1 Samuel Chapter 25 – The Will of God (2)

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

In the last chapter, David refused to take vengeance for himself. However, there is a complete flip of the script here and David set out to take vengeance for himself. What is the will of God? How do we discern the will of God?

Was David’s request unreasonable?

Some of us might ask whether David was collecting “protection money” like gangsters today. Was his request a reasonable one? David request most probably reflected the practice of those times as there was a real danger from raiders.

In fact, David later became a raider himself (1 Samuel 27). His own city Ziglag was also raided by the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30). Even Nabal’s men acknowledged that David and his men had protected them (1 Samuel 25:16). David was also not asking for a fixed regular collection. He had sent his men on a feast day and asked for whatever Nabal was willing to give.

Nabal’s response

Nabal’s unreasonable response was truly uncalled for. He decided not only to give nothing but also to add insult to injury. ¹⁰Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?

Nabal was really a scoundrel as his name suggests (1 Samuel 25:17). Of course, Nabal knew who David was. However, unlike Abigail, Nabal did not acknowledge that God had anointed David to be the king. He mocked him as just a breakaway and runaway servant. Nabal was also really a fool as his name suggests.

If David was powerful enough to protect Nabal from raiders, would David not be powerful enough to raid Nabal as well? 

David’s response

¹³Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.”

Let us compare David’s reaction here with his reaction in the last chapter. Saul had previously tried to kill David, but he had refused to take vengeance for himself. Yet, David set out to take vengeance for himself here. Why did David react so differently this time?

At the very least, Saul had numbers on his side. Furthermore, Saul was the anointed of the Lord and the king.

Now, even Nabal was insulting David and he could no longer swallow such a humiliation. As the Chinese say, “A weak person is liable to be bullied; a tamed horse is often ridden”. David would show Nabal who he was. Nabal had asked, “Who is David?” but in reality, who was Nabal to insult David?

Was killing Nabal the will of God?

Obviously not! As Abigail explained in verse 31, if David had killed Nabal, he would have shed blood without cause. Nabal had not tried to kill him, so this would not have been done out of self-defense. Killing Nabal was an inappropriate response for being insulted. This would also mean that David would have avenged himself.

Instead, the right response would have been to commit the matter into the hands of God. As Paul tells us in Romans 12, Repay no one evil for evil…do not avenge yourselves. 

We often respond like David when we feel humiliated by others, especially if the person insulting us is someone inferior to us. Our emotions get the better of us.

Doing the will of God is probably the last thing on our mind. We are only obsessed with defending our own pride and honour. However, is this also not how people of the world react. Are we not just conforming to the world then?

For David, this was just a moment of rashness. Just as David was angered by the insulting words of Nabal, he was pacified by the wise words of Abigail. ³³And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.

And just as David discerned that the voice of his men was not the will of God, David discerned that Abigail’s voice of reason was the will of God. In fact, David recognized that it was God who had sent Abigail to hold him back. Again, David proved the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. He committed the matter into God’s hands. In the end, God repaid the evil that Nabal had done and struck him dead. 

What about us? Sometimes God also sends a voice of reason to hold us back. Will we insist on taking matters into our own hands to right the injustice we have suffered? Or will we listen to the voice of reason and submit to the will of God?

•