Tuesday, August 8, 2023

1 Samuel 25:10

1 Samuel 25:10 says, And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.   Nabol replied to David's request by asking who David was to be asking him for help.  He also implied that David could be a runaway slave.  Though praises for David’s victories over the Philistines had been sung by the people of Israel, either Nabal hadn't heard of him or chose to ignore his knowledge of who David was. We may be known for our great faith in the Christian community,  but that doesn't mean that we are known by everyone in the world, and if we were to ask them for help, we should not be surprised if they ask who we think we are to ask them.  Verse eleven asks, Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?  Nabal then asked if he should give the provisions that he had for his shearers to someone that he did not know.   Of course, we know that this was not all his provisions available, but he didn't want to give up anything more.  People of the world and too often Christians as well are unwilling to give of their excess to help those in need, especially people that they don't know.  Verse twelve states, So David’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.  The young men that David sent returned to him and told him what Nabal had said.  This was all they could do.  If we are tasked by a fellow Christian to ask someone for help in a particular time of need, that is all that we can do.  We cannot make them help.  Verse thirteen adds, And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.  David told his men to arm themselves, and they did as did David himself.  He took four hundred with him and left the rest to guard their stuff.  As we engage in the battle against Satan and his forces today, we need to put on the armor of God, and some of us may be actively involved in the battle while others are guarding our stuff.   I believe that as long as we are faithful to God that He will lead us to our role in the battle.  Verse fourteen states,adds,  But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.  One of the young men of Nabal told his wife what had happened when David sent his request to Nabal.  Verse fifteen, But the men 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:  The young man then began to give David a good report about the time David and his forces had camped out with them.  In our interactions with the world today, they should be able to give a good report of how we treated them.  Verse sixteen continues, They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.  The young man went on to say that while in the company of David and his men that they protected them day and night.  This was not really the responsibility of David and his men, but they took it on even as they were running for their lives.  We should never allow our circumstances to keep us from helping others, even the lost people of the world, when we have an opportunity.  Verse seventeen concludes, Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.  The young man told Abigail to consider what she would do, because there was now evil proposed against Nabal and his household because he wouldn't listen when anyone tried to reason with him.  Matthew Henry says that being a son of Belial meant that Nabal was morose and unable to listen and understand what anyone might tell him.  Some people today are so much under the control of Satan that it is very hard to reason with them.  Verse eighteen says, Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.  Abigail didn't go and try to reason with Nabal, but she took action.  She gathered many supplies and loaded them on asses, ready to be transported.  Sometimes, we may need to take action, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, instead of trying to reason with someone who is unwilling to listen. Verse nineteen adds, And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.  Abigail sent her servants ahead of her saying she would follow them, but she didn't tell Nabal what she was doing.  This really was a situation where she could have been putting her life in danger to help David and actually to help Nabal himself.  There may be times when we have to put ourselves in danger in order to do the right thing concerning others.  Verse twenty continues, And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. She met David and his men as they were on the way to go to war with Nabal.   Sometimes, confronting people head on is our only option, and we may not always have a clear indication of which side God is on. We are not told that either Abigail or David had consulted God about their actions, but we always should.

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