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Holy Scripture. Another we may find in the circumstance that this incident illustrates
not only God's dealings with David, but also the fact that even in the time of his
sorest persecutions David was able to take upon himself the care and protection of
his countrymen, and so, in a certain sense, proved their leader and king.
The whole story is so true to all the surroundings of place, time, and people, that we
can almost portray it to ourselves. Samuel had died, mourned by all Israel. Although
his work had long been finished, his name must always have been a tower of
strength. He was the link which connected two very different periods, being the last
representative of a past which could never come back, and seemed almost centuries
behind, and also marking the commencement of a new period, intended to develop
into Israel's ideal future. Samuel was, so to speak, the John the Baptist who
embodied the old, and initiated the new by preaching repentance as its preparation
and foundation. It was probably the death of Samuel which determined David to
withdraw still farther south, to the wilderness of Paran,^218 which stretched from the
mountains of Judah far to the desert of Sinai.
Similarly our blessed Lord withdrew Himself after the death of John the Baptist. In
the wilderness of Paran David was not only safe from pursuit, but able to be of real
service to his countrymen by protecting the large flocks which pastured far and wide
from the predatory raids of the wild tribes of the desert. It was thus (25:7, 15, 16)
that David had come into contact with one whom we only know by what was
apparently his by-name, Nabal, "fool" -an ominous designation in Old Testament
parlance, where "the fool" represented the headstrong, self-willed person, who
followed his own course, as if there were "no God" alike in heaven and on earth.
And so he is described as "hard" -stubborn, stiff, - and "evil of doings" (ver. 3). His
wife Abigail was the very opposite: "good of understanding, and fair of form."
Nabal, as Scripture significantly always calls him was a descendant of Caleb. His
residence was in Maon, while his "business" was in Carmel, a place about half an
hour to the north-west of Maon. Here, no doubt, were his large cotes and folds,
whence his immense flocks of sheep and goats pastured the land far and wide. It was
the most joyous time for such a proprietor - that of sheep-shearing, when every heart
would be open. A time of festivity this (ver. 36), which each would keep according
to what was in him. And Nabal had cause for gladness. Thanks to the ever watchful
care of David and his men, he had not suffered the slightest loss (vers. 15, 16); and
the rich increase of his flocks crowned another year's prosperity. It was quite in the
spirit of an Eastern chieftain in such circumstances, that David sent what would be a
specially respectful embassy of ten of his men, with a cordial message of
congratulation,^219 in the expectation that at such a time some acknowledgment
would be made to those who not only deserved, but must have sorely needed the
assistance of a rich Judaean proprietor.
(^)