1 Samuel 25:3

3 Und der Name des Mannes war Nabal, und der Name seines Weibes Abigail. Und das Weib war von guter Einsicht und schön von Gestalt; der Mann aber war hart und boshaft in seinen Handlungen, und er war ein Kalebiter.

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 Und Samuel starb; und ganz Israel versammelte sich und klagte um ihn und begrub ihn in seinem Hause zu Rama. Und David machte sich auf und zog hinab in die Wüste Paran.

2 Und es war ein Mann in Maon, der seine Geschäfte zu Karmel hatte; und der Mann war sehr vermögend und hatte dreitausend Schafe und tausend Ziegen; und er war während der Schur seiner Schafe in Karmel.

3 Und der Name des Mannes war Nabal, und der Name seines Weibes Abigail. Und das Weib war von guter Einsicht und schön von Gestalt; der Mann aber war hart und boshaft in seinen Handlungen, und er war ein Kalebiter.

4 Und David hörte in der Wüste, daß Nabal seine Schafe schor.

5 Da sandte David zehn Knaben, und David sprach zu den Knaben: Ziehet nach Karmel hinauf, und gehet zu Nabal und fraget ihn in meinem Namen nach seinem Wohlergehen, und sprechet also: