David Contacts Nabal In Order To Share In His Hospitality, Is Rebuffed And Insulted, And Decides On Vengeance (1 Samuel 25:4-19).
In this next passage we are informed about Nabal's incredible and foolish response to the messengers of David, and about Abigail's intention to put matters right. It would seem that Nabal had heard about David as a treacherous outlaw, and probably thought that he only had a rag tag band of outlaws following him. He could only possibly have acted as he did because he thought that David only had a handful of followers who would not be able do anything against his shearers and shepherds combined. It was only later that he would learn that they had nearly been ‘visited' by four hundred trained warriors seeking vengeance for the insult given (a fact which led to his having a stroke).
Analysis.
a And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name, and thus shall you say to him who lives in prosperity, ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have” (1 Samuel 25:4-6).
b And now I have heard that you have the shearers in. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there aught missing to them all the while they were in Carmel” (1 Samuel 25:7)
c “Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Wherefore let the young men find favour in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Give, I pray you, whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David” (1 Samuel 25:8).
d And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal in accordance with all those words in the name of David, and sat down (1 Samuel 25:9).
e And 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 every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men of whom I know not from where they are?” (1 Samuel 25:10-11).
f So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words (1 Samuel 25:12).
e And David said to his men, “Gird you on every man his sword.” And they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the baggage (1 Samuel 25:13).
d But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed at them” (1 Samuel 25:14).
c “But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the countryside, they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what you will do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow, that one cannot speak to him” (1 Samuel 25:15-17).
b Then Abigail acted hurriedly, and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. (1 Samuel 25:18).
a And she said to her young men, “Go on before me. Look, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal (1 Samuel 25:19).
Note that in ‘a' David gave his instructions to his young men so that they will go to Nabal, and in the parallel Abigail gives her instructions to her young men so that they will go to David. In ‘b' David learns about the approach of the sheep-shearing festivities, and in the parallel Abigail sends him the provisions connected with the sheep-shearing festivities. In ‘c' David tells Nabal to consult his men as to whether they had been treated fairly, and in the parallel the servant confirms that this was so. In ‘d' David's young men came to Nabal with David's message and then sat down awaiting his reply, and in the parallel refers to the arrival of those servants and Nabal's response to them. In ‘e' Nabal asks who David the son of Jesse is, and in the parallel David sets out to let him know. Centrally in ‘f' the men report back the welcome that they had received to David. On this hinges the whole narrative.
‘ And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.'
Residing in the wilderness with his men, and having kept a friendly eye on the shepherds of Nabal and their sheep, David learned that the sheep-shearing, along with its accompanying celebrations, had begun. In accordance with custom, therefore, he and his men, as a friendly and protective ‘tribe', would seek to share in the festivities.
David's Puts In His Request.
‘ And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet (ask welfare and peace for) him in my name, and thus shall you say to him who lives, ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.”
Accordingly David sent a number of his young men (‘ten' often means ‘a number of', compare 1 Samuel 1:8; Genesis 31:41) with a friendly message for Nabal. He asked that he might enjoy welfare and peace, and that he might recognise that the fact that he was still alive and prosperous was partly due to the services of David and his men. He assured him that his desire for him was that both he and his house and all that he had might enjoy peace and welfare. It was a typical Near Eastern greeting.
‘ And now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them all the while they were in Carmel.”
Then he came to the main point that he wanted to convey. It was that he had heard that Nabal was engaged in sheep-shearing, at the end of which, as all knew, festivities would be held, and ample food and drink would be made available to any guests who came, and he reminded him of the services that he and his men had provided to Nabal's shepherds when they had shared the same area of land. Rather than doing any hurt to them and taking advantage of their unprotected flocks, they had instead protected them so that nothing went missing. So as a friendly ‘neighbour' he wished to share in the festivities. Such hospitality was a feature of sheep-shearing festivities to which all neighbours would be invited.
“ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Wherefore let the young men find favour in your eyes, for we come in a good day (a festival day). Give, I pray you, whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.”
He suggested that Nabal question his young men on the matter, and pointed out that they would then tell him that what David had said was so. In view of this he requested that his representatives might meet with favour in his eyes, because they came on a festival day, and that they might share in the hospitality. Let Nabal give from the food and drink on offer what he considered reasonable, for the benefit of his young men and himself. As mentioned above, his request was friendly and in accordance with custom and best practise. He and his men had restrained themselves and had sought to be helpful. Now Nabal could reciprocate by sharing with them some of the festive food and drink.
Note David's deliberate attempt to make his approach friendly and indeed almost a family affair. Let Nabal look on his men as ‘his servants' who had fulfilled their responsibility to him, and on David himself even as one of his family because he felt only goodwill towards him. He was appealing to custom and the laws of hospitality. We should remember that David and his men, who were outlaws and responsible to no one, could, had they wished, easily have appropriated for themselves whatever they had wanted from the flocks with no one to say them nay. The shepherds would have had no chance against his six hundred experienced warriors. Thus he considered quite justly that they had in actual fact been very neighbourly, generous and considerate, and had performed an important service in ensuring that no other wandering bands interfered with them.
‘ And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal in accordance with all those words in the name of David, and sat down.'
On arrival at the sheep-shearing site where the festivities were in progress, and food and drink would be flowing like water, David's young men passed on David's words exactly as he had given them. Then they sat down and awaited Nabal's response. They were probably quite confident of a positive reply in the light of custom.