Havasu Christian Church
Series in I Samuel
November 17, 2024
I Samuel 25:1-38
"Greed and ingratitude…. or Thanksgiving a week early."
INTRO: As we get closer to Thanksgiving day, we come to a passage in I Samuel that teaches us something about gratitude, an greed.
Greed and gratitude don’t tend to “play well” together. People who are greedy, don’t seem to ever be grateful for what they have. People who are grateful, tend not to be greedy.
We will look at all of chapter 25, but we’ll break it up in smaller bits.
1 Samuel 25:1-3 Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel
3 (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite),
- Here we meet Nabal and Abigail
- First, let’s meet Nabal
- He is a descendant of Calab.
- Nurture vs nature?
- Nurture apparently won.
- Nabal is rich…. Very rich!
- 3000 sheep is a LOT of sheep!
- 1000 goats is a LOT of goats!
- Nabal also has a wife… Notice it doesn’t say THEY are rich!
- Nabal is harsh!
- unpleasantly rough or jarring to the senses.
- cruel or severe
- Making difficult demands
- Very difficult and unpleasant
- Nabal is evil!
- morally reprehensible, sinful, wicked
- bad character or conduct
- This ISN’T the guy you want for a next-door neighbor… or as a boss, certainly not as a husband!
- Now, let’s meet Abigail
- She is described as “intelligent and beautiful.”
- How did she get stuck with a guy like Nabal?
- Apparently, the fact that he was rich was enough for Abigail’s parents to think marrying their daughter to Nabal was a good idea.
- We’ll see shortly how their personalities play out in this interaction with David.
4 that David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5 So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name;
6 and thus you shall say, ‘Have a long life, peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
7 ‘Now I have heard that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, nor have they missed anything all the days they were in Carmel.
8 ‘Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”
- David makes a request.
- Share what you have with me and those who are with me.
- This is a reasonable request.
- It’s a time of plenty!
- Nabal should be celebrating a good crop of wool from his sheep.
- Perhaps, depending on what kind of goats they are, they may be shearing them too.
- Nabal is “making bank!” His sheep and goats are paying off for him in a big way.
- David and his men have been protecting Nabal’s flocks from harm. (We’ll see more about that later in the text.)
- They are protecting his livestock from predatory animals.
- They aren’t taking any for themselves.
- They aren’t letting anyone else take them either!
- David’s men have also been kind to the shepherds.
- No problems between them.
- Some of David’s group surely own livestock.
- There are no arguments about who can use what pasture land.
- Davids’ men give in every time.
- The Results of the request.
9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in David’s name; then they waited.
10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.
11 “Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?”
12 So David’s young men retraced their way and went back; and they came and told him according to all these words.
- How does this encounter come out?
- Nabal responds with an emphatic “NO!”
- “Who is this guy, and why should I give him, or you, anything?”
- He’s just the guy who has been seeing to it that your flocks and herdsmen were protected!
- “He’s just a bum who left the master who was in charge of him.”
- “David doesn’t “know his place!”
- “Why should I give some guy I don’t even know anything?”
13 David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
- David also has a response!
- To say that David is unhappy is a huge understatement.
- David is offended
- David feels cheated
- David has an army
- “Gird on your swords!
- There’s about to be a slaughter!
- Fortunately, Abigail has a response as well.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them.
15 “Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields.
16 “They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.
17 “Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”
- Abigail is warned.
- The young man begins respectfully, but makes certain that Abigail has an accurate picture:
- He tells her what David’s men have been doing.
- David’s men were respectful.
- “They were a wall to us by night and by day.”
- We were protected!
- No animals went missing while they were looking out for us.
- Our master has made a BIG mistake!
- The young man makes sure Abigail understands the danger Nabal has put them in.
17 “Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household; and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”
- He is a worthless man! He won’t listen!
- Pretty strong words from an employee to the wife of the boss.
- I imagine they’ve had conversations like this before.
- He’s put us all in danger!
- Abigail takes matters into her own hands.
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
19 She said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
- Abigail has a great deal of food loaded on donkeys and has the servants set out with it to take to David.
- She doesn’t even tell Nabal.
- Maybe because she knows he’ll say “NO!”
- Nabal is foolishly selfish.
Old Jack Benny Skit. Robber says “Your money or your life.” Jack Benny waits, waits and waits some more. The robber prompts him again. Your money or your life!” Jack Benny finally replies, “I’m Thinking it over!”
- Abigail gets on her donkey and rides.
- She meets David and his troops on the road.
20 It came about as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them.
21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good.
22 “May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him.”
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground.
24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your maidservant.
25 “Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
- Abigail finds David complaining about Nabal.
- We’ve been taking care of this guy’s stuff all this time, and he doesn’t appreciate it!
- All the men in his household are going to die!
- Abigail takes the blame.
- “It’s all my fault!”
- I didn’t see your men come.
- My Husband is worthless.
- No sugar coating here!
- Since my Husband lives up to his name, I should have paid better attention.
- Nabal means “foolish!”
- Again, no sugar coating.
- Abigail expects the best from David.
26 “Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.
27 “Now let this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord.
28 “Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil will not be found in you all your days.
29 “Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.
30 “And when the LORD does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,
31 this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
- “God has stopped you from shedding blood.”
- Give the gift I brought to your men.
- Please forgive me for letting things get to this point.
- I know that God is going to cause your family to endure!
- Anyone who attacks you is going to fail!
- God is going to make you king.
- This incident won’t be on your conscience… You did the right thing!
- Vengeance would only hurt you!
- Keep me in mind when you are King.
- This isn’t a plea to have David take her away from her husband…
- She just wants David to think of her favorably… after all, being “in good” with the king can’t be bad.
- David responds as he should have.
32 Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,
33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
34 “Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male.”
35 So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and granted your request.”
- “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!
- He sent you to me today!
- Because of your discernment, You kept me from doing wrong.
- Discernment… the ability to judge well: obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding:
- Go up to your house in peace. I have listened to you and granted your request.
- Abigail goes home
- The next day Abigail confronts her husband.
36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything at all until the morning light.
37 But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him so that he became as a stone.
38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.
- She waits till the next day because he’s drunk.
- When she tells him how close a call he had, he probably had a stroke.
- He dies 10 days later.
Conclusion: What can we learn from Nabal, Abigail and David?
- Maybe the first think to learn from this is to always have a written contract! 😊
- Nabal had his mind fixed on the wrong things.
- He is harsh and evil!
- He is glad to get something for nothing.
- He knew he owed David and his men something for helping him, but he tried to take advantage of the situation.
Years ago, spending Saturdays working for a church member who “couldn’t keep help.” I found out why. He was hard to get along with, and when I was done helping him, he gave me a trouble light that he didn’t want anymore. Gee, thanks…..
- Possessions are just stuff!
- Whether they are sheep and goats, or money toys and a comfortable house, they are all temporary!
- We shouldn’t look for our own vengeance!
- Abigail was right… David would have lived with regret!
- Be a peacemaker like Abigail.
- She took it on herself to fix the problem.
- She saved a lot of lives.
- Nabal… for a few days.
- The servants
- The shearers
- If not for her, they would have all died.
- When someone steps into our lives and convinces us not to do wrong, PRAISE GOD for sending them to us!
- Thank them for what they have done.
- Remember that none of us know how long we have to live.
- Accumulating things won’t matter to us when we are dead.
- Focus on the eternal, not the temporary!
- Jesus taught all these things too.
- (Except for the written contract part)
- Nabal was a Calebite. Didn’t matter.
- God doesn’t have grandkids!
