_THE DEATH OF SAMUEL. DAVID, PROVOKED BY NABAL'S CHURLISHNESS, RESOLVES TO DESTROY HIM; BUT IS RESTRAINED BY THE WISDOM OF ABIGAIL. NABAL, HEARING THEREOF, DIES. DAVID MARRIES ABIGAIL._ _Before Christ 1057._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMUEL DIED— This great prophet was in the ninety-seventh or ninety-eighth year of his age: he had ruled sixteen, or, as others think, twenty years before the reign of Saul, and judged the Israelites, that is, was their principal judge, for about forty years after. No wonder that so righteous a... [ Continue Reading ]
NABAL—AS OF THE HOUSE OF CALEB— כלבי _kalibi,_ in the Hebrew, _and he was a Calebite._ As כלב _caleb_ signifies a _dog,_ some of the ancient interpreters understand the word as expressive of his bad disposition; whence the Syriac, Arabic, and LXX translate it, _a man of a churlish, snarling,_ or _do... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SENT OUT, &C.— In this message of David to Nabal, which is a fine picture of ancient and true politeness, there are three things well worth our notice. _First,_ the direction: _To him that liveth,_ 1 Samuel 25:6. (_in prosperity_ is not in the Hebrew); and _secondly,_ the salutation: _Peac... [ Continue Reading ]
NABAL ANSWERED DAVID'S SERVANTS— Nabal's answer was agreeable to his character, rude and sullen, a strong image of ungoverned brutality, and very natural to that insolence which wealth is too apt to infuse into undisciplined spirits. He had thoroughly learned Saul's contemptuous stile; _Who is the s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE RAILED ON THEM— The Hebrew word ויעט _waiiaat,_ is never used to signify _railing,_ but denotes, _he flew at them,_ like a ravenous bird on its prey: an expression used in almost all languages to denote a violent attack or assault upon any person to abuse and injure him; and it is probable, b... [ Continue Reading ]
SO AND MORE ALSO DO GOD UNTO THE ENEMIES OF DAVID— If we put all circumstances together, though David's passion, and oath to destroy Nabal and servants, are not to be vindicated; though the resolution was cruel, and the oath a rash and wicked one, yet it must be allowed, that the provocation given h... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN ABIGAIL SAW DAVID, &C.— Abigail was a woman of distinguished merit. She had the advantage of a beautiful person, set off by an excellent understanding, a graceful address, and uncommon prudence; these are finely discovered in her speech to David, which is full of such humble, pathetic, natural,... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID SAID TO ABIGAIL, BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD— The finest spirits are soonest kindled into a flame; and to see them quickly cooled and calmed again upon the first shew of submission, by the first gleam of conviction, and raging wrath changed in one instant into flowing humanity and benignity, is th... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS HEART DIED WITHIN HIM— The baseness of Nabal's own heart made him believe David incapable of forgiving him; and therefore, upon Abigail's representing the case to him, which, no doubt, she did in lively colours, his terror became irremediable. This extremity of terror we commonly express by the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN DAVID HEARD THAT NABAL WAS DEAD, HE SAID, &C.— David, hearing of the death of Nabal, adores the divine justice so remarkably displayed in the punishment of this wicked man; and is full of thankfulness, that his cause was thus remarkably pleaded, without any intervention of his own. How fine a l... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE SERVANTS OF DAVID WERE COME TO ABIGAIL— We would just remark, that in this, as in their historical details in general, the sacred writers are very concise. There can be no doubt, but that a decent time passed before David's proposals were made to Abigail, and that his servants omitted nothi... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID ALSO TOOK AHINOAM— Ahinoam is always mentioned as first of the wives of David. See chap. 1 Samuel 27:3 1 Samuel 30:5, &c. And, therefore, it is supposed, that he was married to her before he took Abigail. Polygamy was a practice too prevalent in those ages, even under the dark Jewish dispensat... [ Continue Reading ]