At A Glance

The two could not be more different, Nabal and David. One was a fool, the other a man after God’s own heart. Both imperfect and flawed, but one died in God’s judgment and the other declared “Blessed be the Lord.” As you read, watch, or listen to this sermon, consider which of these two men more closely resembles your own life? Nabal is a warning, David an example. Choose wisely. 

A TALE OF TWO MEN

Let me briefly recap for you where we are in the life of David since it’s been a couple of weeks. Last time we were in 1 Samuel, David was ready to burn it all down in Nabal’s house and smoke every last man alive because he disrespected him. He turned him down when he sent some men to ask for a token symbol of appreciation – some BBQ meat so his men could enjoy the festival time. Rather than going, “Yeah man, thank you for all you’ve done to protect my livestock,” Nabal insulted David, blew his men off, and sent them back empty-handed.

Next thing you know, David’s ready to squabble and tells his guys to strap on their swords. It’s go time! Thankfully, one of Nabal’s servants who knew all about it went and told Abigail she needed to do something before they all die. That’s when Abigail, that beautiful and discerning woman, stepped in and wisely diffused the situation. We all owe Abigail a debt of gratitude for her courage and discernment.

Though David was fully intent on killing Nabal’s household, Abigail got through to him and David actually thanked the Lord for it and obeyed Abigail’s voice. It was a remarkable intervention!

Now, we’re about to read what happens when Abigail returns home and tells her fool of a husband, Nabal, what she did.

This story is a tale of two men, opposite in just about every way. One is a warning, the other an example. This story begs the question, which man more closely resembles our life? Nabal or David? The fool or the man after God’s own heart?

READ 1 SAMUEL 25:39a

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the  Lord  who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.”

THE MORNING AFTER

Verse 36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. 

There’s irony here. Nabal was enjoying the fruit of David’s protective labor. He should have respected David and offered a gratuitous offering like David requested for protecting his livestock. While it was David who should have been feasting with his men like the king he was anointed to be, it was Nabal who did so. Nabal was an ungrateful and self-indulgent man.

Verses 37-38a In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸ And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

Dale Davis, in his commentary, comments on how remarkably unremarkable this sentence is. He noted the “simplicity” and “magisterial ease” with which the Lord handled this matter for David. David had good reason to trust the Lord’s providential vindication.

Another commentary sees a potential humiliating pun as Nabal’s name has the same consonants as the Hebrew word for wineskin. Thus, as the wine went out of the wine skin, likely an illusion to his morning-after urination.

I don’t have an affinity for these things, but I think these are important signals that a Hebrew speaking person would pick up on instinctively. I think it adds to Nabal’s baseness. This man who enjoyed a royal feast urinated the next morning like any other man with a hangover. And it would be the last thing he did of his own volition. In Nabal as with Saul, we see the mere humanity of even the most powerful men.

Nabal likely had a heart-attack or a stroke and lingered in a comatose state for ten days before dying. This isn’t a modern medical evaluation. The point is it was God who struck Nabal. Nabal, like Saul, died under God’s judgment. 

God is the decisive hero in the life of David. From the anointing to Goliath to the caves of Adullam to here to Saul’s death and David’s reign, God is the main character. Here is God working on David’s behalf, taking care of a man who wronged him, while sparing David from the guilt of murder.

So whether it was a heart-attack or stroke or some other phenomenon unknown to man that took out Nabal, or a bowman on the battlefield randomly firing his arrow into the sky and piercing King Saul’s armor, the point is that this was divine judgment on these fools and divine vindication for the man after God’s heart.  

BLESSED BE THE LORD

Verse 39a When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.”

The evil of Nabal was the insult on the future king of Israel. Nabal should have had discernment like Abigail. But Nabal was a fool and paid the fool’s price.

Listen to how David responded to God’s intervention. He declares the Lord to be blessed for His two-fold intervention. He both avenged David by striking Nabal and He prevailed over David’s heart and hand by keeping David from wrongdoing. Recognizing these, David erupts in worship.

I appreciate Colin Smith’s rubric as he reads a story like this. He asks is there a command to be obeyed, an example to follow, or a warning to heed? I think we see both a warning and an example.

A WARNING TO HEED

Nabal was a fool. That was Abigail’s assessment and she’s described as a woman with discernment. We shouldn’t just throw that term around. Jesus warns against calling someone a fool. (cf. Matthew 5:22) A fool is more than just silly or ignorant. A fool, according to the bible, is a person who mocks God, who rejects His ways, and will ultimately pay the price, just as Nabal.

So Abigail was not simply insulting her husband, she was making an accurate theological assessment. If we look at the things the narrator says about Nabal, we get a picture of what a fool is and a warning to not be like him. So, what was Nabal like?

Well, if we go back to the previous passage, where Nabal was introduced, we learn that Nabal was an ungrateful man. We read that when David sent men to Nabal for a token offering of gratitude for protecting his thousands of sheep and goats out in the wilderness, they were dismissed and David was insulted. Even Nabal’s servants recognized His ingratitude.

FOOLS ARE UNGRATEFUL

The first thing we can say is fools are ungrateful. Ungrateful for the sacrifices of others. A fool enjoys the fruit of others sacrifice without recognizing it.

I think about times in my own life when I’ve played the fool. Times when I enjoyed the sacrifice of my wife’s diligence in the home with our kids and household chores. I enjoyed the fruit of it without recognizing it. Foolish.

We’ll unpack these three things more as we look at the example to follow in David.

FOOLS ARE SELF-INDULGENT

In this story, while David was out there grinding in the night protecting Nabal’s assets, Nabal was feasting like a king and getting drunk off his rocker. He did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it with no regard to others.

FOOLS ARE STUBBORN

This line jumps off the page at me, in verse 17 one of his servants said to Abigail, he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him. What a fool is he of whom it is said no one can get through to him. Abigail had to wait until the next morning even to tell him how she saved his neck!

These are three marks of a fool as evidenced in Nabal’s life – ungrateful, self-indulgent, and stubborn. I’m sure we could find more in the lives of other biblical characters. But this is what we see in Nabal. And that’s what we want not to be; a fool. Now let’s look at David, who serves as an example to follow.

AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW

What did David do? He played the opposite part. Rather than being the fool – ungrateful, self-indulgent, and stubborn, David was grateful, self-sacrificing, and reasonable. Let’s start with the last thing and work our way back.

DAVID WAS REASONABLE

Let me ask you, who is correcting your worldview right now? With whom do you currently disagree but you’re willing to listen when they speak? Whose voice plays in your head when you’re wrestling with a decision or a position or a view and you replay their words and it causes pause? If you can’t think of anyone, you may be playing the fool. If you’re unwilling to be challenged and actually change positions when someone presents a reasonable argument, that’s foolishness.

You may have heard the phrase, “There is a wisdom in a multitude of counselors.” It comes from Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom, and throughout the book of Proverbs you’ll find the concept of the wisdom of listening to other godly people. This is why Christians ought to be known as reasonable people and why Paul told the Philippians to, “Let your reasonableness be made known to all people.” Philippians 4:5

Why, Christian? Because only fools are so hard-headed that they do not listen to reason. This is essentially the mark of a born-again Christian. They’ve reconsidered their position and their standing with God. From ready to usurp Him to submitting to Him. In inviting humanity to repent and be reconciled to God, He invites us to, “Come now let us reason together.” Isaiah 1:18 God is a God of reason. It’s not that He needs to reconsider anything. He invites us to reconsider our ways.

God gave us one mouth and two ears for a reason, therefore “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” James 1:19

Why? Because we don’t know everything and sometimes we get upset about something out of ignorance. Or because maybe God has brought someone into your life who challenges you, maybe feels like a thorn in your side, in order to correct you. And here’s a little test of your reasonableness. If just now you thought about someone else that needs to be corrected by you and your view, this message is for you.

Nabal could have avoided so much difficulty, and even death, if he had just been a reasonable man like David.

David was wrong to set out to kill Nabal, but he had a right to feel insulted by him because he put himself between Nabal’s assets and harm’s way. This is our second example to follow.

DAVID WAS SELF-SACRIFICING

The whole story rides on the fact that David and his men were exposed to danger to protect Nabal’s livestock. Being out in the wilderness with valuable assets in the wild-wild east of Judah was a hard life to live. So, the fact that David would protect another man’s assets from predators and Philistine raiders represents how selfless David was.

He was on the run himself with more important matters to tend to, namely, survive to see the next day. He could have simply disregarded Nabal’s interests the way Nabal disregarded him. But he didn’t. Instead, he shepherded Nabal’s flocks. He took responsibility for something that was not his responsibility. That’s what godly leaders do. David was demonstrating self-sacrificial leadership.

Our father, Adam, blame shifted. He blamed his wife and he blamed God who gave her to him. Is that how you respond to situations? Do you shift blame and point fingers or do you take responsibility, even for others? Accepting responsibility for others is the essence of self-sacrifice.

It’s precisely what Jesus did for us on the cross. He died a sinner’s death so that you and I could live in His righteousness. We are following the One who epitomizes self-sacrifice, taking responsibility for others. Is that your concept of leadership?

As a follower of Jesus, self-sacrifice is part and parcel of your calling. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

Paul wasn’t crazy when he said, “To live is Christ…” Philippians 1:21 or “I have been crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:20 he was just being a disciple.  

David models for us what it means to be a man or woman after God’s own heart. And in so doing models the life of a disciple of Jesus – self-sacrifice. And he did it with gratitude in his heart. 

DAVID WAS GRATEFUL

What did David do the moment he came to his senses? He said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel, who sent you…blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you. Let’s acknowledge that gratitude was not David’s first instinct. His first instinct was I’m gonna kill Nabal!

But because David was a reasonable man, he was easily persuaded to change course. And in so doing, he came to see God’s hand in this situation, which caused David to worship with gratitude.

David responded with gratitude in his heart and worship on his lips. David was thankful to God for His intervention in the form of sending Abigail. And when David found out that God had taken care of Nabal for him, he once again blessed the Lord. 

Let me ask you a genuine question, how hard does the Lord have to work for you to bless Him? How much does the Lord have to do to move your heart to gratitude? David, the future king of Israel, expressed gratitude with his mouth publicly for all to hear, 400 men with him, because God sent a woman with a word of wisdom.

Is your heart primed toward gratitude? Or does everything have to be just right for you to worship? When was the last time you worshipped God in loss? When was the last time you blessed to the Lord to combat your anxiety or fear or grief?

Here’s what the bible calls Christians to, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 This is the will of God. So many people are anxious and stressed out, with so little joy, stressing over the will of God for their lives. Here’s the will of God: be grateful! Worship! No matter the season. No matter the circumstances. “Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ephesians 5:20

Why? Because Jesus died for you and rose for you and is coming back for you! This life is short and eternity is long and amazing! Suck it up and lift your eyes up! Tell you soul to get up out of the wallowing pit and bless the Lord. You don’t want to? You have any idea how entitled that makes you? I don’t want to worship the Lord.

You know who first didn’t want to worship the Lord? Satan. I’m not saying you’re Satan, but when you withhold worship from the One you were made to worship, you’re acting like him. Worship is an overflow from a heart of gratitude. What born-again, blood bought, Spirit filled, mercy dripping, righteousness-wearing follower of Jesus can’t find a reason to be grateful?!

BRINGING IT HOME

Many of you here or watching online have a personal relationship with Christ and your struggle against the foolishness of the flesh is ongoing. To you I say, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Romans 13:14

Those are exhortations to Christians and they are action steps. They are to be purposeful, deliberate, and continual. Every day you are presented the opportunity to be ungrateful, self-indulgent, and stubborn. You’re bombarded with these opportunities all day long. And unless you deliberately resist them, you’re susceptible to fall into them.

The world is constantly sending the message that appeals to our fleshly, foolish heart – eat, drink, be merry. Let others sacrifice for you. Whatever you believe is your truth.

We are rarely encouraged to resist our flesh out there. But we’re continually encouraged to indulge it like Nabal. Nabal is a warning for us, Christian. You’ve heard me say many times, sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you there longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Christian, be quick to listen, slow to speak. Put on Christ and make no provisions for the flesh.

Now for the person who joined us who does not know Christ, the truth is unless you have a personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit has regenerated your heart and God has cause the eyes of your heart to behold the glory of His Son, you’re far more likely to respond in life like Nabal than like David.

I don’t mean to insult you, but what was true about Nabal is true not only of fools but is indicative of a foolish heart toward God. He died in God’s judgement. In the words of Jesus, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 11:13 People came up to him talking about how awful it was that Pilate killed some people and poured their blood with the sacrifices. Expecting Jesus to commiserate, he looked at them dead in the eyes and told them the truth. 

The truth is, Nabal went into death the way most people do – at enmity with God. What Nabal needed was not more sense, but a changed heart. What Nabal needed is what everyone needs: a right relationship with the God of Heaven. Not behavior modification, but heart transformation.

And the good news of the gospel is that God does not call you to shape up and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. He doesn’t demand that you get your life right. What righteousness demands, the gospel supplies! What God expects, He freely gives.

One of favorite verses in the bible is “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Don’t you see, this is the invitation of Christ – be reconciled to God. Be made right, not make yourself right. Whether you are a first-time guest hearing the gospel for the first time this morning, or you have sat in that chair for the last four decades, unless your heart is transformed by God’s free grace, you will die in His everlasting judgement.

But why would you presume upon God’s kindness any longer? You may comfort yourself in knowing that He has not yet turned your heart to stone. But that is little comfort at all for your life is a vapor, a mist, it is easily snuffed out. And when it is you will stand before your maker and give account of your life. Unless you do so clothed in the righteousness of Christ, you will stand like Nabal, who paid for his evil himself.

But brothers and sisters, the moment of salvation and the moment of response has come. You have been exhorted by the Word of God in the Spirit of God to behold the glory of the Son of God and to call out to Him in faith. All that is left is your response.

THREE WAYS TO RESPOND

1. You are a Christian and you have been convicted that, like Nabal, you are prone to indulge the flesh. You are ungrateful, self-indulgent, and stubborn. The answer to that is worship. Worship is how you go to war with your flesh. It is how you bend the knee of your heart before Christ the king. Worship forces us to open our eyes to the glorious works of God and respond with blessing and honor and thanks. Worship reminds our spirits that we belong to someone else, One who paid our ransom with His own blood, not so we could go on sinning, but that we would live to righteousness. And worship softens our sin-hardened hearts and our stubborn minds as it humbles us before the God of this universe. I invite you to respond in true and spiritual worship. I invite you to physically move your body and bow your knee and bow your head and kneel before the Lord in a demonstration, not to us, but to Him, of your submission and need.

2. You are not a Christian and you have come to realize that God doesn’t owe you anything but judgment because you, like Nabal, have a foolish heart. You have presumed upon God and you will presume upon Him no longer. You are desperate to be made right in His eyes and you understand it is not for you to make yourself so, but to receive His righteousness by faith. I invite you to respond in the same manner. I invite you to come and bow your knee before heaven and ask the Holy God who created you and sent His Son to die for you to save your soul from His righteous wrath and establish your feet upon the rock of salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord. If you would like someone to pray with you, we are standing by and eager to know that you have submitted yourself to Jesus and called out to Him by faith.

3. You are a Christian who cares about the other people in this room in whose hearts the Lord is at work. You are not judging those who move. You’re not assuming things about them. And you’re not resisting the urge to move yourself out of fear of man. But instead, you stand upon the promises of God and His Word and you affirm that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And you PRAY fervently in your spirit that God would so move in this room as to shake the gates of hell and to rob its coffers of condemned human souls to his eternal praise and glory. You stand as in battle with shields of faith raised over these your brothers and sisters as they move and respond. And you rejoice at what He is doing, seen and unseen.

No matter where you’re at this morning, will you join David and declare, “Blessed be the Lord” with all your heart?