Today on Renewing Your Mind, a foolish husband, a wise wife, and disaster averted. When we study the life of King David in the Old Testament, we see an extraordinarily gifted man, musician, soldier, friend, leader. Whatever David put his hand to, he succeeded. But when King Saul was pursuing David in the wilderness, his anger got the better of him, and it took a woman's wisdom to turn away his wrath. Here's Dr. R.C.
Sproul. As we continue now with our study of the life of David, I'm reminded of a comment that was penned by the famous Danish philosopher and gadfly Søren Kierkegaard. Back in the 19th century, Kierkegaard had been analyzing the state of European culture, and he made this observation. He said, let others complain that our age is wicked.
My complaint is that it is paltry. Then he went on to say it lacks passion. Now Kierkegaard, in complaining about the lack of passion, the lack of zeal, the lack of existential involvement of people within life and within the church and so on, he went on to say, when I'm depressed by this lack of passion, he says, inevitably I turn my attention back to the pages of the Old Testament, because there men are men and women are women.
They're real. He said they lie, they steal, they cheat, they kill, they commit adultery, and so on. I remember being taken aback by that statement when I first read it, because on the surface it sounds as if the philosopher is endorsing that kind of sinful behavior that is manifest on the pages of Old Testament history. But certainly it was not Kierkegaard's intent to praise such sin and vice in the lives of God's people, but he was doing what I think many of us do from time to time, and that is he was taking comfort by examining his own soul and seeing the sin that was present in his own soul. It's the tendency there to think that we're the worst of all possible sinners, and then when we look at these biblical heroes and heroines and we see that they were involved in all these ungodly things, we almost have a kind of torturous sense of relief here, saying, I'm not alone. If somebody like David can behave in this manner from time to time, there must be hope for me, because after all David himself experienced redemption.
There's a danger here, however. On one occasion we're warned in the Scriptures that those who judge themselves by themselves and judge themselves among themselves are not wise, and that is to say that we have a tendency to examine our own virtue by comparing ourselves with other people. And it's not that hard to find somebody who commits a certain sin that we are free of. And so we say, well, I don't like the Pharisee and the temple.
I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other people. And we think that God is going to grade us on the curve, and that's dangerous. As the Scripture says, those who do that sort of thing are not wise.
So we have to be careful to what degree we take comfort in reading about and observing the sins of the saints. Well, if there's anyone who gives us that kind of consolation, it's David, because David seems to manifest almost all of the vices that are common to people. And in today's lesson, we're going to look at one of these dark spots in the life of David. I'm going to turn our attention now to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 25. This is still part of that historical narrative where David has been a fugitive fleeing from the relentless pursuit of Saul who was driven by jealousy and hatred and with a desire to destroy David. This is David not at his best, but David in some regards at his worst. Chapter 25 begins with the mention of the death of Samuel, which had to be a traumatic event in the life of David. Consider it, Samuel is the one who had anointed David as king. He had been God's spokesman to pronounce the words of promise to David, that promise of a kingdom that was to come, but which now seemed to David to be not only far off, but virtually an impossibility. But Samuel was David's spiritual father, his spiritual mentor. And so often when we lose our fathers in the faith, we lose a certain restraint upon us. The man that has exercised the greatest spiritual influence on my life is my mentor, Dr. John Gerstner, who is now about 80 years old. He's gone through a couple of serious heart problems. I talked to him on one occasion where he talked in great anticipation of walking across the veil of going home to glory and so on. And when he would talk to me like that, I would start to tremble, saying, what would I do without this man? How could I stand of helix? Because so many times when I feel weak and when I want to vacillate and I want to compromise, I see the specter of Gerstner standing before me and I say, well, I know as long as he's alive I don't dare do this or I don't dare say this, that I sometimes wonder if my soul will turn to water if he ever, in the providence of God, should depart for glory before I do.
I'd always hoped to get there first so I won't have to face that kind of pressure in my life. But Samuel now is dead. And there's hardly any mention of his demise here, but it's a significant aspect of this. And abruptly, the text turns its attention away from this notation of Samuel's death and simply says that David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. I suspect that's what I would do if my mentor died.
I'd head for the wilderness to try to get things together. And then we read this story about a man who is fabulously wealthy. We read in verse 2 of chapter 25 this account. Now there was a man in Mahon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich.
He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. And the name of the man was Nabal and the name of his wife Abigail. Now listen to the description of Abigail. She was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance. But the man, that is Nabal, was harsh and evil in his doings.
Now you see the scenario here. This fellow Nabal, whose name means foolish, is introduced into the narrative, and he represents a small episode in the life of David. But I hope that we will see today that this tiny, apparently insignificant episode in the life of David is of tremendous importance for understanding David's character and David's future behavior. We're told now that this very wealthy man who owned thousands of sheep, I mean that would have made him a mega-millionaire in the ancient world with thousands of goats and thousands of sheep and all of that, and we see that David now is in the wilderness, still a fugitive, hiding from the pursuit of Saul, and we hear in verse 4 that Nabal was shearing his sheep, and so that David sent ten young men, and they said to the young man, go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity, peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.
David sends this small delegation of his men to the residence of Nabal on a mission of peace. He said, go to Nabal, tell him that we're here, and tell him that all we want for you and for your house is peace. And then he says, say to them, I have heard that you have shearers, your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel.
So I want you to go and give a good report to Nabal, this wealthy man, because he's out there at a critical time in his business life. It would be like the farmer who was at harvest time, and in those days there were rustlers. There were those who would be always trying to find a way and to scheme together to steal the sheep or the goats of a wealthy person. Raiders would come in, and they would help themselves to the sheep and so on while the people were busy engaged in the process of shearing. Now, David has this motley crew that we've seen already, four to six hundred men, men who were escaping from debtor's prison, men who were the rogues of the day. Now, you can imagine these men hanging around the shepherds of Nabal.
Somebody had to be nervous. Who are these fellows that look suspicious? Are they rustlers?
Do they have evil intent and so on? And David would not allow his men to fool around with the goods of Nabal. And so now David says, you go and tell Nabal that we are here, that we are here in peace, and tell him that my soldiers have been actually protecting your shepherds. We have been, as it were, a wall around you to ensure the peacefulness of your harvest of the wool as you've been shearing your sheep. You look and you'll see none of your sheep is missing. None of your goats are missing. You haven't lost anything.
Nobody's been hurt. We have been taking care of you out of the goodness of our hearts, but we're hungry, and you're prosperous, and would sure like to beg a meal or two from you. And David said, Therefore, my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David." Now, what is Nabal's reply? How does he respond?
He gets the message. He straightens up, and he says instantly to David's servants, who is David? Who's the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master.
So I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my sheers and give it to men when I don't know where they are from? Now, remember, Nabal's name has already been identified as meaning foolish, and here he is, and he says, David, who? David the son of Jesse? Who's Jesse?
Never heard of the guy. Now, you know that's not true. There's no way in the world that Nabal, as well connected as he was in the ancient world, had never heard of David. And so he gives this gross insult. Not only does he refuse the request of David for nourishment and for provisions for his men, but he literally adds insult to injury here by asking questions of this nature. So David's young men turned on their heels.
They went back. They came and told him all these words. Now I want you to notice David's response. David said, oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I was hoping, men, that I would be able to secure provisions for you from the hospitality and the good-heartedness of Nabal.
I'm sorry he's turned us down. We're just going to have to tighten our belts and trust in the provisions of providence for our continued nurture and well-being. Is that what David said? That was not David's response. David is furious. And all of a sudden all these previous ejaculations of peace go out the window, and David says, all right, every man gird on his sword. And so every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed back with the supplies.
David said if that's the way he's going to play, it's war. And he mobilizes his little army, and he has nothing but revenge in his heart. He's now going to go, and he's going to attack the shepherds. He's going to attack Nabal, and he is going to take for himself what he had asked for depending on the grace of Nabal that did not come.
Something happens here that changes everything. In verse 14 we read, now one of the young men told Abigail, the wife of Nabal, and they said to her that David's men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, and we didn't miss anything as long as we accompanied them when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both night and day, and all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him. The messengers of Nabal go to Nabal's wife, and they tell her what had happened.
And they said, David's men treated us wonderfully, but your husband is a scoundrel. Now what are we going to do? I don't know how many times in the history of the world wives have taken action to protect their husbands from their husbands' folly.
I know that that has happened in my house more than once, where I have set myself on a course of action and my wife has said, honey, count to ten. Think it over. This is not what you should do. And I look at her and I say, don't talk to me like Job's wife. I don't need that. Why don't you be submissive and mind your own business?
I'll take care of this. And she'll say, honey. And she spared me a lot of embarrassment by standing in my stead. I mean, we could look at Abigail's actions here and think what a treacherous wife she was that she went around behind her husband's back. But she understood that her husband was acting in an unconscionable way, and she was trying to protect the people, the herdsmen.
She was trying to protect her husband, not just protect herself. And so we read that Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five sheaths of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on a donkey. I mean, this is one massive feast that she has prepared. All of a sudden she is a catering service for David and for his men. And so she rides out on a donkey toward David. She gets the word that David is coming with his sword armed to the teeth with four hundred men, and this woman goes out by herself in the face of this marching army. I mean, when you think about that, what a heroic, brave act is performed here by Abigail.
Well, Abigail comes out, and when she sees David, she gets off of her donkey and falls on her face before David. And we read in verse 24, she fell at his feet and said, On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be, and please let your maidservant speak in your ears and hear the words of your maidservant. Please let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal, for as his name is, so is he.
Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. And then she goes on and begs David to forgive this affront against him that was committed by her husband. And she says in verse 28, Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant, for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days. Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God.
And the lives of your enemy he will sling out is from the pocket of a sling. And she goes on and makes this prediction. Now, she's not identified as a prophetess, but her insights are like those of a prophetess. And she reminds David of the promise of God of the future. And before this entreaty, David melts, and David comes to his senses. And David says to her, Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, because you have kept me from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hands. David wakes up because he now sees the hand of providence. And he looks at this woman and he said, God has sent you.
And I praise God for your intervention, because you have kept my hands from wickedness. You have stopped me from avenging this insult, from acting precipitously with violence in order to show Nabal. Nabal goes home, finds her husband drunk. That night Nabal has presumably a stroke and within a few days is dead. And Abigail becomes the wife of David. At this point, God in His mercy intervenes to stop David from becoming a Nabal himself. He arrests David in the midst of a foolish adventure. It was without question an act of mercy from the hand of God, and David admitted as much. We see David learning important lessons in his wilderness wanderings. Stay with us here on Renewing Your Mind.
Dr. R.C. Sproul will return in just a moment with the final thought about vengeance. When we study David's life, we see important themes that run through the entire Bible. Not only do we learn practical lessons about obedience and faith, but we also get the privilege of seeing God's plan for the Messiah playing out. That whole Bible perspective is why I'd like to recommend our resource offer today. It's the special edition of Dr. Sproul's series Dust to Glory. It's a 57-part study tour that explores the themes and events of the Bible from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
And this special edition set provides an extra disc containing the study guides for the series. So request Dust to Glory when you go to renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. What does the Bible say about revenge? What does it say about jealousy, temptation? Perhaps you have questions about the doctrine of predestination. Let me encourage you to go to ask.ligonier.org. That's our online biblical and theological chat service. Drawing on Ligonier's vast library of resources, we are able to answer your theological questions 24 hours a day, Monday through Saturday.
That web address again is ask.ligonier.org. Now here's R.C. with a final thought for us. Let me remind you of the sober admonition that we hear in the pages of Scripture from the mouth of God when God says, "'Vengeance is mine,' saith the Lord.
I will repay." God absolutely prohibits us from being self-appointed instruments of vengeance. We have an expression in our culture, don't get mad, get even. But what that means to many people is not getting even, but getting one up.
Nobody likes a tie. And a person who is motivated by a spirit of vengeance is so clouded by fury and pain and hurt that they are the last people in the world able to execute justice. They will become over-harsh, over-severe in their redress. Now God does not say that there never will be vengeance. In fact, just the opposite. He says He will avenge His people who cry unto Him day and night.
And this is a classic example of it. David sought to avenge himself. He forgot that vengeance belongs to God until Abigail reminded him. And God not only stayed the hand of David, but He brought vengeance on the house of Nabal. If you have feelings for revenge in your heart, get rid of them.
Give them away. Wait for God, who has promised to avenge you. Next week we will continue this series on David, and we will journey with him through another difficult period in his life. But we will also get to see God's perfect solution. We hope you'll make plans to join us again next Saturday for Renewing Your Mind.
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