Learning about Godly Counsel – Part 1

1 Samuel 25:1-8

¹Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. ²And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. ⁴David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. ⁶And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

In the last chapter, David was handed a perfect opportunity to end Saul’s life and thus his reign of destruction for the nation of Israel. But David withheld his knife and spared Saul’s life. In that action, Saul is humbled and recognizes that David is indeed God’s choice as the next king. Samuel’s work of anointing kings is completed and now he passes into God’s presence. Oddly enough, we will hear his name again at the end of the book when Saul foolishly tries to summon his “ghost”. With that brief obituary, we head into another chapter in David’s story. This time, he needs to learn what it means to accept godly counsel. That event begins with an introduction to Nabal and his wife, Abigail.

Before his name is even mentioned we meet Nabal, described as a wealthy man who did business near Carmel. Oddly enough, his name points to his character although the Hebrew word here has some interesting characteristic.

Nabal = to be senseless or foolish:—foolish, disgrace, make vile, scorned, treat contemptuously

The word is also closely associated with bottle or flask – which some commentators use to indicate he was “empty”. In some instances it is also associated with the word noble. As we will see, Nabal is most certainly not a noble person. The Hebrew meaning of Abigail, on the other hand, clearly means my father rejoices. She will live up to that name.

The writer of 1 Samuel uses an interesting literary foil to introduce Nabal and Abigail. It’s called chiastic arrangement. The words can be placed in a sideways V shape to indicate importance. In this case, Nabal is the top and bottom of the V, while Abigail takes up the middle. She is of primary importance.

A    Nabal’s name

B    Abigail’s name

B′   A description of Abigail

A′   A description of Nabal

While Nabal is a player in this story, it is ultimately about Abigail and David. She will be used as an important emissary from the Lord in David’s life.

David’s sends, via his “young men” a rather long message to Nabal which contained four parts:

1.   The first part was a greeting, for which the words are not given, since David probably assumed that the messengers would use a common salutation.

2.   Next followed four blessings—perhaps more than normal, but likely an indication that David may have had a suspicion that Nabal would not have been well-disposed toward him and his men.

3.   The third part noted the shearing of the sheep and how David had safeguarded Nabal’s shepherds—an implication that David’s protection was one reason the sheep were kept safe and were now able to be sheared. David and his men were not marauding bandits, and his message even suggested that Nabal might check with his shepherds to confirm this. Moreover, this part of David’s message anticipated Nabal’s rejection of David’s request: Nabal might claim not to know anything about David.

4.   Finally, David broached his request asking for favor toward his young men and a gift of food for them and himself. David’s self-referential “your son” places him in a deferential posture toward Nabal while simultaneously invoking a relationship that implies Nabal’s obligation to David.

Steinmann, A. E. ©2016. 1 Samuel. (p. 484). Saint Louis, MO: CPHouse.

David and his men have provided safety for Nabal’s workers as they set about the important task of shearing 3,000 sheep. It was custom that such an effort would be rewarded with food. As we will learn, Nabal is not interested in providing that reward. The drama will unfold from there.