Ep. 92 - David & Abigail (Part 1)

Last we left our story, David had spared Saul’s life. After running from place to place…barely staying out of Saul’s reach, David and his 600 men wound up hiding in a small cave in the Wilderness of En Gedi. And wouldn’t you know it, while hiding in the cave, none other than King Saul himself came into the cave to…go to the bathroom. At the encouragement of his men, David quietly crept up to Saul to take the king’s life. But at the last second, David changed his mind…and instead of killing him, only cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. Then after Saul had left, David confronted him. He showed Saul the corner of his robe, and told Saul he could have killed him in the cave. Because even though Saul treated David like an enemy, David wasn’t going to treat Saul like an enemy. And because Saul was the Lord’s anointed…and if any punishment or revenge was going to be given to Saul…it would be given by God…not by David. And Saul, clearly seeing that David was the better man, left David alone and went home. And David and his men went and stayed in a wilderness stronghold…patiently waiting to see what the unstable Saul would do. Would Saul and David stay on good terms? Would David get his old life back? Well, let’s find out.

David and his men decided they weren’t taking any chances. And they stayed in the wilderness stronghold for a while…watching and waiting. Even if they weren’t going home yet, at least they were getting a break from Saul constantly hounding them. But after not too long of being holed up in the stronghold, David got some terrible news - Samuel, the great old prophet of Israel, had died. It was a huge loss…not just for David…but for all of Israel. The Bible doesn’t say how David took the news, but it must have been a big blow for him. David and Samuel knew each other well. They both understood God in a way that most people never will. They were kindred spirits as they say. And David would have been very sad to hear of Samuel’s passing.

And David wasn’t the only one. All Israel gathered together at Ramah to mourn for Samuel. After all, Samuel had been Israel’s prophet and judge for maybe as long as 60 years. Many Israelites had never lived in a time when Samuel hadn’t been around. And while they were all gathered together, many of the older generations probably couldn’t help but remember the last time they’d all been together in Ramah…many many years ago…to tell Samuel that they wanted a king. And it would have been hard to not think about everything that had happened since then. They had a king alright. A king that had started out with so much promise…but who was now little more than a raving madman. A king who spent all his time making sure that no one could challenge his power and authority. A man who continually combed the wilderness trying to get rid of his own son-in-law. What had they done? What had Israel come to? Why hadn’t they listened to all the warnings that Samuel had given them all those years ago?

While most of Israel was attending Samuel’s funeral, and while Saul was distracted, David took the chance to flee to yet another hiding place – this time the Wilderness of Paran. The Wilderness of Paran was a huge area in the south of Israel that went all the way to Mt. Sinai. Actually the Wilderness of Paran was where the Israelites had wondered for 40 years before entering the Promised Land. As time is going by, and as David is going from wilderness to wilderness, David and his men were making their way farther and farther south and farther and farther into places where there were no cities or towns and that were more and more dangerous. Paran was known for being full of nomads and raiding parties. And the farther they journeyed from cities, towns, and people, not only was it more dangerous, but it was harder and harder to come by food and supplies.

But then God seemed to provide a solution to their problems. Just north of where David and his men were hiding was a huge piece of land owned a rich Israelite named Nabal. Nabal was one of the descendants of Caleb. You kidzos remember Caleb, right? One of the 12 spies who’d gone into Canaan, and along with Joshua, gave a good report? Yah…that Caleb. As part of Caleb’s reward for giving a good report was land in the southern part of Judah…exactly where David was. And Caleb’s inheritance had passed down the line until at least part of it came to Nabal. And Nabal had done quite well for himself. As the Bible says, “He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.” (25:2) This was a staggering amount of wealth. Even Job, whom the Bible calls “the greatest man of all the people of the East” only had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, and 1,000 oxen. So, Nabal’s 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats…that was quite something.

But while Nabal was very rich, he had a problem. Nabal’s land was just on the edge of the Wilderness of Paran and was constantly in danger of being attacked by those nomads and raiding parties that we talked about before. And this is where David and his 600 men fit nicely into the picture. Now that they had moved into exactly that area, David and his men were able to be a natural buffer or a protection for Nabal. In order for those raiding parties to reach Nabal’s land, they’d have to go through David and his men. David and his men had to protect themselves anyway…so while they were doing that, they might as well protect Nabal’s land too. And if they did this very valuable service, David had no doubt Nabal would be super grateful. And even just as a common courtesy, the ridiculously wealthy Nabal would obviously share at least a little bit of his food and supplies to David and his men. It was a win-win for everyone. And as the weeks and months went by, David and his men faithfully guarded Nabal’s land, making sure that his sheep and his goats and his shepherds were always protected, and making sure to never take anything for themselves.

Then the day came for the shearing. Now, for shepherds and for people who raise sheep for a living, shearing day is a very special day. It’s kind of like the harvest day for farmers (and actually harvest day for farmers is such a big deal that we still celebrate it here in North America…it’s called Thanksgiving Day). And just like how the farmers would spend many months taking care of the fields which would be reaped on harvest day, so shepherds would spend many months taking care of all those woolly sheep…which would be reaped on the shearing day. Shearing day was a time of abundance, of happiness, and of feasting. And this was the day (the day when lots was going around) that David decided to gently remind Nabal of the great service that he and his men had provided. And David got 10 of his young men together, and said to them, “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 while they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favour 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.’” (25:6-8) And off the young men excitedly went and delivered David’s message to Nabal.

But Nabal’s response was nothing like what they expected. After hearing David’s gracious message, an annoyed Nabal quickly and carelessly answered, 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?” (25:10-11) This was a galling answer from Nabal. Not only did Nabal fail to thank David for everything he had done, not only did Nabal fail to give David anything for all his trouble, but Nabal had gone out of his way to David. Basically, he told David that he was just some kind of renegade…no better than the roving nomads and raiding parties that Nabal was used to dealing with. Nabal dealt with those people all the time. And if he didn’t give those guys anything…why would he give David anything? After Nabal was finished speaking, David’s men “turned on their heels” and went back and to deliver the response to David.

On hearing Nabal’s response, David was beside himself. He couldn’t believe the arrogance. Didn’t Nabal know how dangerous it was out there? Didn’t Nabal know what David and his men had had to do to make sure that Nabal was protected? Did Nabal have any idea of how many cold and sleepless nights he and his men had gone through? And after all that…Nabal was going to compare him, David, the Lord’s anointed, to bandits and thieves…the very people he’d fought against to protect Nabal? With his blood boiling, David called all his men together, and said to them, “Every man gird on his sword.” (25:13) And after all the men had armed themselves, and after David too had armed himself, David split up his men – 200 stayed with the supplies and 400 headed towards Nabal’s household. And as they made their way, David turned and angrily said to his men, “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.” (25:22) They were going to repay Nabal’s insults with blood!

But even as David and his 400 men were starting their march, Nabal’s household was already scrambling. This wasn’t the first time Nabal had done something foolish. He’d gotten himself into trouble many times before…and his servants knew exactly who to turn to when something like this happened – and that person was Nabal’s wife…a woman named Abigail. As the Bible says, Abigail was, “a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance.” (25:3) And as soon as David’s men had left, one of Nabal’s servants ran to Abigail and told her the whole story – that David and his men had been super nice to them…and had indeed protected them over the last few months…and that Nabal had rewarded David’s kindness with insults…and that most likely David was heading there right now to put an end to Nabal…and his house. Upon hearing this, Abigail immediately understood just how much danger they were in. And being a “woman of good understanding”, she took action right away. As the Bible says, “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, 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.’” (25:18-19) Abigail quickly arranged for tons of food to be loaded onto donkeys, and immediately sent it on the road towards David…no time to lose…don’t even wait for her! Then, as soon as Abigail herself was ready, she hopped on her own donkey and headed out to save her household.

What was going to happen when David and Abigail met? Would David take his anger out on her? Would David listen to her at all? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.