1 Samuel 25:12 - Meaning and Application

Here is the report David received about the insult Nabal had given his messengers. They “turned their way,” meaning they left at once in disgust, as they should have done with such a rough man. Still, they did not answer insult with insult, or try to take by force what was rightly due to them. Instead, they went back and told David, leaving the matter in his hands. When Christ’s servants are treated this way, they should leave it to him to defend their cause and wait for him to act. The servant showed his master what insults he had received, but did not return them (Luke 14:21).

David then made a quick and rash decision. He strapped on his sword and told his men to do the same, and about 400 men went with him (1 Samuel 25:13). David said, in effect, that the kindness he had shown Nabal had been wasted. He thought he had done good to win a friend, but instead Nabal had shown no gratitude at all and had paid evil for good. Yet when people repay us that way, we should not regret having done good. We should not become unwilling to do good another time. God is kind to the evil and unthankful, and we should be too.

David also decided to destroy Nabal and everyone connected with him. This was not like David at his best. His plan was violent, to kill every male in Nabal’s household and spare none, neither man nor boy. Even the words he used were filled with passion: “May God do the same and more to David’s enemies.” He was about to say, “to me,” but that would have sounded too much like Saul’s kind of speech (1 Samuel 14:44), so he stopped himself. Is this really David speaking? Can the man after God’s own heart talk so carelessly? He had been in the school of suffering for so long, where he should have learned patience, and yet he was so quick to anger. This was the same man who had been silent when he was insulted (Psalm 38:13), and who had just spared Saul when Saul was trying to kill him. Yet now he will not spare the family of a man who had only insulted his servants.

At other times David was calm and thoughtful, but a few harsh words threw him into such anger that nothing seemed enough except bloodshed. This shows how weak even the best people are when God leaves them to themselves, so they may learn what is in their hearts. David expected trouble from Saul, and so he was ready for it and kept his temper. But he expected kindness from Nabal, and the surprise of Nabal’s insult caught him off guard and upset him for the moment. We have good reason to pray, “Lord, do not lead us into temptation.”

One of Nabal’s servants, who was wiser than the rest, told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, what had happened (1 Samuel 25:14). If he had spoken this way to Nabal himself, Nabal would likely have blamed the servant and thrown him out. But Abigail was a woman of good sense, so she took the warning seriously. The servant did David justice by praising David and his men for how well they had treated Nabal’s shepherds. He said they had protected them, like a wall around them, even though they were themselves in danger. Those who do what is good will, in one way or another, receive credit for it.

Nabal’s own servant also showed that David was right to feel insulted. He said Nabal had railed at David’s messengers, and even rushed at them in furious anger. This was not just a one-time outburst. He said it was Nabal’s usual way, because he was such a worthless and stubborn man that no one could speak to him without setting him off at once. Abigail knew this all too well herself. At the same time, the servant was doing a kindness to Abigail and the whole household by warning them what would likely happen next. He knew David well enough to expect that David would strongly resent the insult, and he may also have learned that David had already ordered his men to march that way. So he was sure that disaster was coming against their master and everyone in the house, himself included. He wanted Abigail to think quickly about what could be done for their safety. They could not stand against David’s force, and there was no time to ask Saul for help. Something had to be done to calm David.