46 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 25 This chapter gives an account of the death of Samuel, and of the ill treatment David met with from Nabal; it begins with the death of Samuel, which was greatly lamented in Israel, 1 Samuel 25:1; it draws the character of Nabal, and his wife, 1 Samuel 25:2; records a message of David to him, by his young men,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samuel died,.... In the interval, when Saul and David were parted, and before they saw each other again; according to the Jewish chronology (g), Samuel died four months before Saul; but other Jewish writers say (h) he died seven months before; Abarbinel thinks it was a year or two before; which is most likely and indeed certain, since David...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We have here some intermission of David's troubles by Saul. Providence favoured him with a breathing time, and yet this chapter gives us instances of the troubles of David. If one vexation seems to be over, we must not be secure; a storm may arise from some other point, as here to David. I. Tidings of the death of Samuel could not but trouble him,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [there was] a man in Maon,.... A city of the tribe of Judah, from whence the wilderness had its name before mentioned; of which place, see Joshua 15:55; though Ben Gersom takes it to signify a dwelling place; and that this is observed to show, that he did not dwell in a city, but had his habitation where his business lay, which was in Carmel,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the name of the man [was] Nabal,.... Which signifies a "fool"; one would think his parents should not give him this name, though it is a name proper enough to men in common; and Kimchi thinks this was a nickname, which men gave him agreeably to his genius and conduct, and which is not improbable: and the name of his wife Abigail; which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David heard in the wilderness,.... In the wilderness of Paran, where he was, and a wilderness it was to him, being in want of food, as the following relation shows: that Nabal did shear his sheep; when there was generally good living, and so a proper person, and a proper time, for David to apply for the relief of his wants.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David sent out ten young men,.... Such persons, and such a number of them, he sent to show honour and reverence to Nabal: and David said, unto the young men, get ye up to Carmel; which lay higher than the wilderness, in which he was: and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name; ask him of his peace and welfare, as the Targum; wish all health and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity],.... That lives, while others, as David and his men, might be rather said to starve than live; they lived in great meanness, but he in great abundance, and therefore in a capacity to give to others, and particularly to relieve them: or the sense is, they should say to him, "thus" shall it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now I have heard that thou hast shearers,.... Men employed in shearing his sheep, which was a time of feasting and gladness, and therefore David sent his young men to him at this time with his compliments upon it; and in order to obtain what he intended by this message to him, he observes the favours he and his men had done to his servants,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ask thy young men, and they will show thee,.... The shepherds before mentioned, who kept their flocks hard by them: wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes; the ten young men David sent to Nabal: for we are come in a good day; a day in which Nabal made a feast for his shearers, as was usual then, and still is, see 2 Samuel 13:23; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when David's young men came,.... To Carmel: they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David; they delivered their message punctually and exactly, in the very words, or however according to the purport of them, in David's name, as he enjoined them: and ceased: from speaking, waiting for Nabal's answer; or "they rested"...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Nabal answered David's servants, and said,.... In a very haughty manner, in great wrath, just as churlish covetous persons do, when they do not care to give what is asked of them: who [is] David? and who [is] the son of Jesse; his two questions, which relate to the same person, do not well agree together, since by both he would suggest as if...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall I then take my bread, and my water,.... Which include all food and liquors, everything eatable and drinkable; and "water" may be particularly mentioned, because very scarce in the wilderness, and so precious; though the Septuagint version has "wine" instead of "water": and my flesh which I have killed for my shearers; whether oxen, or sheep,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So David's young men turned their way,.... Their backs on him, without making any reply; and though they did not return railing for railing, they treated him with silent contempt; and though they did not offer to do any injury to his person, nor to take anything away by force, yet they were determined to report this usage to David, who they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David said unto his men,.... Provoked to the last degree to have such a rude churlish answer returned to such a civil and humble message as he had sent: gird you on every man his sword; and prepare to march and chastise Nabal for his insolence: and they girded on every man his sword; in obedience to David, and in vindication of his honour and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife,.... Not one of David's young men, as what follows shows, but one of Nabal's young men or servants, one of those David directs him to for the truth of what he said, 1 Samuel 25:8; this was one of those that had been employed in feeding sheep in the wilderness, where David was, and knew him, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the men [were] very good unto us,.... Very kind and civil, yea, very useful and serviceable, even all the messengers David sent and Nabal railed on, yea, all David's men, and therefore deserved better treatment than they met with from Nabal: and we were not hurt; neither by them nor others: neither missed we anything: of our flocks, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They were a wall unto us both by night and day,.... Protecting and defending them against the Philistines, who, as they robbed the threshing floors of Keilah, would have plundered the flocks of Nabal; or it may be rather against the incursions of the Arabs in the wilderness of Paran, the posterity of Ishmael, who lived by plunder, and against the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do,.... For the preservation of her family: for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; which he concluded, either from something that dropped from David's messengers, as they turned away from Nabal; or from the martial spirit of David himself, who would never put up such...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Abigail made haste,.... As the case required, her family being in imminent danger: and took two hundred loaves; of bread; of what size or weight they were is not said; though it may be reasonably concluded they were pretty large, since they are not called cakes, but loaves, and since they were to be a present to David and his men, who were...