Sunday Morning Service

I Samuel 25

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“Big Fools And Soft Answers” • 8.16.15 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- Last week, we stood in the mouth of a cave and watched David spare the life of Saul because he had been annointed by God. He proceeded to give a speech in the ears of all of Israel.

- The initial grousing among David's men, gave way to great admiration for how God had kept their leader's integrity intact, leading to further admiration for God's King.

- As they walked away, you can almost see several thanking God and even spending some time congratulating David on his great spirituality. Then chapter 25 happens. Look at verse 1.

Text

• I Samuel 25:1-3 : "Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb." : With only a last verse, one of the greatest men in Israel's history passes, though not without the appropriate mourning period.

- The people "beat their breasts" over him. Samuel was a national treasure and indeed a beloved character to his people, as well as before the Lord.

- He is a man who walked with the Lord from the beginning of his life to the very end. That is a great testimony! Would you make that your aim today, to finish strong in the Lord? I pray you will.

- On that occasion, David moved from one wilderness to another, in the southern most portion of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran, meaning the "place of caverns."

- There on the Sinai Peninsula, he is in a veritable no man's land and it's here that he thinks about this man of Maon.

- Maon was a wilderness area, but this man's business was in Carmel. There are two places called "Carmel" in scripture. His is located in what is today the West Bank, known as "Har Hebron."

- The source of the man's riches were found in the abundance of sheep and goats that he possessed. For the sake of context, if you had dozens or even a hundred sheep, you were rich.

- This man had three thousand sheep and another thousand goats! He was currently shearing the sheep which represented to shepherds what the harvest represented to the vineyard workers.

- This was a time of great celebration and excitement, as the hard work of tending and feeding and caring for the sheep was about to yield it's fruit in pasture production.

- It was a time of great increase to Nabal. Sadly, this is where things begin to go wrong, not with the riches, but with the man. His name tells the story. Nabal means "fool!"

- All of these riches were in the hands of a fool! This may not be his given name, but it was the name that was prescribed to him in life and he didn't reject it.

- Like most men, this fool married well, as his wife Abigail's name means "My Father is joy." These two are polar opposites! Abigail is a woman of good understanding.

- The word points to wisdom and insight. She deals wisely and appropriately and was beautiful to boot. The same could not be said for her husband, who was a stiff-necked, wicked person.

- The KJV calls him "churlish," the NLT calls him "crude" and the NIV calls him "surly."

- The author provides us with one additional note: The man was from Caleb's family. The same characteristics that made Caleb admirable made Nabal distasteful!

- A man who is stubborn in their desire to reach out for what God has promised them is a Caleb. A man who uses his stubborness to get what he wants out of life is a Nabal!

- The characteristic is neutral. The difference is what the characteristic is used for! In Nabal's case, he was the master of his own life and his stubborness was used entirely for himself.

• I Samuel 25:4-8 : "When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, 'Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask 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 comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’" : David's men had served as protectors over Nabal's shepherds for a time while in Maon.

- They had been in hiding, but stationed themselves around the shepherds, who were often easy prey for bandits or raiding parties from Philistia or Amalek.

- David sends a message of peace to Nabal and a gentle reminder of his supervisory care over his shepherds, who lost none of the sheep while in David's care.

- What David requests is cordial, properly timed, understated and not defined.

- "Whatever you would like to give, whatever is most convenient and closest to your hand, give to your servants." David had no reason to expect anything but generosity.

• I Samuel 25:9-11 : "So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited. Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, 'Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?'" : The first part of verse 9 makes sense. The men carried out David's request for him. The 2nd part is curious.

- They waited. They were left to stand and wonder what was going to take place. Generally, you didn't even need to ask if you were a stranger, much less a trusted bodyguard!

- When Nabal finally gave his answer it was not only negative, but downright offensive. Nabal's words reek with utter contempt and disrespect. "Who does he think he is!?"

- Just for good measure, Nabal lumps David in to a group of people effectively dismissing all of David's character and suffering!

• I Samuel 25:12,13 : "So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. Then David said to his men, 'Every man gird on his sword.' So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies." : David's men didn't argue. They simply and directly return to David with the full report.

- If one were filming this scene, imagine David seeing the men first with the anticipation of some charitable gift in hand. Imagine seeing his face turn from joy to confusion to anger.

- Then, in the heat of that moment of anger, David barks out, "Every man gird on his sword."

- No time passes between the end of their words and the beginning of David's response, which was swift and as thoughtless as Nabal's reply! Whoa, whoa! David!? What are you doing?

- David is willing to show a force against this stranger who has simply insulted him that he has not displayed against Saul who was hunted for his life!

- David is embarrassed in front of his men and has not prepared himself for anything other than Nabal's gratitude. David is ready for the big stuff, but the devil is in the details!

- Clearly, Saul could disrespect David and receive grace. Don't try it if you are a Shepherd!

- 400 men prepared for a one sided fight with a man who's sole guilt is that of being an ungracious fool, a decision born from the irrational and uncontrolled anger of the moment.

- Be warned and note how quickly a person can go from being ruled by God to being ruled by his most dominant emotion in just a moment of time! This is just verses away from David at En Gedi!

• I Samuel 25:14-20 : "Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, 'Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them. But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.' Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. And she said to her servants, 'Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.' But she did not tell her husband Nabal. So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them." : When you can't deal with the husband, go to the wife! This young man reported all that had happened to Abigail, both on that day, as well as what had transpired in the field with David's men.

- David's men had been an honorable group, providing a wall of protection for the shepherds. - When Abigail realized the magnitude of her husband's foolishness, she prepared as much as she could as fast as she could and got herself prepared to meet David herself!

- Did you notice how much she had on hand? These people were not suffering at all!

- She sent servants out before her and wisely chose not to tell Nabal a thing about her mission. She went in a way that wouldn't get her noticed by Nabal and went out to meet David.

• I Samuel 25:21-23 : "Now David had said, 'Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good. May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light.'" : Can you hear David mutter these words under his breath? In his mind, all of his effort was wasted. He cared for Nabal's sheep the way he would have cared for his own Father's!

- None were missing. He didn't have roast lamb even once. He didn't leave with a lamb blanket or a pair of wool socks! He didn't even get a goatskin Bible out of the deal!

- Nabal has repaid evil to David by cheating him out of the payment that he deserved. David was right to feel insulted, but not the right to act upon it.

- He is intent upon killing an entire group of men for the sake of an insult!

- James 1:20 tells us that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God! There will never be a time when your anger will produce godliness. It can't!

- It's far better to give your anger to the Lord and to surrender it there like a weapon left behind before you can use it! Gratefully, God interrupts David's wrath.

• I Samuel 25:24,25 : "Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said: 'On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent." : Abigail barely parked her donkey before she fell before David. David, under the control of his anger, could not have known how to respond.

- He wants to kill a bunch of men, but here comes this woman and she throws herself at him!

- Abigail wants all of the blame to fall upon her. Don't give Nabal a second thought because he's a fool. She knew that. She understood what her husband was made of!

- You could and should expect this type of response from Nabal, but never from her!

• I Samuel 25:26-28a : "Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant." : Abigail, from her position of humility, calls David out with a tone of relief that she was able to deter his wrath.

- "I'm so glad to have stopped you from needless and brutal bloodshed!"

- God had used her to come back to some semblance of control. He had yet to hurt anyone or take vengeance into his own hand, which is always God's to take on our behalf!

 - Abigail keeps her eyes focused on David while she offers her gifts to his men. David is still coming out of his self-imposed shock and hears her asking for his forgiveness!

- How could he possibly remain angry at this beautiful woman who has been so pleasant!?

• I Samuel 25:28b-31 : "For the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days. Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.'" : "The Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house." What a prophetic statement! David was a great man, who would eventually bring in the Greatest Man, Jesus Christ!

- What distinguished David from other men of his time? He fought the Lord's battles and nothing evil could truly be said about him. I wonder if David let out a sigh at Abigail's logic.

- David, in your anger, you have absolutely lost sight of the promises that God has set over your life! In his anger, David was gambling with his and our future!

- What was at stake for David? The forfeiture of his influence and the righteousness of his Kingdom! For David and for us, the stakes are always much higher than the gains!

- Here he was about to fight his own battles and put a giant stain upon his life, adding evil to his record. He would have been just like Saul and just like Nabal! "Think of the future David!"

- You can almost see Abigail move closer by this point, adding her sympathy for David's situation. "I know that Saul is after you without a cause."

- Her thought turns to God's protection, as she sees David bound up in God's pouch bag, secure in his hands against all that would come against him.

- Eventually, his enemies would be thrown aside by God, as a stone is slung far from the sling and God would place him upon the throne of Israel and he won't have this on his record!

- I like the NLT here: "Then your conscience won’t have to bear the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance."

- When all the dust settles, she asks David to remember her for her kindness and not Nabal's foolishness. David will indeed remember her!

• I Samuel 25:32-35 : "Then David said to Abigail: 'Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!' So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, 'Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person.'" : David is incredibly grateful. Abigail had come out of respect for David and perhaps fear, but it was God that orchestrated the meeting. God had sent her to meet him!

- God had used her words and kept him from doing all that he intended to do. Her soft answer had turned away David's wrath!

• I Samuel 25:36-39a : "Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there 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; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light. So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, 'Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.'" : When Abigail returned to her home, she found Nabal as drunk as could be. Telling him anything in that moment would have been a waste of time.

- When she did tell him what had happened, Nabal seemingly had an instant heart attack which he did not recover from. Ten days later, it was God who struck Nabal and he died.

- When David heard the news he thanked the Lord for doing what he stopped David from doing. God had taken vengeance upon David's enemy.

• I Samuel 25:39b-44 : "And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, 'David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.' Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, 'Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.' So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and so both of them were his wives. But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim." : This chapter closes with Abigail's entrance into what begins to be David's group of wives.

- The language seems to indicate that he had already been married to Ahinoam when he took Abigail as his wife. This is certainly against God's plan and we'll talk more about it as we go.

- Suffice it to say for now, David has escaped from one trap, but made himself vulnerable to another!

Conclusion

- At the close of this chapter, I see three methods that God employed to keep His man from giving into sin. I Corinthians 10:13 tells us that with every temptation, there is a way of escape.

- Perhaps you will recognize some of these, as God effectively uses the same in your life!

- Allow me to take you back a week and observe this thread. In the story of the "Rock of Escape," God sent a messenger to Saul informing him of the Philistine invasion.

- In I Samuel 23:19-29, "Divine Circumstance" was employed. Something that only God could effect, the invasion of an opposing army, kept David's hand from defending himself.

- At the cave of En Gedi, with David set to kill King Saul and his men set to celebrate, David, cut off a piece of Saul's robe and his heart cut him to pieces.

- Chapter 24 reveals that God used "Divine Conviction," an inner voice of the Holy Spirit which spoke more clearly and imminently than the voices of the men surrounding him.

- Today, what else have we seen, but the use of "Divine Character!" Abigail's soft answer and gentle rebuke, stayed David's hand.

- There will be an instant interruption, a loud voice or even a soft person, but God will ever keep His person who he loves, because His faithfulness, not ours, demands it!

- And how can we leave without seeing our Savior, for whom David was kept and for whose sake, we also are kept!

- David, filled with wrath was stopped in his tracks by one who was willing to take all of the blame. She had not earned it, nor would she have endured it, but she stood there in that gap.

- In the process, she saved her family from what would have been certain annihilation.

- God, filled with a righteous indignation against sinful humanity, has been stopped in His tracks, having been satisfied by the One who stood in the gap, Jesus Christ!

- Jesus had not only not earned God's wrath, having lived a sinless life, but He willingly absorbed all of God's wrath and saved all who would believe upon Him!

- Do you believe in Him? Have you taken God at His Word? Do you see yourself as deserving nothing but His wrath apart from Jesus Christ? Only a Nabal could miss it!