841 matching verse commentaries
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she said to her servants, go on before me,.... With the present, the sight of which she wisely considered would in a great measure pacify David, and prepare him to hear patiently what she had to say to him: behold, I come after you; signifying it would not be long before she came up to them, and overtook them: but she told not her husband...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was [so, as] she rode on the ass,.... After her servants: that she came down, by the covert of the hill; by the side of it, which was covered with bushes, and she rode among them, in a way that led through them, and so was not seen by David and his men; or by the shadow of the hill, toward the bottom of it, where by reason of that, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now David had said,.... When the messengers returned and told him how they had been used by Nabal; or he "said" (c), or was saying within himself, or to his men, what follows, just as Abigail met him: surely in vain have I kept all that this [fellow] hath in the wilderness; which shows that lie was in a violent passion, and had Nabal in the utmost...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So and more also do God unto the enemies of David,.... Give them as much health and prosperity, as much wealth and riches, as Nabal has, and much more: if I leave of all that [pertain] to him, by the morning light, any that pisseth against the wall; which is generally understood of a dog, that he, would not leave him so much as a dog: but it is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Abigail saw David,.... Whom she either knew personally, or rather supposed who he was by the number of men that followed him: she hasted, and alighted off the ass; on which she rode: and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground; in respect to, and reverence of, so great a person as David was.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And fell at his feet,.... As an humble supplicant, having a favour to ask of him; it is very probable David was on foot: and said, upon me, my lord, [upon] me [let] this iniquity [be]; which her husband had been guilty of; she desires it might be transferred from him to her, and be reckoned as if done by her; she would have it imputed to herself,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, [even] Nabal,.... He is a worthless man, it must be owned, a weak foolish man, rather to be despised than regarded by him; what either he says or does is unworthy of the notice of any, and much less of so great a person as David was: for as his name [is], so [is] he; his natural disposition,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore, my lord, [as] the Lord liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth,.... Which is an oath, and respects either what goes before, that she never saw the young men that were sent to Nabal, or to what follows, the providence of God in preventing David from shedding blood, which she was sure of by an impulse on her own mind, and by observing a...