Nabal
From BibleEncyclopedia.Net
Foolish, a descendant of Caleb who dwelt at Maon (1 Samuel 25), the modern Main, 7 miles south-east of Hebron. He was “very great, and he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats... but the man was churlish and evil in his doings.” During his wanderings David came into that district, and hearing that Nabal was about to shear his sheep, he sent ten of his young men to ask “whatsoever cometh unto thy hand for thy servants.” Nabal insultingly resented the demand, saying, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?” (1 Samuel 25:10, 1 Samuel 25:11). One of the shepherds that stood by and saw the reception David's messengers had met with, informed Abigail, Nabal's wife, who at once realized the danger that threatened her household. She forthwith proceeded to the camp of David, bringing with her ample stores of provisions (1 Samuel 25:18). She so courteously and persuasively pled her cause that David's anger was appeased, and he said to her, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me.”
On her return she found her husband incapable from drunkenness of understanding the state of matters, and not till the following day did she explain to him what had happened. He was stunned by a sense of the danger to which his conduct had exposed him. “His heart died within him, and he became as a stone.” and about ten days after “the Lord smote Nabal that he died” (1 Samuel 25:37, 1 Samuel 25:38).
Not long after David married Abigail.
nā´-bal (נבל, nābhāl, “foolish” or “wicked”; Ναβάλ, Nabál):
A wealthy man of Maon in the highlands of Judah, not far from Hebron, owner of many sheep and goats which he pastured around Carmel in the same district. He was a churlish and wicked man (1Sa_25:2 ff). When David was a fugitive from Saul, he and his followers sought refuge in the wilderness of Paran, near the possessions of Nabal, and protected the latter's flocks and herds from the marauding Bedouin. David felt that some compensation was due him for such services (Ezr_10:15 and Ezr_10:25), so, at the time of sheep-shearing - an occasion of great festivities among sheep masters - he sent 10 of his young men to Nabal to solicit gifts of food for himself and his small band of warriors. Nabal not only refused any assistance or presents, but sent back insulting words to David, whereupon the latter, becoming very angry, determined upon the extermination of Nabal and his household and dispatched 400 men to execute his purpose. Abigail, Nabal's wife, a woman of wonderful sagacity and prudence as well as of great beauty, having learned of her husband's conduct and of David's intentions, hurriedly proceeded, with a large supply of provisions, dainties and wine, to meet David and to apologize for her husband's unkind words and niggardliness, and thus succeeded in thwarting the bloody and revengeful plans of Israel's future king. Upon her return home she found her husband in the midst of a great celebration (“like the feast of a king”), drunken with wine, too intoxicated to realize his narrow escape from the sword of David. On the following morning, when sober, having heard the report of his wife, he was so overcome with fear that he never recovered from the shock, but died 10 days later (Ezr_10:36-38). When David heard about his death, he sent for Abigail, who soon afterward became one of his wives.
