Her name was Abigail.

She was married to a fool!

A fool who had invoked David’s wrath, and perhaps rightly so.

David was on his way to Nabal’s place to execute justice … bluntly speaking, to kill the man.

(Nabal soon dies of a God-inflicted stroke anyway.)

In the meantime, Abigal meets David and dissuades him from laying a hand on Nabal! (“Blessed are the peacemakers.”)

David, once calm again, thanks Abigal for her act of wisdom … “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.” 1 Samuel 25:32-33

SHE KEPT HIM FROM SINNING!

Oh, what a testimony!

Not to lead people into temptation, but to keep them from temptation!

Not to lure into sin, but to persuade not to sin!

Not to provoke to evil, but to incite unto “love and good works!” (Quoting part of Hebrews 10:24.)

Then later yet, with even more perspective … “And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head.” 1 Samuel 25:30

In a Biblical sense then, we can say that Abigal was used of God to keep David from sinning!

A noble testimony!

One to be copied, duplicated in our lives.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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In Psalm 101:2 David promises himself: “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.”

I believe He tried to live by that motto most of his life. Otherwise, God would have never called him “a man after My Own Heart!” (Acts 13:22)

But one day David met a “fool,” a wicked and selfish and unkind man named Nabal. A man who embarrassed and belittled David’s needy men, even refusing them food and water … all this after they had protected Nabal’s herds from countless thieves and marauders!

Shame was such a “big thing” in that day long ago that David swore vengeance, or at least a good apology for his men. But none was forthcoming, not a word of remorse!

David, perhaps in a fit of (unwise) anger, swore vengeance on Nabal and his company. And the young King-to-be well-nigh murdered Nabal, in all reality!

He (David) was only dissuaded by the “fool’s” Wife, Nabal’s Wife, a pretty lady named Abigail.

Here’s what she said to David about her wicked man … “Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.” 1 Samuel 25:25

The very name “Nabal” in Hebrew means “fool!

Did you notice that?

Abigail reluctantly but fearfully admits … “As his name is, so is he!”

His name means “fool” and so he is (a fool)!

Now THAT gets me to thinking about our names. Do we even know the meanings of most of our names?

Nabal certainly had a name, a bad one, but he lived up to it … living and dying as a “fool!”

Fine out the meaning of your name, then get a good Bible Verse to go with that definition … and see if you can make something good issue out of your very name!

Oh, to live up to the meanings of our names!

In a good sense, of course.

Let me give you an example.

The name “Mary” (or “Maria” or “Miriam,” all from the same root word) literally means “bitter!”

You sure do not want to live up to that!

So, you reverse the idea, “I will NOT be a bitter Christian!” Using Ephesians 4:31 as a “life verse.” It says, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.”

Wow!

Potentially life-changing!

— Dr. Mike Bagewll

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During his time (years) in the wilderness, trying to stay safe from King Saul and his “assassination squads,” David played the role of an ancient Robin Hood!

He protected the landowners and inhabitants of that distant land. No raiders would plunder their cattle and servants … not on David’s watch!

Once a wicked Jewish man named “Nabal” (which is Hebrew for “fool”) fell under David’s jurisdiction. (He owned 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats! So says 1 Samuel 25:3.)

David (and his men) protected Nabal’s shepherds and on one occasion needed in return mere water, bread and a little meat! (“Income” for David and his men, his followers. True … only “ten” young men went on this expedition, but “in the name of David.”) See 1 Samuel 25:5 and 11.

Well, Nabal refused to help and nearly got himself killed for his brash insolence! (1 Samuel 25:10-11 give his exact words.) But his Wife Abigal intervened with David and no deaths occurred, not at David’s hand anyway.

Subsequently, Abigal made her own investigation. “Was David good or not good to her husband’s servants?”

Here was their reply to her: “The men (David and his crew) were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields.” 1 Samuel 25:15, kindness to the core, no plunder or abuse of any sort!

Now, the next verse is my “key” though today. We keep listening to Nabal’s shepherds: “They were a WALL unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.”

Wow!

A “wall” David was!

That means he was a protector from robbers and marauders and thieves and any other harmful intruder!

He was not a “gate” inviting them into Nabal’s public pastureland!

But a “wall,” are you hearing this?

This reminds of a Passage in the Song of Solomon.

A young lady had a choice to make for her life, her lifestyle. Would she be a “door,” a bad thing, allowing any stranger entrance into her heart, life, her very body?

Or would she be, a good thing like David and his men, a “wall” … refusing such unwarranted advances? (Song of Solomon 8:9)

Christian friend reading here today … BE A WALL IN YOUR HOME. Keep the devil away! Allow him no access.

And BE A WALL AT YOUR CHURCH, helping keep it clean and separated from the world.

For that matter, BE A WALL IN YOUR OWN LIFE, keeping up your “guard” against any easily besetting sin.

Yes indeed, David was a WALL of protection in his at-that-time community!

So must we be in ours.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Bitter King Saul of Israel once said to David: “Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.” 1 Samuel 24:17

Think about that statement!

Saul had repeatedly been trying to kill David, yet David repeatedly responded in kindness!

And THAT, David’s Jesus-like behavior, was what (here in our Text) brought Saul to some measure of sanity!

Notice the vocabulary, King Saul using the Biblical (religious) word “righteousness!” Though he lived a life basically far (estranged) from God, he (at one time) had been quite close to God!

Christian friend, no one is exempt from falling away, from backsliding on the Lord!

Next here I see a man’s enemy praising that man’s character, his godliness! Just like with Jesus, of Whom Pilate had to say … “Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.” John 19:4

Oh, to try to live that way!

And David here too, long before such injunctions were ever written on paper, obeyed: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Matthew 5:44

I may be writing today to someone who is living with an adversary. Or in some kind of adversarial condition. Though an enemy’s response can never be precisely calculated, Jesus does expect us to be peacemakers instead of warmongers.

David, at times anyway, had learned that lesson.

So must we.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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For some time King Saul of Israel has been “chasing” David, the son of Jesse. As in trying to “kill” him!

But one day, as David hid in a cave, Saul (closer to his prey that he ever imagined) entered that little enclosure to use the bathroom, “to cover his feet” in the modest King James Version.

Now was David’s “golden opportunity.” Revenge, will it taste as sweet as they say?

David (and a few men with him in the “sides” of that cave) was ready to pounce!

Even his buddies said: “Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee.” 1 Samuel 24:4

Go, David, go!

Remember … Saul has tried to kill this young man repeatedly!

David makes his move … “Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.”

He did not kill his biggest enemy!

He merely trimmed off a corner (a piece) of the royal Robe, likely to prove to Saul that David surely could have killed him!

Wow, what self-control!`

David the noble man!

But now watch this.

Soon as David sheathed his (obviously) sharp sword … “And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart SMOTE him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.” 1 Samuel 24:6

That’s sensitivity!

A tender conscience!

Maybe this too: Holy Spirit induced respect for the one who held the Office of King of Israel!

David’s reasoning … “He said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” 1 Samuel 24:7, rebellious but still God’s “Anointed!”

No wonder David had around him (nearly at every epoch in his life) “loyal” people who would have died protecting their hero!

My point today … be spiritually sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Hurt no one purposely.

Let God take care of your enemies!

And, consequently … you will reap what you sow!

Had David’s heart stayed that sensitive … lots of later problems could have been avoided in his life.

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Loyal David, for the most part, reaped loyal people in his court!

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