"The Shepherd King" Revival Series Part 6 - Nabal & Abigail

[Music] [Music] today i think is a a remarkable opportunity to look at some of the types of christ that you see in the bible represented in the life of david and the message is dealing with a nabal and abigail nabal and abigail and there's some wonderful things that we can learn here about the lord so if you go with me to first samuel chapter 25 it says samuel died and the israelites gathered together and lamented him and buried him in his home at ramah and david arose and went down to the wilderness apparent well just in case you're wondering who wrote the first book of samuel probably wasn't samuel because it just said samuel died did you catch that so he didn't write the first he didn't necessarily write the whole part of the book it's believed that at least the last half and second samuel were probably written by nathan the prophet you'll discover that as we get further along in our study of david but how long was samuel serving the lord you know he may have lived to 90 years of age faithful prophet a priest the last of the judges he's the one who transitioned from a people led by the judges they rejected the lord and said we want a king like the other nations and now the monarchies began and samuel lived through that whole transition samuel was the one everyone said they knew the word of god was in his mouth he was the one that was somewhat holding saul in check and now with samuel gone david thought the restraining influence of that great prophet out of the way saul is not going to hold back trying to hunt me down and david has already had a couple of opportunities to kill him so he thought i better get out of town and so david goes a little further south and i think we've got a map that we'll put up on the screen so if you go north you can see remember dave was in the cave of adullam and now he's getting further and further south this is still in the territory of judea the philistines would be now closer to the ocean from where they are we're going down to a region called carmel and there's two carmels in the bible and but if you go further south you're getting into the region of the ishmaelites better known today as the arabs and you'll remember in the book of judges that gideon had a lot of problems with the people of the east and so i wanted you to get a picture of that because they used to raid this territory david is there with his men he's got about 600 men now and he's trying to get further deep as far as he could go into the land of judea away from the area of benjamin where saul was king and the land of israel back then was not like the land of israel today today you know it's largely a desert it's a land of rocks but back in the time of david doesn't the bible say it was a land flowing with milk and honey it was a beautiful place the climate has actually changed keep in mind that if you go to north africa you can find places in the sahara desert where they've got rhino bones and giraffe bones and petro petroglyphs that were drawn of the people that once lived there of savannah and lakes and that was just sand so the climates in the last few thousand years have changed and it is actually true that when you cut down the trees in great numbers it doesn't draw as much moisture in off the ocean and they can actually change the climate and the storms and the rainfall there was a there was a king he was actually a sultan that had charge over the land of israel and he taxed the people in israel based on how many trees they had on their land now if you're going to pay tax on your trees what do you do to your trees to lower your taxes it was a really bad policy because for about 80 years everybody just cut down their trees and it kind of deforested the land of israel now then when the romans conquered the land of israel back in about 70 a.d you know the roman pattern was they would scatter salt on the land to keep things from growing and so when the jews rebelled they brought vast amounts of salt all the fertile fields they'd sow them with salt and that was like a scorch and burn policy to keep them from taking care of themselves so the land today is a little different than the land was back in david's time this was a beautiful pasture land the name carmel means fruitful place or park now this is the different carmel when elijah has a showdown with the prophets on bail a bail on mount carmel that's way up north this is a carmel that is mentioned by joshua in the land or the territory of judah you read in joshua chapter 15 i think it's like verse 55 you'll see where he's itemizing the different cities and towns that would belong to the tribe of judah in the south carmel is mentioned it's down in that region just didn't want you to get it mixed up with up north where elijah was and so he goes down there and he's in that haunt and and they're trying to just you know live off the land and the goodness of others but it's really tough when you are responsible to feed 600 men a day that's a big job and these are men that you know it says they were in distress and they were in debt and they were unhappy and they'd run away and so it's an interesting bunch so david's got that full-time job now so with that background listen to what happens here in this story so david goes south to the land of the wilderness apparent and there was a man in mayon whose business was in carmel they're right beside each side carmel is more of the the fields man was like the town and the man was very rich he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats sounds like abraham and he was shearing his sheep in carmel that usually happened in june when started dry out the sheep were getting hot from too much wool now the romans used to pluck the wall from the sheep but the jews would actually shear it and there was also time where they would slaughter and it was a feast and there were sacrifices and the man's name was nabal and the name of his wife was abigail and this is unusual because they almost never mentioned the name of the wife unless she factors into the story somehow she was a woman of good understanding and a beautiful appearance but the man was harsh and evil in his doings he ever heard opposites attract he was of the house of caleb so he had a good lineage caleb was a great man the word caleb means bold but the word nabel means fool abigail means praise of the father you kind of knew abba means papa or father and gale means the praise or the exaltation of the father the rejoicing of the father so david heard that they were doing the sheep shearing and this was a time of generosity of festivities and he's in the wilderness that nabal was sharing his sheep david sent 10 young men and david said to the young men go up to carmel go to nabal and greet him in my name and so he sends a delegation in his name before we go any farther this is a unique story that tells us something about the plan of salvation you know there are some stories that just really see the plan of salvation in here but here you've got david who is a type of who he's a type of christ in the bible it's pretty clear about that he sends a delegation in his name right now there's an evil king that is ruling the land but david has been the anointed christ is the anointed right the land is going to go to david the world is going to go to christ but in advance of his being in control of the land he said i could use an offering right now for my men so he sends 10 young men and he said go to carmel go to nabel 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 peace to all that you have and you look that up it says shalom shalom shalom david sends a message of peace amen jesus is our prince of peace and he says peace and all you have peace to your home how many of you would like that to come from our king david jesus and he says i've heard that you have shears and your shepherds were with us and we did not hurt them not only did we not molest them we protected them nor was anything missing from all that there was with them while they were with us in carmel ask your young men and they will tell you so one thing david told his men is do not harass people be honest remember the commandments of god therefore he said you can check with your shepherds therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes for we come on a feast day please give what comes to your hand i'm not asking for a percentage i'm asking for an offering whatever is nearby please give what comes to your hand to your servants and to your son david it's a very nice message so david's servants he sends 10 young men they've got their donkeys probably and you know if somebody says could i have a donation you bring 10 donkeys you're not expecting a little donation you know um because you got 600 soldiers and he was hoping could you help us out it's a feast day you're being generous we've protected everything you have from the uh ishmaelites that were raiding the country and from the philistines and you wouldn't be doing so well now if it wasn't for the work we did for you i know when i traveled in foreign countries it's not uncommon in the philippines and in indonesia different places if you're looking for a parking place there'll be these people that kind of are shepherds of the parking places and they'll see that you're looking for a parking place they'll go over here and then they'll wage you and they'll back you and they'll guide you and they'll tap your car and say you're okay and when you come get your car you give them a tip because they watch your car and they take care of it for you now you don't have to give them a tip but it's a good idea if you want your car protected because they'll make a note of your car have you ever come back and so it's just customary how many of you have seen this you go to this and you just you say oh thank you very much for keeping in mind things they appreciate it and it's an opportunity for you as a christian to do good to somebody and so he said look we've taken care of your stuff and so nabal listens and he's scowling he is a courageous man and they spoke to him just what david gives them a message they are heralds messengers for david nabal answered david's servants and he says listen to this harsh answer who is david and who is the son of jesse now did he know who david was the very fact that he says who is the son of jesse the messengers didn't mention jesse he knew david was the son of jesse anyone as wealthy and connected as nabel they all knew what was going on with saul and david and that there was this contest about who was going to be the next king but his answer is like the answer of pharaoh when moses said let my people go pharaoh says who is the lord you know what that means i don't believe in the lord he said i don't believe i don't recognize you and then he goes further i mean he could have said you know i'm just it's a little tight don't have enough for just my servants if it said that it would have been okay but he reviles he rebukes and then he goes on and says there are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master there are a lot of runaway slaves these days david used to be saul's servant what happened you're a runaway and all those guys who were following you they were in debt couldn't pay their servants a ran away runaway slave you want me to feed a bunch of runaway slaves i got to feed my slaves that stay with me i mean it's really insulting it's degrading what he's saying i just want you to understand that in the terms of the day it was pretty low and he said shall i take notice shall i take he says i shall i take my bread my water then my meat you see they also have sacrifices that i've killed for my shearers and give it to menford i don't know where they've come from he says i three times and my four times this is a selfish dude he makes me think about that passage where the devil says i will exalt my throne above i will be king i will be like the most high i i so nabal is my my my my very selfish so david's young man when they heard that they turned on their heels you ever heard that expression before this is where it comes from any of you ever in the military and military is very efficient and so if you're going to change directions in the military you do about face and you just you see you put your toe down there you go like that i sort of remember it's not near as good as it used to be but uh five years old i was in military school turning on your heels it doesn't mean you go well or we'll see you later it means you go i'm out of here and you leave right away they were insulted they snapped around and they said they didn't even try to reason with him they could have said well now can we talk to you about that and we you know check with your they said wow that answer is so abrupt and so rude there is no reasoning with this guy he has totally rejected our kind requests for a donation that's all they're asking for his young men turned on their heels and the other servants are watching because when these 10 guys come marching into a camp of a man who's got three thousand sheep a thousand goats it's four thousand he's got a lot of shepherds a lot of sheers a lot of servants they see this delegation come in people were listening the steward was probably standing there listening which is a good thing they turned on the heels and the expression on their face was one of indignation and outrage and on the way back to david they were not happy they were hungry too then they come back and david's men turned on the heels they came and told all these words and david said to his men every man gird on his sword so every man girded on a sword now wait a second this is not the same david you notice we've been reading a lot about david david hasn't lost his temper only time david got mad is that goliath up until now isn't that right now something's come over david last week we talked about vengeance and mercy saul was completely obsessed with vengeance david with mercy but now david is saying i'm going to avenge myself that's no way to talk to anybody and he wasn't only going to go after nabel he was going to go after everybody in his house and he says gird on your sword 400 men went with david 200 stayed with the supplies 400 was probably more than enough to dispatch nabel's household and one of the young men told abe abigail maybe one of the servants of the stewards of nabal who had heard this whole exchange while his servants go back one of the servants of nabal goes to abigail he says i can reason with her saying look david sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master and he reviled them but the men were very good to us now remember who does david represent christ and his men his servants his angels very good to us nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them when we were with them in the fields and notice this they were a wall to us by night and day all the time we were with them keeping the sheep you remember when jesus appears shepherds are keeping their sheep and it tells us here that um his minutes is like we're a wall to him you can read in first samuel 25 16 it says they were a wall to us by night and day do you know if you read in psalms 34 7 the angel of the lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers him does the lord give us walls to protect and bless what was satan's accusation against god regarding job you've set a wall about him that's what the hedge means you protect him and you're protecting all that he has david was a wall around nabel and abigail in their household protecting everything but did they appreciate well did nabal appreciate the blessings of david and when the time came to show that appreciation he sent him away empty we would never do that you see where i'm going with this this is not a story about just david and nabel and abigail it's a story about the gospel in us and he gives a harsh answer he says who is the lord you know it's interesting the bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no god and you know what the word nabel means i told you remember fool who is david it's like people say who is jesus out of jesus jesus no i don't know jesus anything and so now this servant of nabal is telling me abigail these men were very good to us they didn't harass us nothing was ever missing from the tent we slept well at night they protected us from the amalekites and the ishmaelites and the philistines and you wouldn't have had all this blessing if it wasn't for those men we remember what happened with ki isla the philistines were raiding the people and david came and delivered them they're saying he's delivered us and so there they're giving this message zechariah 2 5 for i say says the lord i will be a wall of fire around her and i will be the glory in her myths when the philistines i'm sorry when the egyptians wanted to destroy the children of israel god brought the pillar of fire as a wall to protect them so david was a wall and so now david is upset and he gets upset um his he said you know enough is enough i've been the nice guy with saul but this is too much and i guess he was worried about his men they were hungry and they've done all this work and they thought they should be paid now james 1 9 says so then my beloved let every man be swift to hear slow to speak and slow to wrath this is one time when david it's not the best portrait of david when he's starting out losing his temper and so his men are all armed for war now and the uh servants of navigating they were very good to us they were wall day and night while we were with them keeping the sheep and the serpent goes on on verse 17. i'm in first samuel 25 17. now therefore know and consider what you will do you better do something for harm is determined against our master he saw their faces when they left he saw how they turned on their heels and against all his household for he now listen this is really unusual for the servant to talk to abigail the way he does about their master but i guess nabel was so notorious he could speak freely for he is such a scoundrel sometimes you've heard the word sons of bilial or a worthless one he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him you cannot reason with him then abigail made hate she thought oh no got to do something she made haste she realized not just your life but the life of the household was at risk and she took 200 loaves of bread two skins of wine five sheep already dressed five seals of roasted grain these are sacks of grain and ready to eat 100 clusters of raisins 200 cakes of figs they used to make these delicious cakes of figs because they got so much sugar that they stick together and they put some flour in and they last a long time and loaded them on donkeys probably 10 donkeys just like they had come down with but you know you have to admire i'm just so i really appreciate all those that help in the kitchen and the women have an in particular some of the men help a lot in the kitchen but women have a special gift you ever notice unexpected company comes and they can rustle around they put water in the soup they do something else and there's food appears out of nowhere abigail's got to cater for an army or die and she puts together a feast quickly she gets all these things he starts ordering servants they're running and who knows where neighborhood he doesn't know what's going on and they make haste and she says to her servants verse 19 go on before me see i'm coming after you she sends the gifts on before now you know that's not the first time that's happened in the bible when the queen of sheba came you know how she sent gifts because she was going to have this audience how many of you remember when jacob was coming back from living in mesopotamia that esau got word and he was coming with 400 soldiers and they were going to annihilate his family because jacob esau had probably been fuming for 20 years now about what jacob had done and stealing the birthright and he's thinking you're coming back to take the birthright you're coming back to take those possessions that are mine jacob knew what his brother was thinking they were twins so he gets all of this great gift together and he sends it ahead of the family so they all bow down and they say to esau here's these gifts this is from and basically saying to esau i don't want anything from you i want to give to you the lord's blessed me i'm not here for dad's inheritance i'm here because i just want to be home and so by the time jacob gets there and he sees he saw he saw kisses him where he had come with armed men to kill the gifts that go out before can save your life and the bible kind of teaches that psalms 50. you might make a note of this one psalms 50 our god shall come and not keep silent a fire will devour before him it will be very tempestuous all around him he will call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people gather my saints together to me he's talking about when we're caught up to meet the lord in the air those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice now are we saved by our gifts or do our gifts show we believe in the covenant that we've made but people who say lord lord and send them away empty you wonder do they really believe that he's the lord the giving of an individual is a really interesting indicator of where they are spiritually didn't the bible say where a man's heart is that's where his treasure is proverbs 18 16 a man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men the gift goes out of here and so here abigail is saying have all these gifts come out again and we're hoping we can appease his wrath before we ever get there you go before me with the gifts now you remember reading we're talking about those who have died in the lord their works do follow them your works follow you but your gifts go ahead and so with all this happening though she doesn't tell her husband now i believe husbands and wives should communicate on big financial decisions do we all agree if you're getting ready to cater a big army like that you should probably talk together but if you're married to nabel you get a pass if it's it's a life or death situation she couldn't reason with him i mean isn't that what the servant just said there's no talking to him and he had just insulted the one who was to be king and that was a really bad move and so she needed to take a preemptive action how many of you remember the story that durian it's actually comes up later in the episodes of david that um joab the general surrounds a city because a rebel someone who's starting trying to start a rebellion in israel named was it sheba sheba he was hiding out in this city and joab and the soldiers of israel they all surrounded the city and they were going to kill everybody in the city and a woman goes up on the wall of the city and says where's joab and job says here i am she's i want to talk to you come here she's they're having this conversation from the wall and she said i'm a mother in israel you're getting ready to kill us all for this one rebel and they talk together and they finally come to agreement he said look we don't want to do that we don't want to hurt anybody in the city but there's someone who's rose up against david that you're protecting in the city she said let me go talk to the people i'll be back she talks when she comes back she said we're going to toss his head over the wall now i'm not recommending that we solve our problems that way but i'm just telling you that it was a woman it was a woman that came out and interceded that brought peace now what does a woman represent in bible analogies often so who is it that brings peace the house of nabal is doomed judgment is coming abigail goes forward and she begins to become the agent of peace in this so it was that she wrote on her donkey she went down under cover of a hill they may have been tracking where david's servants had gone and they're going down through the hill because he was living off in the wilderness and wouldn't you know there were david and his men coming down towards her this is clearing and all of a sudden these two come together and he's not sure who this is yet and she dismounts and david is thinking to himself when he meets abigail the thoughts that are going through his head you find in verse 21 he said surely in vain i protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all the belongs he's reciting over and over in his mind the right that he's got to kill this man and he's repaid me evil for good may god do so to me and more also to the enemies of david if i leave one male of all who belong to him living by light he's just made a vow he's going to kill her whole household they are under judgment now abigail sees david so he tells you what was going through his head as he's on his way with 400 soldiers david's probably leading abigail sees david she dismounts quickly from the donkey she falls in her face before david she bows down to the ground as though he's a king now look at the difference nabel says who is david who's the son of jesse she's treating him very differently so she fell at his feet and she says 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 well should she suffer for nabel she didn't do it nabel did it but here she is saying i want to be the substitute you blame me now isn't that kind of what jesus does for us says i'll take it was she guilty no but she's willing to take the guilt of her husband speak in the ears let me hear say a few words please he didn't wait for permission she keeps going verse 25 please let not my lord regard this scoundrel naval that's your husband for as his name is so he is nabal is his name and folly is with him now the way that comes off in the hebrew is fool is his name and folly is with him he's doing just as his name indicates but i your main servant did not see the young man be patient we didn't know that you came he is don't take it out of the whole household he is an ordinary person and we're more reasonable we didn't know you had come we didn't know now therefore my lord as the lord lives and as your soul lives since the lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed i found you before you've gone to bloodjudge he knew what was going on and from avenging yourself with your own hand you know just you know we read he studied last week how wonderful it was that david had read the words of moses it said vengeance is the lord's i will repay and david could have said when messengers came back from nabel being insulted well god will put this in your hands you'll take care of it that would have been the right response but i think the lord allowed all this to happen the way it did not only to teach david a lesson but to teach you and i a gospel story because jesus is coming with judgment and intercession is needed and so here she is she very intelligent woman matter of fact i'll put to you that i think i think she fills the role of a prophet here you see what you think i think abigail was not only beautiful and bright i think the words she speaks here are certainly prophetic and now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord i'm in verse 27 let it be given to the young men that follow my lord she doesn't say given to you because there's no present you're a king it's not even worthy of you but the men are hungry let me give it to them please forgive she comes asking for forgiveness and saying let the fault be on me please forgive the trespass you notice what's happening here this is abigail interceding what is part of the work of the church well the work of jesus is to be an intercessor are we a nation of kings and priests in the church and didn't jesus say as the father sent me so send i you is the christian life one where you're just praying for yourself or are you interceding in behalf of others too jesus ever lives to make intercession for us here she is interceding she is what you call here a mediator nabel was wrong he was vile he was wicked he was mean david is now coming with judgment there's this this conflict and she puts herself between these two men where there's going to be a bloodbath and she stops it from happening kind of like pocahontas save john smith any of you know your american history you know what i'm talking about and she puts herself between this conflict but isn't that what the church is supposed to do isn't the world lost under sin isn't jesus the son of david coming doesn't the revelation talk about the wrath of the lamb here you see a picture one of the few times you see the wrath of david and he's coming with his sword girded and there's going to be blood and all of a sudden she stops she comes between in the middle between where dwayven david dwells and where nabel dwells there she is pleading and she said forgive the trespass of your maidservant wasn't her fault but she's taking the place for the lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house won't the house of jesus endure because my lord fights the battles of the lord and evil is not found in you throughout your days now you see that's not just talking about david who is it that was sinless no evil found in him it's jesus yet a man has risen to pursue you and to seek your life saul was like filling the role of the devil david was not recognized as king but this is a beautiful statement but the life of my lord will be bound in the bundle of the living with the lord your god and with the lie and the lives of your enemies he will sling out as from the pocket of a sling now she's picking the right metaphors for david isn't she as the shepherd understood and the stone gets hurled away you never find it again it's gone but a shepherd used to keep his valuables wrapped up tight against his body near the bosom and she's saying you will be wrapped up by the the bosom of the heart of the lord your enemy saul he is going to get slung out now what she's saying is you know it's pretty bold because saul was king david was not king she's saying my loyalty is to you i'm also believing that abigail was from the tribe of judah maybe even a distant relative of david a man has risen to pursue you but he will be slung out as from the pocket of a sling david's going i understand that i understand slings and it will come to pass that when the lord has done for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over israel now notice her faith does she have any doubt that david's going to be the king no she's got complete confidence that this will not grieve you or be an offensive heart to my lord that you have shed blood without cause that my lord has avenged himself but when the lord is dealt well with my lord then remember your maidservant she's basically saying i've come today to intercede you don't want to do this thing and avenge yourself and shed blood because i mean you know he's not only going to kill naval he said i'm going to kill every servant every male servant in his house and she said you'll you're going to have regrets about that when you become king god sent me to spare you having a guilty conscience over these things and to bring reconciliation to reason with you and we're gonna you can send men for gifts hear the gifts if this is not enough there'll be more but it's interesting that she would say did you catch it remember me when you become king she didn't say if you become king show mercy on me and she said you know i know you're going to be the king of the country sometime verse 32 remember your maidservant it says at the end of verse 31 then david said to abigail finally david speaks everything else is abigail wonderful section she speaks there then david said to abigail blessed is the lord god of israel who sent you this day to meet me and blessed is your advice and blessed are you because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed you notice the first thing that david sends he sends through messengers shalom shalom shalom now david says to abigail in person blessed blessed blessed one of the first teachings that jesus gives they're called the beater toods which means have a good attitude the beatitudes the word beatitude means the blessings and jesus says blessed blessed blessed here david the son of of jesus ancestor rather is going blessed blessed blessed because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and avenging myself in my own head david you could reason with him he was a man after god's own heart the holy spirit told them this is not god's plan for indeed he lets her know and she's probably shuddering along with the servants that are minding all the goods for indeed as the lord god of israel lives who had kept me back from hurting you unless you had hurried and come to me you had to hurry and come to me to meet me surely by morning light no males would have been left to nabel now just in case you're wondering if david could do that you read and it tells us that david when he was staying in ziklag he would go raid cities of the philistine he would execute everybody so there were no witnesses he he had the capability of doing that he said i was going to do that to you so david received from her hand what she had brought to him and said to her go up in peace again shalom to your house see i have heeded your voice and respected your person it says okay you have succeeded unless you had made haste they would have been doomed now just want to pause here and think about this how do we relate to this today what does this say to us i think there's very some very important lessons you notice that we started out with a parable about a rich fool and when god blessed instead of thinking god's blessed me so that i can share he says god's blessed me so i can hoard i got programs now about hoarders people that you know some of them it's just a real sickness a lot of us have a mild case of warning you just look in your closet in your garage karen and i thought we were doing okay until we moved and then you thought well i've been keeping this for 20 years never used it but god doesn't bless us so that we can hoard god blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others and he blessed this rich man and instead of him thinking oh i can give more he thinks i can hoard more he says i'll build bigger barns and i can not have to worry and i'll say you can retire early make my first million by 35 eat drink and be merry and then god says you fool this day is your soul required of you and then whose will those things be that you've laid up now you haven't found out about nabel yet what's going to happen and i suspect you've already read the story but here david sends messengers and says we are fighting god's battles could you help subsidize my army and nabel sends them away with an insult and he was of the same tribe as david does jesus have people out fighting his battles are we supposed to help support the messengers from david it's not appeal for pastors i'm talking about the work of god and david is going to come someday and there's going to be judgment now he's going to come he's going to bring ud early judgment on nabel's household except she comes to intercede so we know david represents christ who disabled abigail represent beautiful woman very wise she's the type of the church what are we supposed to do we're to be praying to christ for mercy for the lost that don't know any better they act like fools because the fool does not know about god and we are to be pleading for their salvation and the gifts that she brings to david are saving nabal's household when we give to the work of christ it's to save the lost isn't it not just to save ourselves and so this is all the story of salvation just here inserted it says samuel dies and then david goes back to his other exploits but this interesting story is dropped in here and so reading on david received from her hand the gift she had brought said go in peace now abigail went to nabel verse 36. and he was holding the feast in his house like the feast of a king and nabel's heart was mary within him for he was very drunk the only time that the wicked are happy is when they're drunk they have nothing else to be happy about he is participating in what you call a fool's feast you can read in proverbs 31 6 it says give wine to him that is ready to perish nabel didn't know it but he was ready to perish he's drinking himself drunk so in the morning when the wine had gone from he begins to sober up after that required eight hours go by and his alcohol blood level dropped his wife told him these things that his heart died with him he was not only a fool he was a coward and he realized how close he had come to death's door his heart died within him and he became like a stone and i looked at all the commentators it doesn't mean that he became a stone like you know some fable it means that he probably had a stroke from fear and gluttony and drinking and it which lingered for several days he became like a stone then it happened after about 10 days the lord struck naval and he died it's interesting david sends 10 donkeys nabel dies after 10 days and he had probably broken all 10 commandments during his feast and so there was that judgment so david heard you notice how the story begins david heard that nabel was shearing here it said david heard that nabel was dead does david know what's going on in abel's family does jesus hear what's happening down here does he hear what's happening down here yeah you spell that two different ways and so when david heard that nabal was dead he said blessed be the lord who has pleaded the cause of my reproach instead of all those innocent people dying because they were part of his household god took care of nabal he said he doesn't god say vengeance is mine let me take care of it in my time and blessed be the lord who has pleaded the cause for my reproach from the hand of nabal and has kept his servant from evil for the lord has returned the wickedness of nabal on his own head and i don't know how much time went by there might have been you know the customary 30 days of mourning but not long after this it says and david sent and proposed to abigail to take her as his wife i think when david heard abigail now you've got to know the background of this while david is living out in the hills running from king saul remember saul had given his daughter michael to david and michael helped david escape but saul is really worried that david's going to be king and if he's married to the king's daughter that gives him one more right to the throne and so saul did something pretty despicable saul told michael i am divorcing you from david he's a fugitive and he gave michael to someone else to mary because he didn't want david to have any connection to the throne so david at this point is wifeless when he sees abigail a beautiful woman bright woman spirit-filled woman he was very struck and i'm not saying he was coveting his neighbor's wife but he made a mental note that is a very very good looking a very bright woman and this is very important that you think of this because there's another time in david's life he sees someone else's wife and he doesn't have so much restraint this time he restrains himself he could have he could have seen abigail that day when she brought her gifts and said wow i'm going to go kill nabal and take you not forget about the gifts in the intercession but david said all right i'm going to listen to you i'm going to accept the intercession i'm going to let mabel live he could have killed mabel just taken his wife but david put it all in god's hands and he presents a proposal now abigail doesn't have to say yes he sends servants and david has sent us we've come in the name of david to ask you to be his wife what's going to happen to the church is there going to be a wedding is the bride of christ going to live in the new jerusalem that's why it's called the bride of christ she arose and she bowed her face to the earth and she said here is your maidservant a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord you know that's another reason i think she's a beautiful type of the church didn't jesus say to the church i've come to you as one that serves you need to serve each other she says i have come i'm willing to wash that she is a very wealthy woman but she's a very humble woman and the church is very wealthy too isn't it in in we inherit everything from christ it says and david took her now you know she's wealthy because it says in verse 42 so abigail rose in haste she was she's in her she's in haste again she's hates to come to david earlier to save the foul now david proposes she comes in haste and she rose and she has five maidens you realize when jacob marries rachel and leah they each have one maiden bill and zulfa she is so wealthy she's got five maidens that follow her but she says i'll wash the feet i am your servant what a humble attitude and she became david's wife it ends with a beautiful story of a marriage and so i you know i just thought that this is really telling us about the plan of salvation our david is coming now you know what this means evidently abigail and nabel had no children david does have children with abigail by the way in case you're wondering some of david's kids ended up badly abigail's kids were not among them the offspring of abigail she raised them to serve the lord they were godly they coexisted with solomon and they did fine she was a good mother too she had no children with nabal which means not only did david end up getting abigail he got everything that belonged to nabal and this was an important story in the bible because david now goes from through the inheritance he gets through marrying abigail how wealthy was nabel the richest man in the country david now is moving closer to being a king because he suddenly for the first time in years has substance at his disposal through his marriage to abigail david ends up owning the land that nabel had i hope you're still with me nabal was selfish with david he lost it all david got it all isn't jesus going to get this whole world soon the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof so if david sends messengers and says could you please do something to support my army should we send them away empty how much of what we have belongs to god all of it belongs to god everything belongs to the son of david he's going to get the land and he's going to get his bride and so the whole gospel story is wrapped up in here that's why i think it's important for us to remember that we should we're doing the work of abigail we are the church and we should be willing to give of ourselves as servants that's what she did to be make a covenant with david through marriage that's what baptism is a type of and to basically offer all that we are and all that we have to him and it says she did it in heast [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 51min 9sec (3069 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 01 2021