Meditation

Hi there,

Today, at last, we are copying out the full text of Abigail's appeal, which is both starkly clear and also slyly subtle. Humble and also extremely bold.

The basic appeal is for David to overlook Nabal's insolence because he is a fool, and to take for his men the gifts she has brought as recompense for the insult.

This appeal is given progressive weight by the repetition of the governing hierarchy at the heart of the appeal. Abigail is subservient to David "my lord" (note the small "l"). Her appeal is directly to him.

But she also makes it clear that he, David, is also a servant. A servant of "the Lord your God" (note the capital "L"). David has a master whose law and expectations he must observe. In so doing she exposes the limits of his authority and the very real constraint on his actions.

...and she leaves him in now doubt what that constraint is. David must forego avenging himself, now he has received these gifts, and in so doing "not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed."​

Today's verses are 1 Samuel 25:23-31

David, Nabal and Abigail

²³ When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.​

²⁴ She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. ²⁵ Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent.

²⁶ And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷ And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

²⁸ “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live.

²⁹ Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

³⁰ When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, ³¹ my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”

Encouragement

The Lord works out everything to its proper end—
even the wicked for a day of disaster.​

⁵ The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

⁶ Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.

Proverbs 16:4-6

​Andy

God's Word In Your Hand

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David Guzick's sermon on verses 22-44 verses is a great complement to this today's passage. (This is an additional sermon to the one we featured yesterday).

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