46 David and Nabal

First Samuel chapter 25 opens with the announcement of the prophet Samuel’s death.

1 Death of Samuel

While several important events in Samuel’s life are covered in the book, his death us addressed in just one verse:

1 Samuel 25:1

The prophet/priest/judge had faithfully served the Lord for decades, having been the main religious leader for the nation.

However, the fact that very little was said about his death, was probably meant to show that he had fulfilled his ministry, and that the focus was now to be solely on David.

We can see an example from the New Testament, where for a time, the focus was on the dynamic ministry of John the Baptist, until Jesus came upon the scene. Once the Lord began His earthly ministry, it was clear that He should become the focal point, and therefore John was to fade from the scene:

John 3:28

While both Samuel and John faithfully served the Lord in very impactful ways, when their ministries had come to a close, the Lord welcomed them home, which He does with all His people:

Psalm 116:15

After the death of Samuel, David and his men moved to an area of southern Judah known as the Wilderness of Paran.

Even though David and Saul had entered an apparent truce, David wisely attempted to remain in secluded wilderness places, which would be out of Saul’s immediate reach.

2 Nabal’s Character

While David wouldn’t encounter Saul, he would have interactions with two specific characters, one of whom would greatly impact his life.

Paran was a rugged wilderness area, which was bounded by grassy hills which were good for grazing sheep. Therefore, the majority of the people in the area, were either shepherds or nomadic travelers.

One of the individuals was a man named Nabal who was a wealthy breeder of sheep and goats. He was also described as being harsh and evil in all his dealings:

1 Samuel 25:2-3

While David had grown up tending his father Jesse’s sheep, Jesse was not on the level of Nabal, who had become quite successful and prosperous. Though he lived in the smaller town of Maon, most of his business took place in the much larger town of Carmel, where even feasts were held, which would certainly require lambs for sacrifices.

Both towns were located near the Wilderness of Paran, therefore Nabal’s shepherds would graze the sheep on the lush hills surrounding the wilderness area, where David and his men were hiding.

The fact that the Bible refers to Nabal as “harsh and evil in all his doings” it appears that he was an especially ruthless businessman.

His character can be summed up by the meaning of his name, which meant “fool”.

Nabal married a woman whose character was the opposite of his. Her name was Abigail, and she was described as being of “good understanding and beautiful appearance”. Adding to the irony between the couple, her name means “Joy of the Father”.

These are the two individuals that would greatly impact David’s life.

3 A Real Attitude Problem

Nabal was the epitome of someone with an extremely bad attitude:

1 Samuel 4-11

David’s men had been protecting Nabal’s herdsmen, keeping them safe from bandits, and raiding Philistines who might want to steal the wealthy man’s sheep.

When David heard that Nabal had gone to Carmel to shear his sheep (which would have been done after he had sold the wool), he then instructed his men to great Nabal cordially, and to politely request some food for the services they had been providing.

They were to explain to him how they had kept his men and sheep safe throughout their time in the area.

However, because Nabal was harsh and evil, he had little appreciation for what David’s men had done. Since the Scripture is clear regarding Nabal’s character, he probably knew about the free protection his men had received, and he had no intention of reciprocating in any way.

Not only did he act in that manner toward David’s men, but he was extremely dismissive of David as well. He even sounded much like Saul often did, as he referred to David as “the son of Jesse”. Which shows he was aware of who David and his father were, but looked down on them, since Jesse wasn’t as successful in the sheep breeding business as he was.

Earlier in First Samuel, we saw that even one of Jesse’s son’s Eliab remarked about the “few sheep” of Jesse which David had been entrusted with.

Nabal continued disparaging David, by equating him with a slave who had broken away from his master, thus showing he probably had knowledge of the rift between Saul and David.

Nabal showed he wasn’t about to share food he had allocated for his shearers with David’s men, who he obviously looked upon as renegades, since they were no longer answering to Saul and his army.