We started our historical trek through the Old Testament with Hannah pleading with God to have a child. She promised to dedicated the child to God if He would bless her. He did and she did. That child was Samuel, whom we followed as he grew up helping Eli in the tabernacle and then became a priest and judge over Israel. We also witnessed Israel’s transition from a theocracy (where God ruled) to a monarchy (where a king rules). The people wanted a king and God told Samuel to anoint Saul. Saul, however, disobeyed a direct order from God and God removed the Holy Spirit from him. Subsequently, God told Samuel to anoint the next king, a young shepherd named David.
In today’s chapter, Samuel dies. We all die. Where our souls spend eternity is really up to us — either in Heaven or in hell. But that’s not the topic of today’s story. Today, we meet a restrainer. In yesterday’s story, the Holy Spirit restrained David from killing Saul when the opportunity presented itself in the cave. Here we have a different restrainer and I’ll tell you about the restrainer that’s in the world today and what will happen when He is removed. Let’s dig in…..
1 Samuel 25 – Samuel Dies and a Fool Angers David
Now Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral. They buried him at his house in Ramah.
Then David moved down to the wilderness of Maon (Paran). 2 There was a wealthy man from Maon who owned property near the town of Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and it was sheep-shearing time. 3 This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife, Abigail, was a sensible and beautiful woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was crude and mean in all his dealings.
4 When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 he sent ten of his young men to Carmel with this message for Nabal: 6 “Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own! 7 I am told that it is sheep-shearing time. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. 8 Ask your own men, and they will tell you this is true. So would you be kind to us, since we have come at a time of celebration? Please share any provisions you might have on hand with us and with your friend David.” 9 David’s young men gave this message to Nabal in David’s name, and they waited for a reply.
10 “Who is this fellow David?” Nabal sneered to the young men. “Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters. 11 Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a band of outlaws who come from who knows where?”
12 So David’s young men returned and told him what Nabal had said. 13 “Get your swords!” was David’s reply as he strapped on his own. Then 400 men started off with David, and 200 remained behind to guard their equipment.
14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s servants went to Abigail and told her, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed insults at them. 15 These men have been very good to us, and we never suffered any harm from them. Nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. 16 In fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep. 17 You need to know this and figure out what to do, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family. He’s so ill-tempered that no one can even talk to him!”
18 Abigail wasted no time. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two wineskins full of wine, five sheep that had been slaughtered, nearly a bushel of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes. She packed them on donkeys 19 and said to her servants, “Go on ahead. I will follow you shortly.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal what she was doing.
20 As she was riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming toward her. 21 David had just been saying, “A lot of good it did to help this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness, and nothing he owned was lost or stolen. But he has repaid me evil for good. 22 May God strike me and kill me if even one man of his household is still alive tomorrow morning!”
Abigail Intercedes for Nabal
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before him. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. 25 I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don’t pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests. But I never even saw the young men you sent.
26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, let all your enemies and those who try to harm you be as cursed as Nabal is. 27 And here is a present that I, your servant, have brought to you and your young men. 28 Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way. The Lord will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty, for you are fighting the Lord’s battles. And you have not done wrong throughout your entire life.
29 “Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the Lord your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling! 30 When the Lord has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel, 31 don’t let this be a blemish on your record. Then your conscience won’t have to bear the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance. And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember me, your servant!”
32 David replied to Abigail, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today! 33 Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands. 34 For I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from hurting you, that if you had not hurried out to meet me, not one of Nabal’s men would still be alive tomorrow morning.” 35 Then David accepted her present and told her, “Return home in peace. I have heard what you said. We will not kill your husband.”
36 When Abigail arrived home, she found that Nabal was throwing a big party and was celebrating like a king. He was very drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything about her meeting with David until dawn the next day. 37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him what had happened. As a result he had a stroke, and he lay paralyzed on his bed like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck him, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received from Nabal and has kept me from doing it myself. Nabal has received the punishment for his sin.” Then David sent messengers to Abigail to ask her to become his wife.
40 When the messengers arrived at Carmel, they told Abigail, “David has sent us to take you back to marry him.”
41 She bowed low to the ground and responded, “I, your servant, would be happy to marry David. I would even be willing to become a slave, washing the feet of his servants!” 42 Quickly getting ready, she took along five of her servant girls as attendants, mounted her donkey, and went with David’s messengers. And so she became his wife. 43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel, making both of them his wives. 44 Saul, meanwhile, had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to a man from Gallim named Palti son of Laish.
1 Samuel 25 NLT
Points to Ponder
- The name “Nabal” means “fool” or “scoundrel”.
- David, all to quickly, falls into sin and foolishness as he reacts angrily to the news that Nabal won’t help him. Isn’t that the way people react in today’s world? Think about it. The CEO of a company says something that angers a small percentage of the population and immediately a boycott of that company is called for on social media.
- Nabal’s wife becomes the intercessor and restrainer, a sensible and beautiful woman. (How she ended up with Nabal, we’ll never know. Probably an arranged marriage. How nice that she ends up with David.)
The Holy Spirit, Our Restrainer
Today, born-again, true Christian believers have the Holy Spirit in their hearts. He gives us wisdom and common sense — both are sorely lacking in this world right now. I recently heard someone say at Ai – artificial intelligence — may be smart, but it lacks wisdom and common sense. Think about that one for a bit.
For me, as I mentioned yesterday, the Holy Spirit restrains me from acting foolishly on social media. All Christians need to pray each day, in the Spirit, for His help in restraining us from doing stupid and impetuous acts that will get us in trouble. Remember the Fruit of the Spirit?
The Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers is also holding back — restraining — the Antichrist from rising into power. The “man of lawlessness” can’t rise until the restrainer is gone. That’s us believers. We’ll be gone in the Rapture. And, as soon as we’re gone, God’s Great Tribulation will start as will the judgement of the world.
Paul wrote to the church in Thessaloniki…
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first (That’s the apostasy of the church which is happening now!), and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 NKJV
I believe that the Antichrist is alive somewhere in Europe. Fortunately, I’ll be gone when he is revealed. That’s when all the trouble starts.
If you think that we’re in trouble now, this is just a foretaste of what is yet to come. Check out my study on the Book of Revelation.
The question is…
Do you have the Holy Spirit in your heart?
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
