abigail (Sa1 25:43), and, as should seem, before her, for she is named first, Sa1 27:3. David was carried away by the corrupt custom of those times; but from the beginning it was not so, nor is it so now that Messias has come, and the times of reformation, Mat 19:4, Mat 19:5. Perhaps Saul's defrauding David of his only rightful wife was the occasion of his running into this irregularity; for, when the knot of conjugal affection is once loosed, it is scarcely ever tied fast again. When David could not keep his first wife he thought that would excuse him if he did not keep to his second. But we deceive ourselves if we think to make others' faults a cloak for our own.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Abigail came to Nabal,.... Having sped with David,…
And Abigail came to Nabal,.... Having sped with David, and taken her leave of him, she returned home to her husband Nabal:
and, behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king; both for the number of dishes on his table and of guests at it though only on the account of sheep shearing; but very probably there were others that were invited to this entertainment besides the shearers; covetous men are generally very profuse when they make feasts:
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and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: which was a very ill example for the master of the feast to set, and was one instance among others of his folly, and of his conduct answering to his name:
wherefore she told him nothing less or more until the morning light; where she had been, and what she had been about, the danger that he and the whole family were in through his rude and churlish behaviour towards David and his men, and how she had prevented it by a timely application to David, meeting him when in full march, and in a great passion, and with a firm resolution to destroy him and his; but finding Nabal in such a condition, bereaved of his reason, and incapable of attending to what she should say, said not one word about it till the next morning.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A feast - As the manner was upon those…
A feast - As the manner was upon those solemn occasions. Sordid covetousness, and vain prodigality were met together in him. Told nothing - As he was then incapable of admonition, his reason and conscience being both asleep.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Morning. Admirable pattern of discretion, and how reprimands may…
Morning. Admirable pattern of discretion, and how reprimands may be made with advantage. (Calmet) --- A medicine given at an improper time often does harm. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xvii. 27.) When a person said to Cleostratus, "Are you not ashamed to get drunk?" he replied, "Are you not ashamed to rebuke a drunken man?"
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain NABAL'S DEATH. (Sa1 25:36-44)
NABAL'S DEATH. (Sa1 25:36-44)
he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king--The sheep-shearing season was always a very joyous occasion. Masters usually entertained their shepherds; and even Nabal, though of a most niggardly disposition, prepared festivities on a scale of sumptuous liberality. The modern Arabs celebrate the season with similar hilarity.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 36. A great feast in his house — The…
36. A great feast in his house — The continuation of the festival of his sheep-shearing, of which David had sought to share a part.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 36–38. Nabal’s death
36–38. Nabal’s death
36. a feast … like the feast of a king] His shearing-revel (cp. 2Sa_13:23) was on a scale of regal luxury.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (36) He held a feast in his house.—This completes…
(36) He held a feast in his house.—This completes the picture of the wealthy sheep-master. The contrast between him and his wife, the high-minded and wise Abigail, is very striking. The husband, churlish, obstinate, a friend of Saul and the old disorderly state of things, haughty, unyielding, selfish, and indulging to excess in the coarse pleasures of the table, falling a victim in the end to his own untamed passions; the wife—“the good angel of the household,” as Stanley phrases it—thoughtful, prudent, far-seeing, a patient listener, and an apt pupil evidently of the new masters of learning and culture in Israel, a beautiful example of the highest type of the devout Hebrew woman who during the long chequered story of the chosen race exercised so often a holy influence on the life of the people. Nabal may be taken as an extreme, though not an uncommon, example of the leading Israelites of the days before Samuel; Abigail as the representative of the nobler spirit among the higher classes after the spirit of Samuel had influenced the inhabitants of the land.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain DEATH OF NABAL AND MARRIAGE OF DAVID AND ABIGAIL…
DEATH OF NABAL AND MARRIAGE OF DAVID AND ABIGAIL (vers. 36-42).
Vers. 36-38. For he was very drunken. Hebrew, "and he was very drunken." This was not the cause of his heart being merry, but the result; he gave himself up to enjoyment till he became drunken, and then his merriment was over. When Abigail came back he was stupefied by drink, and it was not until the next day, when his debauch was passing off, that he was capable of being told what his wife had done. And when Abigail recounted to him David"s fierce resolve, and how she had pacified him, he seems to have given way to a fit of violent indignation, flying out possibly at her as he had at David"s messengers (ver. 14), the result of which was an attack of apoplexy, and after lying in a state of insensibility for ten days, he died.
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Vers. 36-44.
Contrasts, patience, and domestic ties.
The facts are
1. Abigail, finding Nabal in the midst of a drunken revel, refrains from speaking of her interview with David.
2. In the morning, on her relating what had transpired, he becameinsensible, and soon after dies.
3. On hearing of his death David recognises afresh the mercy that hadrestrained him, and sees the wisdom of leaving judgment to the Lord.
4. David, deprived of his wife Michal, though possessed of Ahinoam, seeks to take Abigail to wife, and she, accepting his advances, consents. The sacred narrative is wonderfully effective in making David the central figure amidst the diversity of detail alluded to, and thus indicates the unity of principle on which it is framed, as well as foreshadows the higher presentation of Christ as the one figure, discernible by the eye of faith, amidst the varied teachings of Scripture. The manifold teaching of this section, while associated with David as the central figure, may be most conveniently represented under three heads. We have here
I CONTRASTS OF CHARACTER. Nabal may be regarded as an instance of a type of character well known in every age low in taste, devoted to material gains, insensible to lofty spiritual aspirations, the miserable victim of disgusting habits, exercising a pernicious influence, and coming to an end dishonourable and ruinous. Grades of this character may be found, but the essential features of it are sensuality, irreverence, and earthliness. The chapter presents us with three characters agreeing in a common contrast to this Abigail"s, David"s, Samuel"s. Each of these, in the sphere allotted by Providence, stands out as the very opposite of Nabal. That which formed the inspiring power in them was intelligent devotion to the higher interests of life and strong faith in the Divine purpose that was being worked out in Israel. The reference in ver. 1 to the honourable burial of Samuel, and in vers. 36-38 to the disgraceful end of Nabal, as well as the intermediate references to David and Abigail, show that the contrast of characters lies in four thingsspirit, aims, influence, and end. All characters may be tested by these criteria. The spirit is either devout, reverent, trustful, and obedient, or grovelling, profane, alien to God. The aim in life is the creation of the spirit, and is either to promote individual and public righteousness in association with God"s purpose in the Messiah, or to gather wealth and find transitory gratification. The influence is either to elevate, inspire, and enrich the world with what is best and enduring, or to drag down, embitter, and brutalise mankind. The end, as in the case of Samuel, is either peace, honour, and future blessedness, or wretchedness, dishonour, and future woe. In every age and locality where truth is loved and rejected these opposite tendencies and issues are found, and it would be instructive and impressive to develop with illustrations from history the gradations of contrast. The clue to contrasts in taste, habit, and final condition is to be sought in the state of the spirit in its relation to God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." "You hath he quickened who were dead.
II THE JUSTIFICATION OF PATIENCE. It is possible to take David"s words (ver. 39) as expressing thanks for preservation from sin, and at the same time pleasure that his churlish enemy was now smitten; but the sense more congruous with the circumstances seems to be that he was, on reflection, more and more grateful for Divine restraint; and the fact that God had, without his agency, done what seemed to him best was evidence that man need never hasten to vindicate himself by violent measures, but may be patient under wrong. He was glad that God, and not he, had vindicated right. Events in the course of Providence will justify abstention from evil even under strong provocation. Many a man, patiently repressing violent passions, and content to endure rather than savagely avenge wrong, has lived to see the day when God, in some unlooked for way, has visited the wrong doer with chastisement, and then, while thankful for restraint, he is able to see in the Divine conduct a justification of the patience once so hard to exercise, and that seemed to men of the world so inexpedient and weak. And here comes out the great truth that the meek and quiet virtues enjoined by Christ are always justified by Providence, though at the time they are exercised they seem to be contrary to human nature. This is but a branch of a still wider truth, that all holiness of feeling and conduct is in the issue coincident with self-interest. Utility may not be the basis of morality, but in its broadest sense, taking in endless existence and future relations, it is exemplified in the effects. A few observations may suffice on this subject.
1. It often requires much effort to be truly virtuous. David felt it harder to abstain from avenging wrong than to avenge it. The positive side of his virtue was patient trust in the justice of God, and the impulses of the old man are against this. Very often personal losses and social disadvantages attend our patient endurance of evil, and these set into operation our strong feelings of resentment, our estimate of profit and loss, and our professed love of right.
2. All such virtue has the promise of success. To trust in God, to be patient in tribulation, and kindred qualities are pregnant with victory. Right feeling and conduct per se have a tendency, as Butler has shown, to ultimate happiness; and the ordinations of Providence are all subordinate to the vindication of right.
3. Personal and general history show that patient trust in God"s justice is honoured. Martyrs have found it better to leave their cause to God. The results of their endurance are perpetual, and most blessed and powerful. Every Christian can see in his own life that God does not forsake his saints, but turns their patient trust to his honour and glory, and the higher education of the individual and the race. Events will justify religious feeling in any form. It answers in every way to be like Christ.
III THE DOMESTIC FACTOR IN LIFE. The details concerning Nabal are given because of David"s place in the history of redemption, and for the same reason we have an account of David"s domestic relationships. It is well known that the domestic tie is of extreme importance in every life. Men are helped or hindered, blessed or cursed, by the kind of influence that sways the home. Considering how much the general character is affected by the development of the tender and pure feelings proper to home life, the loss to the world arising from domestic miseries is incalculable. What a change in society were our toilers blessed in the person of their wives with the love, the refinement of feeling, and the intelligent Christianity which knows how to make home a welcome, cheery place! Men like Nabal would be much worse were it not for the restraining influence of an Abigail. David"s public and private career was necessarily the better for the presence in his home of such a woman, though the elevating influence of her character was impaired by his adoption of polygamy. Many are the counteracting influences under which the best of men develope, and Scripture, by thus calling attention to David"s domestic affairs, gives us a clue to some of the circumstances amidst which his virtues and failings appeared. The extreme importance of the domestic factor in life should urge to care in contracting alliances, in the maintenance of a spirit at home in harmony with the sacred character of the marriage bond, and in rendering home life subservient to a faithful and efficient discharge of one"s calling in life (Eph_5:22-33; 1Pe_3:1-7) The question of marriage is a delicate one, and needs to be handled with great care, but it is doubtful whether the Church has in her pastors and teachers done as much for the education of the people on the subject as is required. A wise pastor will know how to incorporate earnest Scripture teaching with his ordinary ministrations without intruding into the privacies of life, and wise parents have it in their power to save their sons and daughters from many troubles by first winning confidence, and then judiciously aiding to right decisions.
General lessons:
1. In order to form a correct estimate of a life we must take into account the end, and the bearing of the principles cherished on the endless existence beyond the grave.
2. The practical exhibition of the Christian spirit in our dealings with badmen is often more difficult than the maintenance of a devout spirit in relation to God.
3. The cure for some of the ills of modern life is in making home moreattractive to those now seeking unhallowed joys elsewhere.
4. A nation careful of the purity and fulness of domestic life will survivethose making light of these qualities,
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain David Marries Abigail
David Marries Abigail
v. 36. And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, although he had been too stingy to share with David and his men, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, with all its luxury and sumptuousness; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, on account of the rich feast, for he was very drunken, intoxicated to such a point that he was not aware of anything outside of his own pleasure; wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, not a word, until the morning light.
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v. 37. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, when he had become sober once more, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone, struck with apoplexy, probably due to violent anger because his wife had presumed to deal with the hated David without consulting his authority.
v. 38. And it came to pass about ten days after that the Lord smote Nabal that he died, his death being a punishment for his ungodliness.
v. 39. And 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; it was clearly God’s judgment upon the insult offered him by Nabal and ever so much better than the revenge which he himself would have taken; for the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. To David it was like a case in law, in which the Lord had rendered the judicial decision. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
v. 40. And 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. It was the usual formal proposal.
v. 41. And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, in the Oriental manner of deepest devotion, and said, with the same extreme formal humility, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord, thus declaring herself willing, in consenting to the proposal, to perform the lowest service of the house-slaves.
v. 42. And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her, her usual train of servants; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. The author now immediately supplies further information concerning David’s other domestic relations.
v. 43. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, a city in the mountains of Judah; and they were also both of them his wives, in addition to Michal, 1Sa 18:28.
v. 44. But Saul had given Michal, his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti, the son of Laish, which was of Gallim, a town between Gibeah and Jerusalem. Cf 2Sa 3:14 ff. Note: What the believers do good to either friends or enemies is rewarded by God, both in time and in eternity.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 morning light
morning light
dawn
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Nabal's heart was merry within him
Nabal was very happy
translationWords
feast
king
heart
drunk
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 25:36 like a king: Nabal was like Saul (see…
25:36 like a king: Nabal was like Saul (see study note on 25:1-44).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.