Year 1, Week 32, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 32, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 1 Samuel 25-26.

Today’s reading jumps back into 1 Samuel as it continues describing the jealousy and hatred that Saul has toward David. David is still on the run from Saul. 1 Samuel 25 notes the death of Samuel and then records an incident in David’s life wherein he is protected from exacting revenge on a man who has insulted him. The LORD uses this man’s wife, Abigail, to divert David from wrongdoing. David takes Abigail to be one of his wives after the LORD takes care of the man. 1 Samuel 26 records another opportunity that David has to kill Saul, as he enters Saul’s camp undetected while everyone is asleep. David takes Saul’s spear but does not harm anyone. As David confronts Saul in the aftermath, Saul once again acknowledges that David has been noble. Saul once again is remorseful: “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake” (1 Samuel 26:21).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the word that the LORD reveals to David through Abigail of a dynasty: “You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations” (Psalm 89:3-4). Abigail intervenes on behalf of her husband, Nabal. She first sends to David a package of generous gifts as an expression of goodwill: “Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys” (1 Samuel 25:18). Then she approaches David with a humble appeal: “Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live” (1 Samuel 25:28). Concerning the certainty of David’s reign, Abigail further adds: “And when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant” (1 Samuel 25:30-31).

David instantly realizes what the LORD has said through Abigail: “Blessed be the LORD, the 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 working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male” (1 Samuel 25:32-34). Ironically, David had shown much self-restraint toward harming Saul, but when Nabal refused to assist David and his men, evening insulting David in the process, David’s self-restraint vanished. David was determined to deal with Nabal: “Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him” (1 Samuel 25:21-22). But the LORD used Abigail to speak graciously to David: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Abigail appealed to the great promises of a lasting dynasty that would come through David, coupled with a gentle warning to David to not jeopardize the future plans that the LORD had for David for the sake of dealing with a fool.

Not only did the LORD work powerfully through Abigail’s words and actions, the LORD directly took care of Nabal: “And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died” (1 Samuel 25:36-38). David immediately recognizes God’s hand: “Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head” (1 Samuel 25:39).

Seeing the LORD’s hand at work, no doubt shaped how David responded to his next temptation. As he is still on the run from Saul, David is given a new opportunity to remove Saul from being a threat. David spares Saul’s life but steals his spear. Then when out of harm’s way, David once again shows Saul that he has no ill toward him. In addition to his acknowledgment of wrong-doing, Saul speaks what I believe are the final recorded words to David: “Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them” (1 Samuel 26:25).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe