Today started out with the death of Samuel. All of Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David went down to the wilderness of Paran.
There was a man whose business was in Carmel and he was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. The name of the man was Nabal and his wife was Abigail.
David heard in the wilderness that the man was shearing his sheep, so he sent out ten young men to speak with him. David told them to go to Carmel and greet Nabal in his name and say,
“Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.”
1 Samuel 25:6
They asked Nabal to share what he had, for they had come on feast day. They also assured him that they had done no harm to any of his shepherds who were with them. They asked him to give anything he could to his servants and to his son David.
When the young men came back, they explained that Nabal’s response was “Who is David?” He did not understand why he should give to some random person when it was all the stuff he had worked for. Therefore, Nabal was not going to help David and his men.
David told his men to strap on their swords, and about four hundred of them set out to see Nabal. At some point during all of this, someone told Abigial, Nabal’s wife, about this. She gathered supplies and loaded them on donkeys to take to David and his men.
When she got to David she hurried from her donkey and bowed down in front of him. She convinced him not to seek revenge on Nabal for he must not have the bloodguil; and she asked for forgiveness of her husband.
David decided to spare them and said to her,
“Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand!”
1 Samuel 25:32-33
Abigail went back to Nabal and was pleased to tell him the news. Except he was too drunk at that point to listen, so she waited until the morning. When she was finally able to tell him what had happened, his heart died within him and it became as a stone. About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
When David heard that Nabal was dead he was happy that the Lord had avenged the insult he had received at the hand of Nabal, and had kept himself from wrongdoing against him.
David sent messengers to speak with Abigail to take her as his wife. Abigail hurriedly agreed and set out to be with David. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel has his wife.
Apparently Saul had given Michal, his daughter who was supposed to be with David, to someone else. Did I miss this part somewhere? I thought they were already married?
Saul got wind of where David was hiding and set out to pursue him. Again? I thought this was a done deal since David had already spared his life. Anyway, Saul went out searching for David in the wilderness.
Saul and his men were encamped and David went to that place. He snuck into their camp and found Saul where he was sleeping, completely surrounded by his army. He had his spear stuck in the ground next to his head, and a jar of water.
David would not harm him, for the Lord forbade that he should put his hand against the Lord’s anointed. So David took the spear and jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away.
David went over to the other side and called to the army. He asked them why they had not kept watch over the king. He showed them the spear and water jug, explaining how he could’ve just killed him. He chose to spare Saul’s life for the second time. At this point Saul recognized David’s voice.
David asked him why he was still pursuing him. Saul said that he had sinned, and would not try to harm David anymore. Yeah, we’ve heard this before…
David returned the spear to Saul and said,
“The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulations”
1 Samuel 26:23-24
David still felt as though he would perish at the hand of Saul, so he continued hiding. He escaped and fled to the land of the Philistines, thinking Saul would despair in seeking him in the land of Israel. David lived in the country of the Philistines for one year and four months.