1 Samuel 25:19

19 and said to her servants, Go ye before me; lo! I shall follow you behind your back. And she showed not this to her husband Nabal (But she did not say anything about this to her husband Nabal).

1 Samuel 25:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:19

And she said to her servants, go on before me
With the present, the sight of which she wisely considered would in a great measure pacify David, and prepare him to hear patiently what she had to say to him:

behold, I come after you;
signifying it would not be long before she came up to them, and overtook them:

but she told not her husband Nabal;
neither the danger he and his family were in through his conduct, nor the preparations she had made to prevent it; knowing his perverse and obstinate disposition, that it would take up too much time to reason with him, and persuade him, and bring him into proper measures; and which may be observed to excuse the conduct of Abigail in doing what she did, and taking and disposing of her husband's gods, without his knowledge and leave; the case required haste, and it was done to preserve him and his family from imminent ruin; and besides, he might not be in a fit condition to be spoken to, being drunk with passion, or with wine, or both, see ( 1 Samuel 25:36 ) ; and no doubt she was directed by the Spirit of God to do what she did; and this being an extraordinary case, is not to be drawn into an example.

1 Samuel 25:19 In-Context

17 Wherefore behold thou, and think, what thou shalt do; for malice is full-filled against thine husband, and against thine house (for malice is now filled full against thy husband, and against all thy family); and he is the son of Belial, so that no man may speak (sense) to him.

18 Therefore Abigail hasted, and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five wethers sodden, and seven bushels and an half of flour (and five roasted sheep, and seven and a half bushels of flour), and an hundred bundles of dried grapes, or raisins, and two hundred pieces of dried figs; and she put all this upon asses,

19 and said to her servants, Go ye before me; lo! I shall follow you behind your back. And she showed not this to her husband Nabal (But she did not say anything about this to her husband Nabal).

20 Therefore when she had gone upon an ass, and came down to the foot of the hill, David and his men came down into her coming; the which she met (and she met them).

21 And (earlier) David (had) said, Verily in vain I have kept all these things that were of this Nabal in the desert, and nothing perished of all things that pertained to him, and (yet) he hath yielded to me evil for good. (And earlier David had said, Truly in vain have I kept watch over all those things that were Nabal's in the wilderness, and though nothing perished of all the things that pertained to him, yet he hath yielded to me evil for good.)