Anger and Folly (1 Samuel 25) - Pastor Jonathan Williams

I invite you to turn with me in your copy of

God's Word to the book of Samuel, 1 Samuel 25.

1 Samuel 25, we're continuing to study the life

of David. And we're gonna look at another episode

in David's life that is very true to life. David's

story in so many ways is our story. as well.

It shines light onto the world in which we live

and calls us to live for the Lord as well. First

Samuel 25, this is a long passage so hang in

there and it'll be helpful to you if you have

your copy of God's word open in front of you.

Beginning at verse one, first Samuel 25, now

Samuel died and all Israel assembled and mourned

for him. And they buried him in his house at

Rama. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness

of Peran. And there was a man in Maon whose business

was in Carmel. The man was very rich, and he

had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats,

and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now

the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of

his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and

beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved.

He was a calabite. David heard in the wilderness

that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent

ten young men, and David said to the young men,

Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him

in my name, and thus you shall greet him. Peace

be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace

be to all that you have. I hear that you have

shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us,

and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing

all the time that they were in Carmel. Ask your

young men, and they will tell you. Therefore,

let my young men find favor in your eyes, for

we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever

you have at hand to your servants and to your

son David." When David's young men came, they

said all this to Nabal in the name of David,

and then they waited. And Nabal answered David's

servants, who is David? Who is this son of Jesse?

There are many servants these days who are breaking

away from their masters. Shall I take my bread

and my water and my meat that I have killed for

my shears and give it to men who come from I

do not know where?" So David's young men turned

away and came back and told him all this. And

David said to his men, every man strap on his

sword, and every man of them strapped on his

sword. And David also strapped on his sword.

And about 400 men went up after David, while

200 remained with the baggage. 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. 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.

They were a wall to us both by night and by day

all the while we were with them keeping the sheep

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 no one can that one cannot

speak with him then Abigail made haste and took

200 loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep

already prepared and five sias of parched grain

and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred

cakes of figs and laid them on donkeys. And she

said to her young men, Go on before me. Behold,

I come after you. But she did not tell her husband,

Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came

down under cover of the mountain, behold, David

and his men came down towards her and she met

them. Now David had said, surely in vain I have

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.

God do so to the enemies of David and more so

if by morning I leave so much as one male of

all who belonged to him. When Abigail saw David

she hurried and got down from the donkey and

fell before David on her face and bowed to the

ground. She fell at his feet and said, On me

alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your

servant speak in your ears, and hear the words

of your servant. Let not my lord regard this

worthless fellow, Nabal. For as his name is,

so is he. Nabal is his name, and Folly is with

him. But I, your servant, did not see the young

men of my lord whom you sent. than my Lord as

the Lord lives and as your soul lives because

the Lord has restrained you from blood guilt

and from saving with your own hand. Now then

let your enemies and those who seek to do evil

to my Lord be as navel and now let this present

that your servant has brought to my Lord be given

to the young men who follow my Lord. Please forgive

the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will

certainly make my Lord a sure house, because

my Lord is fighting the battles of the Lord.

And evil shall not be found in you so long as

you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to

seek your life, the life of my Lord shall be

bound in the bundle of the living and the care

of the Lord your God. the lives of your enemies,

he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

And when the Lord has done to my Lord according

to all the good that he has spoken concerning

you and has appointed you Prince over Israel,

my Lord shall have no cause for grief or pangs

of conscience for having shed blood without cause

or for my Lord working salvation himself. And

when the Lord has dealt well with my Lord, then

remember your servant." And David said to Abigail,

blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent you

this day to me. Blessed be your discretion and

blessed be you who have kept me this day from

blood guilt and from working salvation with my

own hand. For as surely as the Lord the God of

Israel lives who has restrained me from hurting

you unless you had hurried and come to meet me

truly by morning there had not been left to enable

such so much as one male then David received

from her hand what she had brought him and she

and he said to her go up in peace to your house

see I have obeyed your voice and I have granted

your petition 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 morning light. 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 stone. About ten

days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

Well, this week we had that very famous holiday

that many of us forget. I don't even know if

it's a holiday, but it's called April Fool's

Day. Was anybody fooled on April Fool's Day this

year? I see a couple smiles. You don't have to

admit if you were fooled on April Fool's Day,

but the first of April, April Fool's Day, it's

a little ironic that the first Sunday... of April

we are studying a man named Nabal whose name

literally means fool. And there's not just one

person acting foolishly in this passage. We see

two men, both Nabal and David behaving very foolishly

on a collision course for disaster. Aren't you

glad though as you read this passage and you

see the actions and the reactions of these men?

You see how true to life scriptures really are.

We see in the characters here ordinary problems,

ordinary sin patterns of pride, of anger, of

fear. And so this passage is showing us many

things, our need to be on guard against temptation,

to anger. It shows us also though, how to develop

the gospel informed hearts of peacemakers. So

how do you respond when you are wronged? The

man after God's own heart, even David himself

is captivated by this attitude of sinful, vengeful

anger. He responds in foolishness to an unbeliever

of even greater foolishness. But what we see

in this passage today and the thing we need to

draw from this text is that God's gracious provision,

what we see here is that God's gracious provision,

saves us from ourselves and shows us how to respond

when we are wronged. God's gracious provision

saves us from ourselves and it shows us how to

respond when we are wronged. We see firstly the

reality that people in this world will wrong

us. We understand this by experience, but we

see here in scripture that there are nables in

this world. There are fools. The reality is that

there are fools in this world who will not treat

us well when we treat them kindly. You see this

in David's life beginning in verse 1 and following

in verse 1. We see the death of Samuel. It's

been pointed out. We don't have time to dive

into this, but this is a great moment of transition.

This is an epochal moment of change from the

age of the judges to the age of the kings right

here at the death of Samuel. But then after verse

one, we hear the description of David's journey

into the wilderness and the description of this

man, verse two, from in Mahon, a man by the name

of Nabal. He's not named it first, he's described.

The description of his name, the fool, Nabal,

is given first. He is ungrateful. He has a total

disregard for others. He's harsh. He has a lack

of self -awareness. He's a drunkard. He has tons

of money, but he doesn't have a whole lot up

here. His servants and his wife describe him

as worthless. He is bullheaded, so bullheaded

that people don't even speak to him about issues

you see in verse 17 because they know that he's

not going to listen anyway. biblical terms, Nabal

is a fool. Now if you want to see the description

of a fool sort of systematically laid out in

the Old Testament, just turn to Proverbs because

there's a contrast between the ways of the wise

and what the fool is and how to relate to the

fool. Now David's young men who have been watching

Nabal's flocks, mind you, verse four through

nine, they go with this legitimate request for

food to Nabal. It's a legitimate request because

David's men have been protecting all of Nabal's

assets in the wilderness at their own risk. taking

care of and protecting Nabal's sheep and flocks.

Verse 15 and 16, they were a wall of protection

to Nabal, protecting the sheep from things like

robbers and thieves and such. Nabal greatly benefited

and prospered due to David's kindness. And so

customarily, it would have been polite and assumed

that Nabal would return some sort of um, remuneration

in the form of care and food to David and his

men. But you see and you heard how Nabal responded

in verse 10. Nabal responds with the utmost contempt

for David's request. He basically says that David

is a no -good runaway slave. And why should I

give him all my things? How many times his pronoun

I and my was used in that one verse? It's all

mine, mine, mine. It's all about me. That's who

Nabal is. It's all about me. He is a quintessential

fool and a jerk. His rejection is the height

of disrespect for David's kindness. He spurns

David and so David's servants turn and go away.

Maybe you've come across someone like a navel

in your life, someone who is so obstinate, so

sarcastic, so rebellious, refuses to listen to

reason. You know they won't listen to you anyway

if you try to persuade them, just as navel servants

knew about navel. Proverbs says that this kind

of person is a fool. And it says in Proverbs

Proverbs 26:4

26 verse 4, not to answer a fool according to

his folly because your words will be wasted.

At times as well we see from this portion of

the passage at the beginning that in this world

when we as Christians display kindness to someone,

We're not always going to be rewarded with the

same kindness displayed to us. Many times people

will return kindness for kindness, but there

will be times when people respond harshly and

unjustly, demeaning you in the face of your kindness.

And so we should not expect to always receive

kindness from this world. There will be those

like Nabal, who treat us with contempt even when

we are kind, even when we are winsome, even when

we are speaking, especially when we are speaking

the words of life, the gospel to them. So we

see firstly just the simple reality of Nabal.

The simple reality that there are those who will

respond to, just like David and Nabal, respond

negatively and get under our skin, which is exactly

what happens to David here. in this knee -jerk

reaction. What do you think of David's response?

Is this in any way relatable? Have you ever been

triggered in any way by anything that somebody

has said to you? Let's look at this response

from David in verses 12 and 13. Now David in

chapter 24, well you didn't read chapter 24,

but David in chapter 24 had the opportunity to

take Saul's life. And he exercises great restraint

there. But you don't see any of that same restraint

here when it comes to this sort of lower person

on the totem pole. David, who had been so patient

and self -restrained with Saul, instantly, when

he hears this report from his servants in verse

12 and 13, instantly flies into a rage that this

petty man would dare rebuff him for his kindness.

David takes about 400 men, they all put on their

weapons and they go, it would seem to do what?

To kill Nabal and all of his people. David flies

off the rails and we see his ruminating on that

anger and the continued anger developing in David

in verses 21 and 22, his thought process towards

vengeance. The problem here is with David's knee

-jerk reaction. And in our immaturity, often

our knee -jerk reactions are what? Not the best,

are they, would we say? Is David's anger justified?

Well, no, not at all. His pride has been wounded,

and now he's not thinking clearly, and so he's

driven by his selfish, sinful flesh as he seeks

vengeance. Well, one of the great problems with

David's unrighteous anger is that in order to

deal with Nabal, he's become just like Nabal

in his foolish, darkened thinking. Proverbs 12

Proverbs 12:16

verse 16 says, the vexation of a fool is known

at once, but the prudent ignores insult. Oh,

how David needed to appropriate that truth. He

lets the insult go deep down. David is not acting

wisely. Why is he not acting wisely? Well, he's

not prepared. He's not prepared for the fiery

darts of the evil one. He's not prepared for

the aggravation of his own flesh. He's not prepared

for this attack from the worldliness of the world.

He's lost the instinct to to respond to Nabal

with wisdom. And so he quickly falls for this.

He quickly falls into sin. And how easily at

times we fall. How quickly we fall at times,

don't we? For the trap of anger. David here demonstrates

the necessity of keeping in step with the Spirit,

as Paul talks about in Galatians chapter five,

verse 25. It's as we keep in step with the Spirit,

day by day, putting on the spiritual armor of

God, storing up God's Word in our heart, not

just reading the Word, but storing it up in our

heart that we are equipped to not sin against

God. David doesn't seem here in this moment to

be meditating on God and His goodness and God

and His mercy and His tenderness. No, David is

very proud and very entitled. He doesn't seem

to be feasting on God's Word, engaging with God

in prayer. And so if we are not standing firm

in prayer and in the Word, bearing spiritual

fruit likewise, Like David, we will quickly fall

to all kinds of temptation. David was not ready.

And so David quickly falls here. And I think

if we look at David's life and we see how quickly

David, the man after God's own heart, fell and

we see in our own lives how prone we are to certain

sins. Anger is probably one of the big ones for

many of us, many of all of us. we recognize how

weak we are. And so we need to see hope in this

passage and that hope comes from the God who

is greater than ourselves and the God who protects

us even from ourselves. And that's what you see

in this passage, God protecting David and David's

kingdom even from David the King. So there's

another thread in this story. In contrast to

Nabal's folly and David's sinful anger, there's

another side of this story. There is a servant

in verse 14 through 17 who goes to Abigail, Nabal's

wife, and he is wise and he is brave and he informs...

Abigail of all that David had requested and the

way that Nabal had responded so foolishly. And

he says to Abigail, you've got to do something

because David is about to kill Nabal and everything

is going to be bad. So Abigail, who is the picture

of a Proverbs 31 woman, she does good to her

husband, even though her husband is kind of a

curse to her. She is wise. And she goes about

quickly employing biblical peacemaking principles,

biblical peacemaking principles to pursue David

and to bring reconciliation. She is wise, the

scripture says in this passage that she's beautiful

inside and out. And then she responds to the

foolishness of Nabal. with wisdom that is pure

and peaceable. Rick Phillips points out the biblical

wisdom that she models in peacemaking. And I

think this is very, it's immensely practical.

If you're in the middle of a spat with someone

or you're dealing with a conflict or you've got

some sort of reconciliation that needs to happen

between you and someone else, Abigail is a picture

and a model of biblical peace -making principles

that you and I ought to employ in our relationships.

First thing, note what she does in verses 23

through 31. You can read in depth later. I'm

gonna comment on that briefly here. She humbles

herself by going to David and bowing down to

him. First thing she does is she humbles herself.

She has a Christ -like attitude of humility.

Second thing she does, she confesses her own

guilt in verse 24. So she is one flesh would

enable her husband. And we don't know all of

the ways that she was involved with Nabal's decision

here, but she confesses her own guilt in this

situation. So she's humble and she confesses

her guilt. The third thing she does is she offers

restitution. And you see that list of food that

she brings in verse 18. She brings restitution.

This is the food that was rightly owed to David

for his service rendered. So she humbles herself,

she confesses her guilt, she brings, she makes

restitution. And you see this elsewhere in scripture,

remember Zacchaeus? Remember what he did after

he, as part of his repentance, he offered to

restore, was it fourfold from those he had defrauded?

So humility, confession, restitution, four things

she does in verse 28 as she pleads. for forgiveness.

You see that posture and those actions of Abigail

and how God uses that. God is with her in that

and touches David's heart. And David acknowledges

that this is a holy moment. Look with me in verse

32. David says to Abigail, blessed be the Lord,

the God of Israel, who sent you this day to me.

Who is really saving David here? It's not Abigail,

it's the Lord. The Lord has intervened and has

turned David's heart back to himself. Make no

mistake here, David may be a man after God's

own heart, but it's only because the Lord continually

brings David's heart back to him. At times he's

doing well spiritually and at times he falls

for this sinful anger. He is up and he is down

spiritually. But God is more interested in preserving

David's honor. God is more interested in preserving

David's kingdom than even David is. God intervenes

in his life to prevent David from falling to

the foolishness of his own decision making. How

gracious is our God and how relatable is this

story? How many times in your life has God spared

you the full consequences of foolish decisions?

How many times has God been so kind to not allow

us to experience the full weight of the consequences

of foolish actions? Oh, he does that for David.

He does that for us. And he shows here in verses

36 through 39 that God truly does bring justice

justice for his people and justice upon those

who insult and malign and seek to harm his people.

Vengeance belongs to who? Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 32 · chapter mention

32. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. He will make

things right. David sees here and we see in this

passage that Nabal dies very quickly here. The

Lord handles this situation. A few things today.

a few things today to see how this passage helps

us. Now we already see ourselves in this passage,

we already see our problem, our need, but how

else does this passage help us? Well the passage

teaches us to be grateful for God's intervention.

David is expressing gratitude to Abigail, but

he's really expressing gratitude to God for his

intervention in his life. Abigail is is God's

divine stop sign. Abigail is God's divine stoplight

in David's life. You know, when God sees his

children running out in the road, so to speak,

about to be hit by a car, of their own foolishness,

a situation of their own making, because of their

ungodly decisions, times he will turn us right

around. At times he does allow us to experience

consequences, but here he is so gracious to turn

David around. Be grateful for those moments where

God halts you in your tracks. Second, be vigilant

lest you fall. Be vigilant over your own life.

Guard yourself against the deceitfulness of sin.

Galatians says, walk by the Spirit. so that you

will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Are

you walking by the Spirit? Are you in the Word?

Are you surrounding yourself with godly people?

Do you have people in your life who can both

speak comfort to you and candidly speak the truth

and love to you? And so thirdly, receive that

counsel confronted by sin. Don't rebuff someone

when they come to you in in love with who you

really are in the way that your offenses have

hurt someone. Don't rebuff someone when they

come to you with your sin because they love you.

In Christ, in the household of faith, when we

speak the truth in love to one another, it's

because we want to see one another restored.

Receive that. Fourthly, be your brother's keeper.

Be willing to be like Abigail and do the hard

thing. Galatians 6 .1 says, if anyone is caught

in a transgression, you who are spiritual should

restore him in a spirit of gentleness, but keep

watch on yourself lest you be tempted. Dear ones,

be willing to be like Abigail and speak hard

life -giving truths as well as receive hard life

-giving truths, leaving justice to God as well.

Lastly, I want to say, if you look at this passage

in today, you recognize that you actually identify

not with Abigail or David as much as you identify

with Nabal. It could be today that God is waking

you up to the fact that you have acted like Nabal

your whole life, earned his goodness and his

love and his people, and you have lived as an

island to yourself as if it's all about me, mine,

and I. I have good news for you. If you wake

up today and you realize you're not a believer

and you've lived only for yourself, you've never

trusted Christ, today is the day of salvation

for you. Repent of your folly and trust in Christ

and you will be saved. And you will not be living

in foolishness and in darkness anymore, but in

light and in wisdom. And he will give you a new

spirit and cause you to walk in his ways. There's

so much in this passage today, but we need to

conclude not with King David, the King to be,

but the Lord Jesus, the King, the greater Son

of David who has come from David's line. It's

not David or any other friend or any other person

or ourselves that can deliver us from our sinful

anger, but it's only David's greater Son, the

Lord Jesus Christ. While we're yet sinners, While

we were yet in rebellion and in anger, Christ

died for us. Though we were like Nabal, worthless,

though we were swift to shed blood like David,

Christ Jesus, the true King, shed his blood to

cover all of our sins and ransom us from a multitude

of sins. So the true solution to our problem

of anger and our responses is not even our own

efforts, but the good news of the gospel that

redeems us from our sin, the Father and the Son,

who send His Spirit to all those whom Christ

has redeemed. And by His power, we can make peace

because God has made peace through the blood

of His Son with us. Let's keep seeking Him and

let's keep remembering the gospel of grace that

empowers us to live at peace with others because

God in Christ has made peace with the Father

through His own blood. Let's pray.