July 16 – 1 Samuel 25:14-22

July 16 – 1 Samuel 25:14-22

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. ¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. ¹⁶ They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷ Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁹ And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. ²² God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

I love this recognition by one of Nabal’s men, “They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.” What a wonderful thing to be said about the young men that served to protect the land for Nabal.

I marvel that Abigail was willing to put herself in a place of danger to show appreciation to David and his men. She could have been killed, had Nabal found out what she was about to do.  Kindness after her own husband had been so evil! I  can’t help but wonder if you or I would have shown such kindness, knowing our life was at stake. I would pray the answer would be yes. How about you?