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And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet ° him in my name:
And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
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.
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?

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

25:1 And Samuel died. It was providential that Samuel died after Saul had acknowledged that David would become king (I Samuel 24:20), and there was at least temporary peace between them. Thus all Israel could come together to mourn Samuel.


25:7 we hurt them not. Nabal lived in Maon, near where David and his men had been for some time while fleeing from Saul (see I Samuel 23:24). While there, they had been careful not to do anything hurtful to the extensive holdings of Nabal. In fact, his men had protected Nabal’s sheep and his servants (I Samuel 25:l5-16).


25:8 find favour. David’s men had protected Nabal’s possessions against the very real threat of thieves in the large wilderness where they were (I Samuel 25:16), so it was reasonable for them to expect some kind of appreciation, especially on a feast day. For Nabal to respond as he did was inexcusable in David’s mind.


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