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In Christ, Mark
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Now Samuel died and all Israel assembled and
mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.
Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon.
A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He
had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep which he was shearing in Carmel.
His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and
beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his
dealings.
While David was in the desert, he heard that
Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go
up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: 'Long life to you!
Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!’
'Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time.
When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them and the whole time
they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and
they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come
at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you
can find for them.'"
When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this
message in David's name. Then they waited.
Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is
this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from
their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I
have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows
where?"
David's men turned around and went back. When
they arrived, they reported every word.
David said to his men, "Put on your
swords!" So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four
hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
One of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail:
"David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings
but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not
mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was
missing. Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding
our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do because disaster
is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man
that no one can talk to him."
Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred
loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted
grain, a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs and
loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll
follow you."
But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
As she came riding her donkey into a mountain
ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her and she met them.
David had just said, "It's been useless—all my watching over this fellow's
property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back
evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I
leave alive one male of all who belong to him!"
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her
donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his
feet and said: "My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your
servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. May my lord pay no
attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name is Fool
and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my
master sent.”
"Now since the Lord has kept you, my
master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as
surely as the Lord lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend
to harm my master be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has
brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you. Please forgive your
servant's offense, for the Lord will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my
master because he fights the Lord’s battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you
as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the
life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the
Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies, He will hurl away as from the
pocket of a sling. When the Lord has done for my master every good thing He
promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, my master
will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or
of having avenged himself. And when the Lord has brought my master success,
remember your servant."
David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the
Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed
for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from
avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of
Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to
meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by
daybreak."
Then David accepted from her hand what she had
brought him and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and
granted your request."
When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the
house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very
drunk. So she told him nothing until daybreak. Then in the morning, when Nabal
was sober, his wife told him all these things and his heart failed him and he
became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said,
"Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating
me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought
Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head."
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to
become his wife. His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David
has sent us to you to take you to become his wife."
She bowed down with her face to the ground and
said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of
my master's servants." Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by
her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife. David had
also married Ahinoam of Jezreel and they both were his wives. But Saul had
given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel, son of Laish, who was from
Gallim.
1 Samuel 25
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever found
yourself about to do something wrong only to have someone step in and stop you?
I don’t think we can say
enough about the importance of intervention in life…accepting intervention when
it comes our way and intervening ourselves when we see someone needing it. We
see this first-hand in today’s scripture passage from the 25th chapter of 1
Samuel.
Unfortunately, things
begin sadly as we read about the death of Samuel. This man, the son of Hannah who
was given to her as a gift from God and then presented to Him at the age of
three, lived a life of faithful, dedicated service to the Lord, gaining deep respect
from the nation of Israel because of his many years of spiritual wisdom and
leadership. This respect and reverence were evident as we’re told how “all
Israel assembled and mourned for him” as he was “buried him at his home in
Ramah”.
Following Samuel’s
death, the scriptures tell us that David “moved down into the Desert of Maon”
where he encountered a wealthy man “who had property there at Carmel”…property
that included “a thousand goats and three thousand sheep” which he sheared. We
learn that the man’s name was Nabal and that he was “surly and mean in his
dealings”. He was married to woman named Abigail who was described as being “an
intelligent and beautiful woman”.
So David, interested in
establishing a working relationship with Nabal so to get some supplies, “sent
ten young men” to him while he was shearing sheep. He instructed the young men
to greet Nabal before sharing the following message:
“Long
life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that
is yours!”
“Now
I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did
not mistreat them and the whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs was
missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable
toward my young men since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants
and your son David whatever you can find for them."
And so David’s men went
to Nabal and said what David commanded, surely expecting to receive some amount
of hospitality but they would find out quickly that Nabal’s reputation
proceeded him as he replied:
“Who
is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from
their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I
have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows
where?"
And so David’s servants
returned to David empty-handed and “reported every word” that Nabal had said.
After hearing this, we see where David became enraged and gave his men the
following order:
“Put
on your swords!"
And with that, David
took “about four hundred men” and headed toward Nabal where he intended to kill
him and his men for his disrespectful behavior. Nabal and his men were as sure
as dead at the hands of David…unless some intervention occurred to spare them
and as we see in our passage, the Lord was about to provide it in the person of
Nabal’s intelligent and beautiful wife, Abigail.
For we read where “one
of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail” that David had “sent messengers from
the desert” to greet Nabal but only received hurled insults. The servant further
states that David and his men didn’t deserve that treatment because they had
been “very good” to the servants, not mistreating them nor stealing from them
for “the whole time (they) were out in the fields near them nothing (went) missing”.
In other words, David
and their men had been good and trustworthy neighbors, never starting any
conflict or wronging Nabal’s men in any way. But now things had changed because
of what the “wicked man” Nabal had done, so much so that the servant sensed the
coming threat from David and his men, telling Abigail that “disaster is hanging
over our master and his whole household”
With this, Abigail went
into action…losing no time in gathering “two hundred loaves of bread, two skins
of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of
raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs” which she loaded on donkeys.
She then told her servants to go ahead so she could follow, deciding to “not
tell…Nabal”.
The scriptures tell us
that as Abigail “came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine”, she saw “David
and his men descending toward her” and so she went to meet them. It was just in
a nick of time because David had just said this:
"It's
been useless—all my watching over this fellow's property in the desert so that
nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal
with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all
who belong to him!"
Through his words, we
see how David was incensed, not just over Nabal’s disrespect and lack of
hospitality but also his lack of gratitude…so much so that he was ready to kill
him and all his men. There was only one thing that David wasn’t considering in
his fit of anger. He didn’t factor in the possibility of intervention to
resolve the matter at hand.
Well, when David reached
Abigail, we read where “she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before
(him) with her face to the ground”, saying:
“My lord, let the blame
be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant
has to say. May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just
like his name — his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your
servant, I did not see the men my master sent.”
"Now
since the Lord has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging
yourself with your own hands, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, may
your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. And let this
gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who
follow you. Please forgive your servant's offense for the Lord will certainly
make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the Lord’s battles. Let
no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is
pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in
the bundle of the living by the Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies, He
will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. When the Lord has done for my
master every good thing He promised concerning him and has appointed him leader
over Israel, my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of
needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord has brought
my master success, remember your servant."
Take note of Abigail’s
words to David. For she wasn’t just speaking on behalf of herself and her
people but rather on behalf of the Lord. In a time when intervention was desperately
needed, she not only invoked God’s name but then was used by Him to soften
David’s irritated heart and prevent the pending bloodshed.
In fact, we sense relief
in David’s voice as he says to Abigail:
“Praise
be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you
be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day
and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord,
the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come
quickly to meet me not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive
by daybreak."
In other words, Abigail
and her quick actions saved her husband and his men. They all would live
because she was willing to intervene for them.
Well, as the chapter
ends, we see where the Lord handled Nabal for we read where “his heart failed
him and he died after Abigail told him about what she had done. And after David
praised the Lord for upholding his honor by dealing with Nabal, he sent for the
now widowed Abigail and made her his wife. Ultimately, we see where the Lord
rewarded her for the wonderful act of intervention she performed.
So how does this tie
into our lives today?
Well, as we examine the
deeds of Abigail and the saving impact that had on her husband and the rest of
her servants, we can’t help but remember the blessed, saving intervention we,
as Christians, have experienced through Jesus Christ.
For we were once in
danger of death and the penalty of Hell because of our sinfulness. We were
separated from God and in order to bridge that gap, special intervention was
needed. A heavy price needed paid in order to purchase our pardon.
And so God, out of His
deep love for us, sent His only Son Jesus, the One who would be the Lamb of God
who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29) for anyone who would believe in
Him. Because of placing their faith and trust in Him, they wouldn’t perish but
rather gain eternal life (John 3:16).
Just as Nabal and his
servants were spared because Abigail’s act of intervention, Jesus stepped in to
save sinners, willingly giving His life up in place of ours on Calvary’s cross
while dying in our place and paying our sin debt in full. Indeed, those who
place their trust in Him will not be condemned (Romans 8:1) or thrust into the
fires of Hell but rather live on forever when this earthly life ends.
The good news is that
for a Christian, death is not the end but only the blessed beginning of the
best life ever…and it’s because of this that we have hope through a promised
Kingdom inheritance that no one can take from us…a hope-filled inheritance that
only happened because of Jesus’ intervened for us.
The bottom line is that
every single person who has ever lived…or ever will live…is in need of a
salvation that only Jesus can bring. He is the Intervener who rescues anyone
who believes in Him.
Are you in need of His
intervention today?
If so, my prayer is that
you don’t waste another second in placing your faith in Jesus. It’s a decision
you will never regret.
Have you been considering
doing something wrong?
If so, my prayer is that
the Lord either directly intercedes in your life or sends someone to do His
work for you. For only He can lead us on the right path in life, a path that
results in behaviors pleasing in His sight.
Finally, has life
brought you to a place where you are considering self harm, feeling like life
isn’t worth living anymore?
If so, my prayer is that
you reach out to someone for help…someone who can provide intervention in your
time of need…someone who let you know just how loved and valued you are by the
Lord. There are people ready to help you, ready to step into the gap and be the
hands and feet of God like Abigail was.
Here’s the number to
call: 988.
Before I close, I
encourage you, the reader, to consider how you might assume a role as an
intervener, ready to be used by the Lord to help others who are in a time of
need. There’s a multitude of people in our world who need assistance and in
many cases, just someone who is willing to listen and encourage.
Our message today has
shown us the awesome power of intervention and how God can use us to step in
and avert wrongs before they happen. My prayer is that all of us will stand
ready to interpose for another person, just as Jesus did for us.
For after all, isn’t
being a Christian the same as being Christ-like in the way we live?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you
feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
