1 Samuel 25
There was a prosperous sheep rancher named Nabal during the time of a sheep harvest. Nabal was married to a good, understanding and beautiful woman named Abigail but he was a churlish (rude, in a mean-spirited way) and evil man.The sheep harvest was a time of abundance, feast and good-will traditions. For this reason, David felt that it would be a fair time to approach Nabal about a business matter. David sent ten men to greet Nabal and to deliver this message: (paraphrased) peace to you, your house and everything that you have. We have protected your sheep and your flock, (none went missing or were harmed) and now that it is the season for you to shear (thus make money from that flock) we request compensation for our protection.
Immediately Nabal mocked David, "Who is David?". It is unlikely that Nabal did not recognize David's name: David had several famous victories over the enemy Philistines. There were songs sung about David in the streets (1 Samuel 18:5-7). Nabal accused David of being a rebellious servant of the king. This was untrue, but even if Nabal had been misled to believe that David was rebellious, (more likely his greed attempted to avoid bills due), he owed David for a service performed. Instead, Nabal refused to give any food or water to David's camp, whom he declared strangers unworthy.
When David's ten men returned to him with Nabal's response, David's response was hot anger. He told his men to equip their swords. The first attempt to deal with Nabal, David sent an non-threatening, ten men with a message. This time, four hundred men would go with swords.
Pause here to consider David's response. It was a violent overreaction most probably due to ego. Innocents would die due an ill-received personal insult? We have so much to learn from the best of David, but we have just as much to learn from the worst of him. Bloodthirsty retaliation should not be in our toolkit. We will all be personally insulted. We will all receive unfair treatment. But how will we respond? Will we immediately sell ourselves as slaves to our temper? For our temper then will act hotly, hastily in a way that is no better than the initial affront!
The ancient context might make these concepts seem abstract, but though the world has changed much, humans not at all. It requires spiritual wisdom and strength to consistently respond to circumstances in life with grace and patience and even-temperament. We pray for God to avenge us on matters small and great... not out of malice or desire for harm on another person, but out of desire restoration on our behalf and correction for the one responsible for the affront.
Resuming the story: Nabal was an impossible man; he could not be reasoned with and his own servants knew it. They therefore explained the situation to Nabal's wife, Abigail. Abigail was reasonable. She listened. She gathered facts and witness statements. She determined the appropriate response and compensation. Nabal, the greedy, arrogant, hot-head, did none of this. He insulted David and the result, as Abigail was informed, would be disastrous. David and his men were on their way to settle the score.
Abigail hurried and collected hundreds of loaves of bread, bottles of wine, sheep, corn, raisons, and cakes of figs. She loaded these onto donkeys and sent her servants ahead of her (without her husband's knowledge or consent). As Abigail came down the hill on her donkey, she successfully intercepted David.
David was still angry; he said: (paraphrased) it seems that everything I have done for Nabal was in vain; he returned me evil for good. Therefore, God should return evil to Nabal and everything that belongs to him. Abigail jumped down from her donkey and ran to meet David. She bowed down to the ground in front of David and began an earnest apology. She explained that Nabal was a fool (in fact, that is the etymology of his name) and that she was not there to receive his ten men and arrange appropriate compensation. She took responsibility, and implored David to consider her interception as God withholding him from bloodshed, from avenging himself with his own hand.
She asked for forgiveness and revealed that she had brought compensation for David. But more than that, Abigail, seems to have been sent by God to cool David down and prevent him from an action he would surely regret. She lauded David for his success and blessing (all due to his righteous character). She knew, and reminded David, that God would establish him as king. And as king, would David want, on his conscience, this bloodthirsty response to Nabal's insult?
Do not be so egotistical as to require instant retaliation, none among us are exempt from injustice. Why tarnish or prevent good work done in yourself? We pray to God for blessing. Blessing comes with responsibility. It requires character. How tragic, to receive a blessing long prayed for only to realize it is undeserved! What torment, to live with a guilty conscience. Allow God to be your Abigail, your wise counsel. The one who intercepts you from doing something you will regret. Instead of instant emotional and physical reaction, pause and consult God. Allow Him to reveal an objective picture, the greater picture. Exercise restraint. You will respond wisely, appropriately when you do so.
Finally, David cooled. He blessed God for sending Abigail to him; he blessed the advice and Abigail, for preventing him from bloodshed and selfish vengeance. He admitted that without the intervention, he would have killed Nabal and his men. He accepted all that she brought him and encouraged her to return home safely. So she did; she returned to find Nabal feasting and drunk. In the morning, when he was sober, Abigail told him everything. Nabal's heart turned into stone, his heart died and so did Nabal. The Lord avenged David and caused Nabal to die.
When David heard about Nabal's death, he expressed gratitude to God for avenging him. This may seem somewhat drastic. Did Nabal deserve to die for insult and refusal to pay for a service rendered? It seems like the answer is: no. In previous chapters, God gave David permission to kill men. David was a soldier and many enemies died at his hand, his orders. Yet God held David back from killing Nabal and his men. Is the difference the personal nature of the insult? Perhaps yes, Jesus taught us to not retaliate against personal affronts (Matthew 5:43-48). As children of God, we are encouraged to allow God to balance the scales of justice in our personal lives.
And maybe the reason why God enabled Nabal to swiftly die of natural causes was because of previous, greater offenses. At the start of the chapter, it was explained that Nabal was churlish and evil in his doings. Nabal was guilty of lifelong, repeated offenses devoid of repentance. He also served as a literal and symbolic barrier to God's plan. Despite his imperfection, David was a faithful man of God and during his lifetime, he would progress the kingdom. Evil cannot thwart this greater purpose. But also, on an individual scale, God's children can count on Him to defend them and mete out justice, judgment on their behalf.
As an aside (because it is included in the chapter, albeit briefly), David then took the widowed Abigail as his wife. This seems prudent, as Abigail was a good and faithful woman. She could provide David wise counsel and he had established a precedent for actually taking it. But, David then took another wife. And technically, David already had a wife: Saul's daughter, Michal (though Saul had taken her away and remarried her to someone else). David's infatuation with women, certainly with one woman, would result in the worst mistake of his life... but that is a sermon for another time.