1 Samuel 25:8

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 1a festive day. Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.' "

1 Samuel 25:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:8

Ask thy young men, and they will show thee
The shepherds before mentioned, who kept their flocks hard by them:

wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes;
the ten young men David sent to Nabal:

for we are come in a good day;
a day in which Nabal made a feast for his shearers, as was usual then, and still is, see ( 2 Samuel 13:23-28 ) ; and at such times as persons are generally cheerful and merry, so free and liberal, and as there were plenty of provisions, not only enough for the guests and shearers, but to spare, and there was no need for an increase of expense, it might upon the whole be concluded it was a proper time for David to apply for accommodations for himself and his men:

give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants,
and to thy son David;
he did not request anything extraordinary of him, or to put him to any expense, but what was at hand, and he could spare, he prayed him to deliver to the young men he sent, for their use, and the use of other his servants, and particularly David, who styled himself his son, being of the same tribe with Nabal, and Nabal his senior.

1 Samuel 25:8 In-Context

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.' "
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.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Nehemiah 8:10-12; Esther 9:19, 22

Footnotes 1

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