1 Samuel 25:34

34 For as surely ¹as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, ²who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male."

1 Samuel 25:34 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:34

For in very deed, [as] the Lord God of Israel liveth
An oath for the confirmation of what he was about to say: which hath kept me back from hurting thee:
from doing any ill to her family, as he intended, though not to her person, his resolution being only to slay the males; but that would have been an hurt, an evil, an affliction to Abigail, from which the Lord in his providence restrained him, and that through her good advice: except thou hadst hasted, and come to meet me:
if she had not made quick dispatch in preparing her present, or had stayed to persuade her husband into her measures; if she had delayed a little longer, David would have been at Nabal's house, executing his vengeance on him and his: surely there had not been left unto Nabal, by the morning light, any
that pisseth against the wall: (See Gill on 1 Samuel 25:22).

1 Samuel 25:34 In-Context

32 And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand!

34 For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male."

35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition."

36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

Cross References

• 1. See Ruth 3:13
• 2. [See ver. 26 above]