1 Samuel 25:1-11

Samuel's Death

1 ¹Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and ²mourned for him, and ³buried him at his house in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the ⁴wilderness of Paran.

Nabal and Abigail

2 Now there was a man in ⁵Maon whose business was in ⁶Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while ⁷he was shearing his sheep in Carmel

3 (now the man's name was Nabal, and his ⁸wife'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 ⁹a Calebite ),

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, ¹⁰peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

7 'Now I have heard ¹¹that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us and we have not insulted them, ¹²nor 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 ¹³a 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, "¹⁴Who 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 ¹⁵take 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?"

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1 Samuel 25:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 25

This chapter gives an account of the death of Samuel, and of the ill treatment David met with from Nabal; it begins with the death of Samuel, which was greatly lamented in Israel, 1Sa 25:1; it draws the character of Nabal, and his wife, 1Sa 25:2,3; records a message of David to him, by his young men, desiring he would send him some of his provisions made for his sheep shearers, 1Sa 25:4-9; and Nabal's ill-natured answer to him reported by the young men, which provoked David to arm against him, 1Sa 25:10-13,21,22; and this being told Abigail, the wife of Nabal, and a good character given of David and his men, and of the advantage Nabal's shepherds had received from them, and the danger his family was in through his ingratitude, 1Sa 25:14-17; she prepared a present to pacify David, went with it herself, and addressed him in a very handsome, affectionate, and prudent manner, 1Sa 25:18-31; and met with a kind reception, 1Sa 25:32-35; and the chapter is closed with an account of the death of Nabal, and of the marriage of Abigail to David, 1Sa 25:32-44.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. 1 Samuel 28:3
2. Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8
3. 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Chronicles 33:20
4. Genesis 21:21; Numbers 10:12; Numbers 13:3
5. 1 Samuel 23:24
6. Joshua 15:55
7. Genesis 38:13; 2 Samuel 13:23
8. Proverbs 31:10
9. Joshua 15:13; 1 Samuel 30:14
10. 1 Chronicles 12:18; Psalms 122:7; Luke 10:5
11. 2 Samuel 13:23, 24
12. 1 Samuel 25:15, 21
13. Nehemiah 8:10-12; Esther 9:19, 22
14. Judges 9:28
15. Judges 8:6, 15

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "great"
[b]. Lit "of good understanding"
[c]. Lit "go into"
[d]. Lit "To life"
[e]. Lit "good"
[f]. Lit "from where they are"