1 Samuel 25:18-38

Abigail Intercedes

18 Then Abigail hurried and 1took 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, "2Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
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 3returned me evil for good.
22 "4May God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, 5if 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 6and 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.
26 "Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, since the LORD has restrained you from shedding blood, and 7from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then 8let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.
27 "Now let 9this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany * my lord.
28 "Please forgive 10the transgression of your maidservant; for 11the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is 12fighting the battles of the LORD, and 13evil 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 14He 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 15appoints 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. 16When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant."
32 Then David said to Abigail, "17Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,
33 and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, 18who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
34 "Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, 19who 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, "20Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and 21granted your request."
36 Then Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding 22a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, 23for he was very * drunk; so 24she 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, 25the LORD struck Nabal and he died.

1 Samuel 25:18-38 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.

Cross References 25

  • 1. 2 Samuel 16:1; 1 Chronicles 12:40
  • 2. Genesis 32:16, 20
  • 3. Psalms 109:5; Proverbs 17:13
  • 4. 1 Samuel 3:17; 1 Samuel 20:13
  • 5. 1 Kings 14:10
  • 6. 1 Samuel 20:41
  • 7. Hebrews 10:30
  • 8. 2 Samuel 18:32
  • 9. Genesis 33:11; 1 Samuel 30:26
  • 10. 1 Samuel 25:24
  • 11. 1 Samuel 22:14; 2 Samuel 7:11, 16
  • 12. 1 Samuel 18:17
  • 13. 1 Samuel 24:11; Psalms 7:3
  • 14. Jeremiah 10:18
  • 15. 1 Samuel 13:14
  • 16. Genesis 40:14; 1 Samuel 25:30
  • 17. Exodus 18:10; 1 Kings 1:48; Psalms 41:13; Psalms 72:18; Psalms 106:48; Luke 1:68
  • 18. 1 Samuel 25:26
  • 19. 1 Samuel 25:26
  • 20. 1 Samuel 20:42; 2 Kings 5:19
  • 21. Genesis 19:21
  • 22. 2 Samuel 13:28
  • 23. Proverbs 20:1; Isaiah 5:11; Hosea 4:11
  • 24. 1 Samuel 25:19
  • 25. 1 Samuel 26:10; 2 Samuel 6:7; Psalms 104:29

Footnotes 22

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.