1 Samuel 25:8

8 Just ask them, and they will tell you. We have come on a feast day, and David asks you to receive us kindly. Please give what you can to us your servants and to your dear friend David."

1 Samuel 25:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:8

Ask thy young men, and they will show thee
The shepherds before mentioned, who kept their flocks hard by them:

wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes;
the ten young men David sent to Nabal:

for we are come in a good day;
a day in which Nabal made a feast for his shearers, as was usual then, and still is, see ( 2 Samuel 13:23-28 ) ; and at such times as persons are generally cheerful and merry, so free and liberal, and as there were plenty of provisions, not only enough for the guests and shearers, but to spare, and there was no need for an increase of expense, it might upon the whole be concluded it was a proper time for David to apply for accommodations for himself and his men:

give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants,
and to thy son David;
he did not request anything extraordinary of him, or to put him to any expense, but what was at hand, and he could spare, he prayed him to deliver to the young men he sent, for their use, and the use of other his servants, and particularly David, who styled himself his son, being of the same tribe with Nabal, and Nabal his senior.

1 Samuel 25:8 In-Context

6 He instructed them to say to Nabal: "David sends you greetings, my friend, with his best wishes for you, your family, and all that is yours.

7 He heard that you were shearing your sheep, and he wants you to know that your shepherds have been with us and we did not harm them. Nothing that belonged to them was stolen all the time they were at Carmel.

8 Just ask them, and they will tell you. We have come on a feast day, and David asks you to receive us kindly. Please give what you can to us your servants and to your dear friend David."

9 David's men delivered this message to Nabal in David's name. Then they waited there,

10 and Nabal finally answered, "David? Who is he? I've never heard of him! The country is full of runaway slaves nowadays!