(9) And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. (10) And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. (11) Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
It is evident, that Nabal was no stranger to David's history, by this answer; or he could not have called him the son of Jesse, nor Saul's servant. But observe, in order to cover over his inhumanity under fair pretences, instead of speaking of David, the deliverer of his country, from the Philistines, and as one oppressed for his faithfulness, he calls him a runaway servant, and only the poor son of a poor father. It is astonishing to observe how the worst of men will find excuses, by way of justifying their conduct.