Have you ever done something you wished you would have never done or said? Has your anger taken a hold of your heart and made you do things that you've regretted?I think that everyone of us has times and seasons where anger comes upon us and we end up making dumb decisions and doing things that we wish we hadn't done. I know I have.
David is no different. 1 Samuel 25 is a story that shows how David was about to make a really rash decision and ends up being rescued by someone with a cooler head.
The story begins with David sending his servants to Nabal asking him to share from his bounty since it is sheep-shearing time (verses 5-8). He sends his compliments and reminds Nabal that his men had protected Nabal’s flocks and his servants even though Nabal hadn’t asked for his help. Later in the chapter (verses 15-16) one of Nabal’s servants verifies that this was true and says that David’s men were like a wall of protection against bandits who might have attacked them. While his servants are speaking with Nabal, David is out in the field building a fire. He’s expecting to have lamb chops tonight. But there will be no feast tonight.
Nabal’s response is worth noting in full:
Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?” (I Samuel 25:10-11).
This is just plain stupid. Nabal earns his name (fool) with these comments. Here’s a basic principle to remember: You don’t mess around with a man who’s going to be king someday. Proverbs 20:2 says, “A king’s wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life.” Nabal is about to learn the truth of those words. He has made two mistakes: 1) He refused to show kindness to David and his men, 2) He insulted David and his father Jesse. That last part was a big mistake. David was not the kind of man to overlook something like this.
We can see David’s response to Nabal’s harshness in verse 13: “David said to his men, ‘Put on your swords!’ So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.” He was hot under the collar and determined to teach this miserable muck-worm a lesson. After all, you don’t put on swords to have a discussion. The odds are now 400 to 1 in favor of David. It’s like killing a roach with a shotgun.
David had good reason to be angry but he had no right to seek revenge. He would have been better off saying, “This guy’s a jerk. Just forget about him and let’s move on.” But he didn’t. The shock is how quickly uncontrolled anger has turned David into a killer.
With the stage thus set for a bloody massacre, Abigail enters the picture. For what she does and what she says, and the courage and grace she shows under pressure, for her quick thinking and her wise intercession, she deserves to be numbered among the great women of the Bible.
Knowing that David’s men were hot, tired, and hungry, she whips up a meal for 400 angry men. The feast includes bread, wine, lamb, grain, raisins and figs. It was an early version of Meals on Wheels. She intends to intercept David’s men, feed them, and talk David out of killing her husband.
She offers three reasons why David should spare her foolish husband: (These are also Three Lessons We Need To Learn).
#1: God sent me to protect you from making a foolish mistake - 1 Samuel 25:26-28
#2: God is the avenger of the wicked - 1 Samuel 25:29
#3: You will never regret it later - 1 Samuel 25:30-31
Once Abigail finishes her speech the story quickly comes to a climax. In verses 32-35 David agrees with Abigail and gives thanks to God that she saved him from a huge mistake - 1 Samuel 25:32-35.
As for Nabal, he comes to a sad end. While Abigail is saving his life, he’s home having a party. When she finally arrives at home, he is drunk. The next morning when she tells him how close he and his men came to being massacred, the news gives him a heart attack. He became “like a stone” (meaning he was in a coma) and died ten days later. David responded to the news by giving God thanks for keeping him from killing Nabal and for bringing Nabal to justice in his own way and in his own time (verse 39).
That should be end of the story. But there is one loose detail that needs to be wrapped up. Now that Nabal is dead, Abigail is a single woman again. David realizes what a tremendous woman she is and sends his servants to ask her to become his wife - 1 Samuel 25:41-42.
Had David taken matters into his own hands and not waited for God to work it out - he would have had the blood of Nabal upon his conscience and mind. God had a bigger plan and David needed to pray and wait for God to work out the details. If you are dealing with anger today - stop and pray and wait. It is then that you will see the salvation of The Lord on your behalf.
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