Grace for the Impulsive (I Samuel 25)

Crying for a King

 

Grace for the Impulsive

I Samuel 25:1-44

September 11^th, 2011

Way of Grace Church

 

 

I. Introduction

 

As we begin this morning, I pray that we would be encouraged by Paul's words to the Thessalonians. He wrote:

 

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God... (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

 

May each of us accept the word this morning with that same kind of heart. If you have not done so already, let's turn over to I Samuel 25. After a three month hiatus we are returning once again to the book of Samuel.

 

 

II. The Passage: “Then Abigail Made Haste ” (24:1-22)

 

Since the chapter is a long one this morning, let me do this: Iet me break this chapter down into six sections, and as I read through these sections, after each one, let me give just few comments that will hopefully help us better understand what we're reading here.

 

What's that? Did someone ask what happened in the first 24 chapters of the book? Well, for the sake of time, here's a one sentence review of I Samuel thus far: David, the young shepherd who was anointed king of Israel by the prophet-priest Samuel, is now on the run from the jealous rage of Saul, the first king of Israel, whom God rejected because of his disobedience. With that in mind, look at verses 1-8...

 

 

A. David’s Request (25:1-8)

 

Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. ² And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. ⁴ David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. ⁶ And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. ⁷ I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. >>>

Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

 

So even though, as we saw in the last chapter, chapter 24, even though David spared Saul's life when he had the chance to kill him, and even though Saul admitted in that chapter that David would be the next king of Israel, David and his 600 men are still hiding out in the deserts of southern Judah.

 

Now obviously, with that many men, there's always a need for fresh provisions, especially living out in the desert. So when David hears that this rich man, Nabal, is preparing to shear his massive amount of sheep, he knows that there will also be a massive amount of food prepared for workers and for the feast day that was taking place during that time.

 

AND, David knows that Nabal's flocks are the same flocks that David and his men helped protect as they lived out in the desert with Nabal's shepherds. So David sends ten young men, he sends a greeting of peace, and he lets Nabal know about the kindness he's already shown his shepherds and his sheep, all in the hopes of receiving some provisions for him and his men. So let's see how Nabal responds to David's request. Verse 9...

 

 

B. David’s Rashness (25:9-13)

 

⁹ When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. ¹⁰ And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. ¹¹ Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” ¹² So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. ¹³ And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

 

So the narrator's description of Nabal in verse 3 as “harsh and badly behaved” is proven here to be extremely accurate. Not only does Nabal rebuff David's greeting of peace, not only does he not extend any kind of basic hospitality to David or his men, not only does he ignore the kindness David has already shown him and his flocks (he doesn't even ask his shepherds about these claims), not only does he refuse David's request for provisions, but he treats David with contempt using the same language that Saul used of David back in chapters 20 and 22: “Who is the son of Jesse?”

 

Now, it's clear from Nabal's refusal here that he knows who David is, and he knows that David is on the run from Saul. But notice that he does not acknowledge David as a great leader and war hero, OR David's anointed status, a fact that Nabal's wife clearly understood, as we'll see in just a few minutes. No, instead Nabal simply labels David as a servant who has broken away from his master. And since there are so many uppity servants these days, why should Nabal give any of HIS bread or water or meat to such men?

 

When David hear about Nabal's response, his response is summed up in one word, used three times in verse 13: sword. There is a lot of strapping going on in verse 13. Four hundred and one swords are now headed to Casa de Nabal. Trouble is on the way.

C. Abigail’s Plan (25:14-31)

 

But look at where the story goes in verse 14. This is what we read there:

 

1. Abigail’s Decisiveness (25:14-19)

 

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. ¹⁵ Yet the men [David's men] were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. ¹⁶ They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.” ¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

 

Now, it isn't clear how the young man we meet in verse 14 knows that “harm is determined against” Nabal (as he states in verse 17), but his assessment of the situation is exactly right. And of course, his decision to go to Nabal's wife, Abigail, is a good decision. As we learned from verse 3, not only is Abigail “beautiful”, but unlike her husband, she is also “discerning”. And her discernment is clear from the decisive action she takes in verse 18.

 

Don't you love how this servant, as he speaks to his master's wife, how he feels so free to describe Nabal as a “worthless” and unreasonable man? I guess everyone was on the same page when it came to Nabal. And so knowing what she (and everyone else) knows of her husband, and knowing what she has heard from the servant, Abigail moves quickly. Notice that Abigail is sending ahead of her provisions that have already been prepared for the feast, the very food that David had hoped to receive as an expression of hospitality. Let's see what happens in verse 20...

 

 

2. Abigail’s Diplomacy (25:20-31)

 

²⁰ And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. ²² God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male [lit. in Hebrew, one who pees on a wall] of all who belong to him.” ²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. ²⁵ Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. ²⁶ Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. >>>

²⁷ And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸ Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. ²⁹ If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰ And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, ³¹ my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking vengeance himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

 

Now it's not hard to miss David's angry rhetoric in verses 21 and 22. And it may be that as Abigail was coming down, “under the cover of the mountain”, to meet David and his men, she heard these words. So she knows she is coming into a very tense, a very risky situation. But as we see here, even though she is pleading and very humble, she is not grovelling. No, in fact she is very skillfully helping David understand why he needs to stop, take a breath, and think about what he's doing.

 

Nabal's name means fool, and according to Abigial, David should let God deal with this fool. David does not have to worry, because, as Abigail puts it in verse 29, he is “bound in the bundle of the living in the care of Yahweh [his] God”. How does David respond to Abigail's diplomacy? Look at verse 32...

 

 

D. David’s Response (25:32-35)

 

³² And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ³³ Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! ³⁴ For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” ³⁵ Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

 

So Abigail's diplomatic mission is successful. As we see here, David praises her discretion, he recognizes God's providence in her words, he accepts her gift of provision, and he sends her away in peace. Thankfully, the Sheepshearing Day Massacre at Nabal Ranch will NOT take place as previously planned. But the reader is left wondering, “What will happen to Nabal?” Look at how the story concludes in verses 36-44...

 

 

E. David’s Resolution (25:36-44)

 

³⁶ And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. ³⁷ In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸ And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. >>>

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰ When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” ⁴¹ And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” ⁴² And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. ⁴³ David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. ⁴⁴ Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

 

So as we see in verse 36, instead of blessing the future king of Israel with food, Nabal himself is feasting like a king. But after his night of drunken revelry is over, Abigail decides to tell her husband everything that happened. And so when Nabal finds out that he just narrowly escaped being sliced and diced by David's army, we read that his “heart died within him and became as a stone.” And ten days after that, borrowing Abigail's image from verse 29, this “stone” was cast out into the darkness of death by the sling of God.

 

And so when David hears about Nabal's death, he not only praises God for divine vengeance, but he also see an opportunity to make Abigail his wife, which he does. And just as the story began with a brief mention of Samuel's death, we also find a brief reference to Saul at the end of this account. It is clear from verse 44 that Saul's attitude toward David has not really changed. In giving his daughter Michal, who is David's wife, to another man, he is once again trying to cut David off from any claim to the throne. Chapter 26 will simply confirm this fact.

 

 

III. Perspective: “Because the Lord Has Restrained You”

 

Now, because of the size of this chapter, there is so much we could talk about; so many other interesting details here and there. But the first question we always need to ask of any verse or verses from God's word is “Why is this here?” What did the human author of Samuel want his readers to take away from this story about David and Nabal and Abigail? And if we can answer that question, then we are in a good position to think about what the heavenly author wants us to take away from this story.

 

With those questions in mind, think about what all these verses have in common:

 

Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrainedyou from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand... (v. 26)

 

Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you [sent by God...you], who have keptme this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! (v. 33)

 

For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrainedme from hurting you...(v. 34)

 

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. (v. 39)

 

You see, even though Abigail's decisiveness and diplomacy are right at the center of this whole story, Abigail is merely a vessel; she is an instrument. Her words and David's words reveal that God is the hero of this story. It is God's intervention that is critical. And what is God doing? He is demonstrating that when it comes to His heavenly mission of mercy, God will not only save David from Saul, He will also save David from David.

 

In the last chapter, when Saul went into that cave and unknowingly made himself a sitting duck for David and his men, it was David who restrained himself and his men from harming Saul. And he will do the same thing again in the next chapter, chapter 26. David understood God's purpose for his life, therefore he restrained himself.

 

But here in chapter 25, when it comes to David, there is no restraint. He doesn't stop and seek God's guidance against Nabal as he did in chapter 23 when the Philistines were attacking Israel. No, this personal offense instantly becomes a capital offense. David is out for blood.

 

But God will not allow His plan to be derailed. His agenda of deliverance and blessing for Israel will be fulfilled. God will not let the new king become like the rejected king. Do you remember Nob, the city of priests? Do you remember in chapter 22 how Saul ordered the execution of all the priests and had their city and their families wiped out…all because Ahimelech the priest gave David provisions?

 

David was only minutes away from doing the same thing. So God must save David from David, and He uses Abigial to do this.

 

What an encouragement this must have been to the first readers of Samuel, to see how God’s purposes would be fulfilled, in spite of the impulsiveness of the new king. Isn’t that good news? There is grace for the impulsive! What an encouragement this should be for us, this morning.

 

Do you recognize this morning that God must not only save you from the devil and the world and from future judgment, but above all, he has to save YOU from YOU? The devil is not our greatest enemy. No one else in the world can hold that title. Your greatest enemy is you. That’s why Jesus put this enemy first when he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) The Apostle Paul wrote, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. [I am number one…I am the worst]” (I Timothy 1:15)

 

When it comes to the very heart of sin, when it comes to our stubborn attempts to live a me-centered life in a God-centered universe, all of us are impulsive. We are all guilty.

 

But God’s purposes in and through David were ultimately meant to bring about God purposes in and through Jesus Christ. And through Jesus, God’s heavenly mission of mercy can give us assurance that God will save you from you…me from me; that God will intervene in the lives of those he is raising up to give us a heart of peace AND to regularly open for us doors of restraint. God will use counselors, and He will use THE Counselor, the Holy Spirit to speak words of peace to us (“…he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (including “turn the other cheek”)(John 14:26))

Isn’t that good news? And when we God does this, when He sends us an Abigail, when He restrains and keeps us from sin, we need to praise Him like David praises Him: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

 

 

IV. Practice: Reflections on Rashness

 

Now, as we finish up this morning, let me just briefly touch on a few practical points that I think God is reminding us of this morning. Maybe in reflecting on his father’s experiences, David’s son Solomon spoke these words in Proverbs 14:29: Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

 

Abigail made haste as she sought peace. But David was hasty in seeking revenge. Do you struggle like this? Are you quick to take offense? Are you hasty with your words? Are you impulsive, rash, short-tempered? Well, as we mentioned, God has grace for impulsive sinners like us. Consider these gracious lessons God gives us here, lessons on rashness.

 

First of all, instead of responding in rashness when hurt, we should trust that God will deal with the one who has hurt us. David was trusting God to take care of Saul. But he should have trusted God to deal with Nabal as well. Abigail assures him of this in verse 29 when she tells him that the lives of your enemies [God] shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. (v. 29) And God did avenge the insult, as David declares in verse 39.

 

As followers of Christ, we are encouraged to do this same thing: Repay no one evil for evil…Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave itto the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:17, 19)

 

Second, we need to remember that rashness is often fueled by fear, but it’s extinguished by trust in God’s provision. The very fact that David sought provision from Nabal indicates that David and his men were in need. They were outcasts. Many considered them outlaws. They were living in the desert. It would be easy to become fearful about the future, about where their next meal was coming from. And David has the added burden of leadership.

 

So when his request for help was rejected so egregiously, I suspect fear was one of the things fueling his temper. But notice how Abigal reassures him in verses 28 and 29: For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house…²⁹ If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God.

 

Isn’t that beautiful? David doesn’t have to be afraid when it comes to provisions. God will take care of him. In the same way, we don’t have to be afraid when it comes to our provision, or when it comes to being loved, or being accepted. We don’t have to respond rashly when disappointed by rejection. Through Jesus, we can rest in the assurance of God’s promises. He will take care of us. We are loved. We are accepted.

 

Finally, number three, when the sword of rashness is strapped on, we need to respond to God’s message of peace. When we things don’t go your way and you feel your temper bubbling up inside you, when those impulsive words are forming in your mouth, look for God’s way of escape, the one He promises to give you according to I Corinthians 10:13.

 

There are and will be times in which God restrains us, and we don’t even know it. But God’s word gives us an example here through David. He is an example of how not to respond, but also an example of how to respond rightly when our first response is wrong. Will you humble yourself when someone appeals to you in peace, when the Holy Spirit convicts you about the impulsive path your beginning to trudge down? If you struggle with a temper, with impulsiveness, pray in advance. Pray that God would help you to see clearly when he opens that door of restraint to you.

 

Abigail was an amazing woman. We can learn so much from her discernment, her decisiveness, and her diplomacy; and hopefully be used in the lives of others as a messenger of peace.

 

But Jesus Christ is even more amazing. Without Him, our paths of impulsiveness would lead us to bloodguilt and God’s judgment. But by God’s grace, through faith in Christ, we can know what it really means to be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord [our] God. Jesus died for impulsive sinners like us. He rose again to make peace…peace with God. I pray you know that peace. You can this morning. Let’s pray and ask God to help us respond, not with rashness, but with faith.