1 Samuel - Odessa, Missouri Community of Christ

2007 Edition Dr. Constable's Notes on 1 Samuel 95The death of Samuel 25:1Samuel's years of being a blessing to all Israel ended at this time. David took his place asGod's major channel of blessing to the nation. It is appropriate that the notice of Samuel'sdeath occurs here since Saul had just admitted publicly that David would be Israel's nextking (24:20). Samuel's ministry of providing a transition to the monarchy had thereforeended. People all over Israel mourned Samuel's death. Samuel was the last of the judges.David would probably have continued Samuel's ministry and become Israel's first kingwithout the hiatus of Saul's tragic reign if Israel had not insisted on having a kingprematurely."Since the days of Moses and Joshua, no man had arisen to whom thecovenant nation owed so much as to Samuel, who has been justly calledthe reformer and restorer of the theocracy." 270This chapter opens with one disappointment for David, the death of his mentor, and itcloses with another, the departure of his mate (v. 44). This suggests that the events ofchapter 25 took place when David was at a low point in his life emotionally. This mayaccount for the fact that David did not conduct himself completely honorably at this time.He is not the hero of this chapter. Abigail is. God used a woman to avert a tragedy inIsrael's history, again (cf. Judg. 4; 2 Sam. 14:2-20; 20:16-22).The wilderness of Paran, to which David fled next, lay just southeast of Maon (v. 2).David's request of Nabal 25:2-8Both Maon and Carmel (meaning "Garden Spot") stood about 14 miles west of Engediand about 7 miles south-southeast of Hebron. The reference to Nabal's 3,000 sheep maybe an allusion to Saul's 3,000 soldiers (24:2). As the story unfolds, we will discover manysimilarities between Nabal and Saul, and the writer may have dropped this and otherclues to help the reader compare the two men. He used a literary device called narrativeanalogy in which ironic parallelisms abound. 271"Nabal" must have been a nickname since it means "fool" in Hebrew. Nabal was adescendant of Caleb who had received Hebron and its environs as his inheritance fromJoshua (Josh. 15:13). Nabal was unlike his ancestor in many ways. He was foolish, butCaleb was wise. Nabal did not take God into account, but Caleb counted on God'spromises. Nabal opposed God's purposes and died prematurely, but Caleb cooperatedwith God and lived long.The Old Testament prophets regarded those who are ungodly, namely, those who do nottake God into account, as fools (Ps. 14:1; Prov. 18:2, 7; Isa. 32:6). God promised topunish the ungodly (Deut. 28). Therefore He will punish fools (vv. 25-26).270 Keil and Delitzsch, p. 238.271 Robert P. Gordon, "David's Rise and Saul's Demise: Narrative Analogy in 1 Samuel 24—26," TyndaleBulletin 31 (1980):42-43.