Nabal Saved His Stuff, Abigail Saved Nabal, the Lord Saved David
26 Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29 If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
1 Samuel 25:26–31 Read More
As you read this in its context, the people that were saved in this situation seem to be the men of the house of Nabal. They are the ones that David is going to kill since Nabal rejected David’s request for hospitality at a feast after respecting Nabal for so long. But really read it. Read where the word “save” and “salvation” are used.
Abigail hears that David is coming to fight and she goes out and makes peace with him. She gives him and his men all kinds of food and a sort of poem about how powerful he is. She then describes her interference as “the Lord saving [David] from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand.”
Throughout this whole episode of Saul being king and then David becoming king, Saul has been characterized by doing things on his own without depending on God. The thing that made Saul and David different was that Saul sought after his own desires while David sought after God’s own heart. This event is David weakening in his character and going after Nabal for his (David’s) own honor.
This is referred to in this section as trying to save with his own hand and working salvation himself. Think that through for a minute. David was about to try to work salvation for himself, and Abigail rescued him before he did it. Put that in stark contrast with Nabal, who was preserving himself and keeping his own things to himself. His heart died and he became like a stone. Ten days later he died.
Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Making our own salvation happen is so dangerous that it is probably the very key thing that Jesus saves us from. The root of all sin is the pride that we can do something without God. David lives this out in this event and realizes that all real salvation comes from the Lord.
When it’s all over, David marries Abigail and it’s as much about getting married as it is about taking care of a widow. He is back to his old self again, doing things the way the Lord would want him to do them.
The Lord doesn’t need us to do any saving. He desires us to follow along and participate with Him in the work and the proclamation of the salvation He brings.
You can get the Daily Bible Readings to your inbox via email every day by subscribing here. Join the discussion online on Facebook or Twitter.