#435 The Real Heroes

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.[a]

2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.

4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs[b] of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God deal with David,[c] be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26 And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

28 “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lordyour God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lordyour God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”

32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabalwould have been left alive by daybreak.”

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”

36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she toldhim nothing at all until daybreak. 37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”

41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife.43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel[d] son of Laish, who was from Gallim. 1 Samuel 25 NIV

They will mourn and lament; the good you did not want because it did not resonate in your own deceitful heart, you now miss because that love has also gone with him. Who will pray for this country, remain prostrate before God, and stand in the gap like Samuel? In the last days, Israel will lament again, "Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering," as it says in the Prophet Isaiah. The Jews of the last days,  at the end of the tribulation, ultimate tyranny and abuse of power, the darkest crusade of man's iron rule against his fellow man, that remnant will surely lament. How can I say that? Because the same Bible that says it, says it hundreds of years before Christ actually came. It says it about those that are still more future tense than Christ's time which it predicts. It says it about those looking back from the end of time to the time of atonement, and in their sorrow they find themselves poor in spirit, in their mourning they find themselves blessed, a Greater than Samuel they cry for, a Greater than Moses, a Greater than Abraham, Greater than any king. We did not want Him, yet He gave His life and stands before the Father on our behalf. Praise Him Who had no beauty that we would desire Him, Who came out of nowhere, from the order of Melchizedek. We didn't want Him, we wanted a king, an image, an idol, we couldn't accept that God knew more about what He made, that we were living outside of His original intent, that we are ever spiraling downward, but convinced of otherwise.

Now we come to Nabal, a fool, but a fool with a lot of possessions, and this is his only sense of honor. David has protected his flocks, his men, his interest, and he has kept his men from abusing the power of their numbers and weapons, kept them from taking as well. I hate to ask anyone for help, for so many think this is power to their abuse, a box for them to stand on, the acknowledgment that those who have are somehow better than those that do not. David I do not find wrong for asking, he has actually been anointed as Nabal's king, but Nabal has no foresight, nor does he care about his own people or even worthy clichés like "one good turn". He acts as if the one who has gone out on behalf of Israel, against Philistines and been a cover to his own holdings, is unknown to him. It is insulting speech, obviously not true, for he would be a poor business man as well who did not wonder about those so close to his possessions. He also, by his own tongue, acknowledges who David is in mentioning his drama. He views David as despised since he is afflicted by Saul, that he is in essence here of his own choice, a rebel. Now, David, who was so composed with Saul, who did not take his life when it was made such an easy thing, is now ready to make his own oaths. As if this emotion, this rise in volume, this anger can lead to a just and prudent act. Saul is the acting king, if David attacks a member of his kingdom, one of it's citizens, does this not put him rightly in Saul's crosshairs? He has been innocent of Saul's wrath so far, and yes, Nabal is a jerk, but is Nabal refusing to honor a prior agreement with David? No, now David is rash and on his way intent upon a bad decision, and men will hold to such things, justify these things, "stand by their decisions." No matter how dramatic you are, the truth does not budge, you have not moved it one way or the other. It is you who have either stepped to the right or to the left. Wisdom is a blessed thing when it comes calling and faithful are the wounds of a friend, Abigail is a wife to be honored not only for position but one of spirit and truth. She saves the people of her husband's house by her wisdom in listening, her judgment in acting and her humility in persuading. Saul's daughter was a snare, Michal threw David under the bus with her words that were not true, but Abigail is honest and saves her husband's life for God to take it. David takes correction and is saved from unnecessary blood shed. Once you are heading down the path to destruction, intent upon it, it is hard to stop and even harder to walk the other way. Pride hates to acknowledge when it's wrong, wisdom is calling, but if all your friends are behind you, then hopefully Abigail is on her way.

Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[a] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[b] get understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.” Proverbs 4: 5-9