25Samuel died. The whole country came to his funeral. Everyone grieved over his death, and he was buried in his hometown of Ramah. Meanwhile, David moved again, this time to the wilderness of Maon.H8050H4191H3478H6908H5594H6912H1004H7414H1732H6965H3381H4057H62902There was a certain man in Maon who carried on his business in the region of Carmel. He was very prosperous—three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and it was sheep-shearing time in Carmel.H376H4584H4639H3760H376H3966H1419H7969H505H6629H505H5795H1494H6629H37603The man's name was Nabal (Fool), a Calebite, and his wife's name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and good-looking, the man brutish and mean.H8034H376H5037H8034H802H26H802H2896H7922H3303H8389H376H7186H7451H4611H36144David, out in the backcountry, heard that Nabal was shearing his sheepH1732H8085H4057H5037H1494H66295and sent ten of his young men off with these instructions: "Go to Carmel and approach Nabal. Greet him in my name, 'Peace!H1732H7971H6235H5288H1732H559H5288H5927H3760H935H5037H7592H7965H80346Life and peace to you. Peace to your household, peace to everyone here!H559H2416H7965H7965H1004H79657I heard that it's sheep-shearing time. Here's the point: When your shepherds were camped near us we didn't take advantage of them. They didn't lose a thing all the time they were with us in Carmel.H8085H1494H7462H3637H3972H6485H3117H37608Ask your young men—they'll tell you. What I'm asking is that you be generous with my men—share the feast! Give whatever your heart tells you to your servants and to me, David your son.'"H7592H5288H5046H5288H4672H2580H5869H935H2896H3117H5414H4672H3027H5650H1121H17329David's young men went and delivered his message word for word to Nabal. Nabal tore into them,H1732H5288H935H1696H5037H1697H8034H1732H511710"Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? The country is full of runaway servants these days.H5037H6030H1732H5650H559H1732H1121H3448H7231H5650H3117H6555H376H6440H11311Do you think I'm going to take good bread and wine and meat freshly butchered for my sheepshearers and give it to men I've never laid eyes on? Who knows where they've come from?"H3947H3899H4325H2878H2873H1494H5414H582H304512David's men got out of there and went back and told David what he had said.H1732H5288H2015H1870H7725H935H5046H169713David said, "Strap on your swords!" They all strapped on their swords, David and his men, and set out, four hundred of them. Two hundred stayed behind to guard the camp.H1732H559H582H2296H376H2719H2296H376H2719H1732H2296H2719H5927H310H1732H702H3967H376H3967H3427H362714Meanwhile, one of the young shepherds told Abigail, Nabal's wife, what had happened: "David sent messengers from the backcountry to salute our master, but he tore into them with insults.H259H5288H5046H26H5037H802H559H1732H7971H4397H4057H1288H113H586015Yet these men treated us very well. They took nothing from us and didn't take advantage of us all the time we were in the fields.H582H3966H2896H3637H6485H3972H3117H1980H770416They formed a wall around us, protecting us day and night all the time we were out tending the sheep.H2346H3915H3119H3117H7462H662917Do something quickly because big trouble is ahead for our master and all of us. Nobody can talk to him. He's impossible—a real brute!"H3045H7200H6213H7451H3615H113H1004H1121H1100H169618Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep dressed out and ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she had it all loaded on some donkeys.H26H4116H3947H3967H3899H8147H5035H3196H2568H6629H6213H2568H5429H7039H3967H6778H3967H1690H7760H254319Then she said to her young servants, "Go ahead and pave the way for me. I'm right behind you." But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.H559H5288H5674H6440H935H310H5046H376H503720As she was riding her donkey, descending into a ravine, David and his men were descending from the other end, so they met there on the road.H7392H2543H3381H5643H2022H1732H582H3381H7125H629821David had just said, "That sure was a waste, guarding everything this man had out in the wild so that nothing he had was lost—and now he rewards me with insults. A real slap in the face!H1732H559H8267H8104H2088H4057H3972H6485H7725H7451H289622May God do his worst to me if Nabal and every cur in his misbegotten brood isn't dead meat by morning!"H3541H3254H6213H430H341H1732H7604H5704H1242H216H8366H702323As soon as Abigail saw David, she got off her donkey and fell on her knees at his feet, her face to the ground in homage,H26H7200H1732H4116H3381H2543H5307H639H1732H6440H7812H77624saying, "My master, let me take the blame! Let me speak to you. Listen to what I have to say.H5307H7272H559H113H5771H519H1696H241H8085H1697H58925Don't dwell on what that brute Nabal did. He acts out the meaning of his name: Nabal, Fool. Foolishness oozes from him. "I wasn't there when the young men my master sent arrived. I didn't see them.H7760H113H3820H376H1100H5037H8034H5037H8034H5039H519H7200H5288H113H797126And now, my master, as GOD lives and as you live, GOD has kept you from this avenging murder—and may your enemies, all who seek my master's harm, end up like Nabal!H113H3068H2416H5315H2416H3068H4513H935H1818H3467H3027H341H1245H7451H113H503727Now take this gift that I, your servant girl, have brought to my master, and give it to the young men who follow in the steps of my master.H1293H8198H935H113H5414H5288H1980H7272H11328"Forgive my presumption! But GOD is at work in my master, developing a rule solid and dependable. My master fights GOD's battles! As long as you live no evil will stick to you.H5375H6588H519H3068H6213H6213H113H539H1004H113H3898H4421H3068H7451H4672H311729If anyone stands in your way, if anyone tries to get you out of the way, Know this: Your God-honored life is tightly bound in the bundle of God-protected life; But the lives of your enemies will be hurled aside as a stone is thrown from a sling.H120H6965H7291H1245H5315H5315H113H6887H6872H2416H3068H430H5315H341H7049H8432H3709H705030"When GOD completes all the goodness he has promised my master and sets you up as prince over Israel,H3068H6213H113H2896H1696H6680H5057H347831my master will not have this dead weight in his heart, the guilt of an avenging murder. And when GOD has worked things for good for my master, remember me."H6330H4383H3820H113H8210H1818H2600H113H3467H3068H3190H113H2142H51932And David said, "Blessed be GOD, the God of Israel. He sent you to meet me!H1732H559H26H1288H3068H430H3478H7971H3117H712533And blessed be your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and taking charge of looking out for me.H1288H2940H1288H3607H3117H935H1818H3467H302734A close call! As GOD lives, the God of Israel who kept me from hurting you, if you had not come as quickly as you did, stopping me in my tracks, by morning there would have been nothing left of Nabal but dead meat."H199H3068H430H3478H2416H4513H7489H3884H4116H935H7125H3498H5037H1242H216H8366H702335Then David accepted the gift she brought him and said, "Return home in peace. I've heard what you've said and I'll do what you've asked."H1732H3947H3027H935H559H5927H7965H1004H7200H8085H6963H5375H644036When Abigail got home she found Nabal presiding over a huge banquet. He was in high spirits—and very, very drunk. So she didn't tell him anything of what she'd done until morning.H26H935H5037H4960H1004H4960H4428H5037H3820H2896H3966H7910H5046H1697H6996H1419H1242H21637But in the morning, after Nabal had sobered up, she told him the whole story. Right then and there he had a heart attack and fell into a coma.H1242H3196H3318H5037H802H5046H1697H3820H4191H7130H6838About ten days later GOD finished him off and he died.H6235H3117H3068H5062H5037H419139When David heard that Nabal was dead he said, "Blessed be GOD who has stood up for me against Nabal's insults, kept me from an evil act, and let Nabal's evil boomerang back on him." Then David sent for Abigail to tell her that he wanted her for his wife.H1732H8085H5037H4191H559H1288H3068H7378H7379H2781H3027H5037H2820H5650H7451H3068H7725H7451H5037H7218H1732H7971H1696H26H3947H80240David's servants went to Abigail at Carmel with the message, "David sent us to bring you to marry him."H5650H1732H935H26H3760H1696H559H1732H7971H3947H80241She got up, and then bowed down, face to the ground, saying, "I'm your servant, ready to do anything you want. I'll even wash the feet of my master's servants!"H6965H7812H639H776H559H519H8198H7364H7272H5650H11342Abigail didn't linger. She got on her donkey and, with her five maids in attendance, went with the messengers to David and became his wife.H26H4116H6965H7392H2543H2568H5291H1980H7272H3212H310H4397H1732H80243David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Both women were his wives.H1732H3947H293H3157H8147H80244Saul had married off David's wife Michal to Palti (Paltiel) son of Laish, who was from Gallim.H7586H5414H4324H1323H1732H802H6406H1121H3919H1554
Dublin, OH
