1 Samuel 25:3

3 His name was Nabal. His wife's name was Abigail. She was a wise and beautiful woman. But her husband was rude and mean in the way he treated others. He was from the family of Caleb.

1 Samuel 25:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:3

Now the name of the man [was] Nabal
Which signifies a "fool"; one would think his parents should not give him this name, though it is a name proper enough to men in common; and Kimchi thinks this was a nickname, which men gave him agreeably to his genius and conduct, and which is not improbable:

and the name of his wife Abigail;
which signifies "my father's joy", he delighting in her for her wit and beauty, as follows:

and [she was] a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful
countenance;
she was not only of a good understanding in things natural, civil, and domestic, but in things spiritual, as her speech to David shows, and which, with her external form, completed her character, and greatly recommended her; which is the character Aelianus

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 gives of Aspasia, wise and fair:

but the man [was] churlish and evil in his doings;
morose and ill natured in the temper and disposition of his mind, and wicked in his conversation, and fraudulent and oppressive in his dealings with men:

and he [was] of the house of Caleb;
or he was a Calebite ^F23, a descendant of that great and good man Caleb the son of Jephunneh; which was an aggravation of his wickedness, that he should be the degenerate plant of such a noble vine: some interpret it, he was as his heart, as his heart was bad, so was he; some men, their outside is better than their inside; but this man was no hypocrite, he was as bad outwardly as he was inwardly: the word "Caleb" sometimes signifies a dog; hence the Septuagint version renders it, a doggish man, a cynic; and to the same purpose are the Syriac and Arabic versions; and so some Jewish writers interpret it; but the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, supply it as we do, that he was of the house or family of Caleb, and so of the tribe of Judah, as David was.

F21 Var. Hist. l. 12. c. 1.
F23 (wblk) "keri" (yblk) "Calibita", Pagninus, Montanus; "Calebita" Tigurine version, Junius & Tremcilius, Piscator.

1 Samuel 25:3 In-Context

1 Samuel died. The whole nation of Israel gathered together. They were filled with sorrow because he was dead. They buried his body at his home in Ramah. Then David went down into the Desert of Maon.

2 A certain man in Maon was very wealthy. He owned property there at Carmel. He had 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep. He was clipping the wool off the sheep in Carmel.

3 His name was Nabal. His wife's name was Abigail. She was a wise and beautiful woman. But her husband was rude and mean in the way he treated others. He was from the family of Caleb.

4 David was staying in the Desert of Maon. While he was there, he heard that Nabal was clipping the wool off his sheep.

5 So he sent for ten young men. He said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him for me.