a. An attempt to redeem the person being sinned against.

b. An attempt to redeem the person sinning.

Father and son were alike in certain respects. They were both men of war - valiant men of action. But when it came to their moral character, they were remarkably diverse.

Having learned of the plot to put David to death, Jonathan first warns David and then goes to intercede on his behalf. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God" (Matthew 5:9). Jonathan was a child of God.

Notice what is his initial reaction. Jonathan disobeys the edict of his father. He does this in two ways:

First there is his action of warning David and thus protecting the innocent party. This is the redemption of the innocent party.

Secondly, there is his intercession directed toward Saul - an attempt to redeem the person sinning.

He does not go out and put a pipe bomb in a building. His first step in civil disobedience is to seek to properly change the unrighteous edict.

And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, "As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death."

Jonathan’s appeal resulted in a reversal of Saul’s policy against David. In doing so, he brought reconciliation (at least of a temporary nature) to David and Saul. We have a ministry of reconciliation. It involves helping others to make godly choices.

Saul makes a pledge and an oath. He swears by the name of Yahweh that David will not be put to death.

The restoration which Jonathan brought about was short lived. Once again, the reason behind the enmity was jealousy.

Why is this mentioned? I think that it is because it was this event which motivated Saul’s renewed jealousy. This time we do not read of the singing of the women: "Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands." This time we do not read about Saul being involved in the victory in any way. This time it is David’s victory. Saul grows jealous.

Look at the contrast. Saul has a spear in his hand. David has a harp in his hand. One is a weapon of war - in this case, the weapon of an attempted murder. The other is an instrument of music - and the only reason David has it is to be of assistance to Saul. This would be the last time that David would be in the court of Saul. From now on, he will be a fugitive.

Saul sends a hit squad after David. Michal hears of it and warns her husband, assisting in his escape. And she goes so far as to arrange a decoy for her bed - a "household idol" ( ).

This brings up an interesting question. What was this idol doing in the house of David? Had he been engaging in worshiping false gods? Not necessarily. Such household idols were sometimes used as "good luck charms." It may have been a fertility idol used to insure lots of children. They were also used in parts of the ancient world as the title deeds to property.

On the other hand, the keeping of such idols was WRONG. It too often led to idolatry.

Michal’s actions in aiding her husband are reminiscent of some of the actions of women of the past.

David finds refuge with Samuel in Ramah (the word "Naioth" seems to refer to the dwelling of Samuel - a location within the area of Ramah). Samuel had anointed both David and Saul. But this did not make Samuel immune to the threat of violence at the hands of Saul. Samuel had feared the anger of Saul from the very beginning.

Whereas David had previously been protected first by Jonathan and then by Michal, now it is the Spirit of God who intervenes to protect him. The Spirit of God comes upon these messengers and they begin prophesying.

But that is not all. After sending two more groups of messenger with the same result, Saul comes himself to Ramah where he also participates in this same experience.

What was the character of this "prophesying"? I do not know. It was from God. It apparently involved speaking forth the words of God. And it came upon them in such a way that they were not able to continue upon their original mission - they had no control over it.

There is a lesson here. It is that there are times when God acts in ways that do not fit into our nice, neat theological packages.

This chapter concludes with the third in a series of assisting events which took place on David’s behalf.

The fact that this last event involved Saul prophesying is significant. He had begun his kingship in exactly the same way. Immediately after having been anointed as the new king of Israel, Saul had met a group of prophets and "the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them" (10:10). Now it happens again.

The first time served as a sign that Saul was to be the new king of Israel. I believe that the second time serves as a sign that the kingship has been taken from Saul and given to another.

David now comes to Jonathan with his fears. Jonathan is at first inclined to give his father the benefit of the doubt. But David explains that Saul has become two-faced, not revealing his true motives even to his own son. It is only when he binds his word with a twofold oath than Jonathan relents and says, "Whatever you say, I will do for you" (20:4).

This puts Jonathan in a difficult place. We usually focus upon his love and his loyalty toward David. But what of his loyalty toward his own father, the king? For Jonathan to be loyal to David, he must be disloyal to his own father.

David’s plan involves a deception upon Jonathan’s part. They will pretend that David has gone home for the holidays in order to determine what will be Saul’s response.

This is only the start of a series of deceptions and outright lies which David shall tell during the course of his flight from Saul.

David’s concern at this point is self-centered. He is not particularly concerned what his plan will do to the relationship between Jonathan and Saul.

In the last chapter, Jonathan was open and transparent and therefore was able to bring reconciliation, if only for a short time. This time, he enters into the deception and there is no reconciliation.

Furthermore, there is no mention here by David of the Lord (by contrast, notice how many times Jonathan mentions the Lord in verses 12-16). It seems that David is trusting in his own plans instead of in the Lord. God had already promised that he would be king in place of Saul. But he is afraid that Saul will overcome the promise of God. And so, he determines to take matters into his own hands. In this, we might be tempted to think that he is beginning to emulate Saul.

Realizing that Jonathan might be watched, he comes up with a plan whereby David will be notified of Saul’s reaction.

At the same time, Jonathan renews his covenant with David: "As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever" (20:23).

When Saul realizes that David is absent and hears Jonathan’s explanation of this absence, he becomes angry.

Saul’s anger is now directed against Jonathan for what he sees as a betrayal. Evidently, he saw through this shallow lie. Saul was old and he was given to sullen moods of depression, but he was no fool. In typical male anger, he berates Jonathan’s mother (translate this in modern colloquialism).

In his rage, Saul lashed out at the first thing in front of him - even his own son, Jonathan. Jonathan, in turn, is enraged. He has been publicly humiliated by his father. And he has had his own father try to kill him.

Subsequently, Jonathan notifies David according to their plan. They say their farewells for the last time recorded in the Scriptures and then they part, having renewed their covenant of friendship.

In Jonathan, David had found an older brother who really loved him, who was committed to him and had put him first, even before his own interests.

He had clothed David in the clothes of the crown prince. He had made a covenant with him. He had acknowledge that David would receive, not only the right of a firstborn, but the entire kingdom.

The scene closes with Jonathan going back into the city. He returns to the court of his father. He will loyally remain in his father’s service until the day of their death.

Ahimelech was the grandson of Phinehas. As such, the high priesthood had passed on to him. Because David was high in the ranks of the Israelite army, he would have been well-known to Ahimelech. But now David arrives in Nob without his army. It strikes Ahimelech as being suspicious. He questions David.

David’s response? He lies through his teeth. He makes up a false secret mission. He indicates that his troops have been directed elsewhere.

This is a case of "situational ethics." David is in a situation in which he has real needs. The needs are real. The situation is legitimate. What is wrong is that he is not trusting the Lord. He is instead trusting in his wits and in his ability to lie with a straight face.

This was the "bread of the Presence," the twelve loaves that were placed on the table within the Tabernacle, each loaf representing a tribe of Israel. Each loaf was dedicated to God. They indicated that God was the provider for all of the needs of Israel.

When this bread was replaced, the old bread was taken and eaten by the priests within the Tabernacle. The was the only bread that Ahimelech had. It had come right off the table of the Lord as the fresh bread was replaced. Thus, to eat this bread, Ahimelech insists that the partakers are ceremonially clean.

Now, let me ask you a question. Was it wrong for David to eat the consecrated bread? No, it wasn’t. The New Testament supports his actions.

You see, the ceremonial Law was never to interfere with real human need. God designed the Sabbath for man's benefit, not bor his burden. This was graphically illustrated one day when the disciples of Jesus began picking and eating heads of grain as they walked through a grainfield on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees saw it, they accused them of breaking the Sabbath.

There was one group of people who always worked on the Sabbath. It was the priests. The Sabbath was their busiest day of the week. Most preachers find that their busiest day of the week is on Sunday. That is why so many take Monday off.

The bottom line is that God desires compassion rather than sacrifice. Reality rather than rules. Meeting needs rather than meeting deadlines.

It was not wrong for David to eat the consecrated bread. He had a legitimate need. What WAS wrong was he did not come in an open and honest way. He lied. One lie led to another. It would only end with the death of the high priest.

The tragedy was that David fell victim to the tyranny of the urgent. He was failing to trust in the Lord. He should have remembered the time that God had intervened when Saul and his three groups of messengers were halted by a spirit of prophecy.

Doeg happens to be in town and spot David. He overhears a portion of the conversation and hears enough to understand that Ahimelech is helping David.

What is more, David sees Doeg and knows that he has been seen. He knows Doeg will go back and tell Saul. And so, perhaps he thinks to protect Ahimelech by not letting him know the real nature of his situation. Asking for a weapon, he takes the sword of Goliath which has been left here for safe keeping.

Gath was a city of the Philistines. This had been the hometown of Goliath. And David arrives carrying Goliath’s sword. It was a sword which had belonged to a 9-foot tall giant. David might as well carried a sign announcing, "David, the Giant-killer."

To make matters worse, he has red hair and he is living in a land where few people have red hair. If that were not bad enough, Goliath has four more brothers still living in Gath.

David is recognized by the people of Gath. After all, he had been the object of the number one song on the Israelite "Hit Parade." Who were the ten thousands which David had slain? They were Philistines! David finds that he has jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The superscription of Psalm 56 indicates that David was arrested and brought before the king of Gath. David does the only thing he can. He pretends insanity. In those days, a person who was mad was thought to be "seized by spirits." It was considered bad luck to touch such a person.

As you leave Gath and travel eastward back up the Valley of Elah toward Bethlehem, you soon come to an area of the hill country which is pock-marked with caves. It was located on the boarder between the territories of the Israelites and the Philistines.

There are eight Psalms written about this period in the wilderness. All eight of those Psalms express David's deep trust in and commitment to his God. And yet, these Psalms reflect a continuing struggle between his trust in the Lord and his feeling of unfair persecution. God is taking him through this wilderness experience to teach him absolute faith.

God used these experiences to make David a man of God in the same way that He took the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness for 40 years to make them His holy nation. There is a principle here for today. Our own wilderness experiences are designed by God to make us holy.

Pain has been described as God's megaphone. It is the tool that God often uses to mold us into the image of His Son. At the same time, there was a comfort for David from an unexpected source - his own family.

The last time we saw the brothers of David, they were berating him for coming to the battlefield where Goliath was issuing his challenge. Now they come again. I believe that their presence was a comfort to David.

Throughout his entire life, David had been the runt of the litter. He had been the youngest who was not even deemed worthy of consideration when Samuel came to anoint the one whom God had chosen. But now he is the leader of the family. His older brothers now recognize that leadership.

Like an ancient Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, David begins to gather a band of "merry men." But these men aren’t very merry. They are made up of the outcasts of society.

That is the kind of people God always delights in using. The foolish. The weak. The base and the despised, "that no man should boast before God" (1 Corinthians 1:29).

These are the kinds of people that God freed and brought out of Egypt to make a new nation. A nation of rebels and malcontents. They griped and murmured.

David is going to be the king of these people. And he is going to have to learn how to bring them together and become a united nation.

The land of Moab was located on the southeastern shores of the Dead Sea. These people were traditional enemies of Israel. Yet it is to Moab that David turns as he seeks to find a place of refuge for his mother and father. Why? Because David’s great-grandmother is from Moab. She was known as Ruth the Moabitess.

Though Saul had fought and defeated Moab (1 Samuel 14:47), this had been before David’s time. All of David’s fighting had been against the Philistines. Thus, he expected to receive a warm reception in Moab.

This is the first mention which we have had of Gad the prophet. He is described in 1 Chronicles 29:29 as having joined with Samuel and Nathan the prophet in writing the biography of David. Gad directs David to return to Judah. Why? Why should David leave the safety of his stronghold to go to the land of Judah where Saul will again begin to hunt for him?

I’m not certain. But it might be a test of faith. David has been trusting in his stronghold. Now the Lord will be his stronghold and his mighty fortress.

I have a confession to make. I am not a risk-taker at heart. Oh, I have done some risky things in my day. I have run into burning buildings when everyone else was running out of them. But I don’t naturally enjoy taking risks.

But the Christian life is a life of risk taking. It is called "faith." Faith is when you step out and act like you believe that what God says is true, even when you do not see how it is ever going to work out.

David is called to go back into Judah and become a man of faith. He is going to be taking a risk. And as a result, he will grow in faith.

It isn’t long before the news of David’s return reaches the ears of Saul. After all, Judah is right next door to Benjamin.

Saul’s call goes out to those who are around him. His retainers. They are made up primarily of Benjamites. But notice the implication as to how Saul guaranteed their loyalty. Through bribery. He bought their loyalty by making them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

Do you remember what Samuel had warned when the Israelites had first asked for a king? He had said that a king would take their sons for his army and put over them commanders of hundreds and commanders of thousands. He said that the king would take their vineyards and their fields and give them to his followers. That is exactly what Saul describes here.

Don’t miss this. The very people who should have been the most loyal to Saul - those who were from his own tribe - were only loyal because of what they could get out of Saul in terms of position and power and money. But the people who had been the most loyal to Saul - namely David and Jonathan - had become the objects of his suspicion.

There is a lesson here about sin. When you begin to harbor sinful attitudes, it is not long before you begin to suspect those attitudes in others.

Do you know someone who is critical and suspicious of others? It is probably because they are harboring similar sin in their own lives. Here is the point. Guilty people try to make other people feel guilty, too.

Doeg was an Edomite. He was a foreign mercenary under the employ of Saul. He had happened to be in Nob when David had come there to speak to the high priest.

This is all that Saul needs to hear. He immediately calls for the arrest of the high priest. When he arrives, he conducts his own i__errogation.

Saul didn’t arrest just Ahimelech. He also arrested his entire family. And not just the immediate family. He brought in all of the priestly family who lived in Nob.

Saul has already assumed that Ahimelech is guilty of treason. He is guilty until proven innocent. That is the way critical people always are. They assume the worst in everyone.

Jesus said, "Do not judge lest you be judges" (Matthew 7:1). He did not mean that Christians should never pass judgment. There are places in the Scriptures where we are not only allowed, but are COMMANDED to judge. But we are not to jump to conclusions. We are to be certain of our judgments. And we are to judge ourselves first.

Saul accuses Ahimelech of aiding and abetting the enemy. He says, "David is planning an assassination attempt and you have put the murder weapon in his hands."

Saul is angry. But who is the object of his anger? Ahimelech? David? David has done nothing to Saul to bring about anger. The real object of Saul’s anger is GOD. It is GOD who has rejected Saul. It is GOD who has chosen David. It is GOD who has sent an evil spirit to harass Saul. Saul is angry at God. But how do you get at someone who is invisible? You can’t. You can’t get at God because God is "ungettable." So you get at His people. You get at His priests. That is why Satan attacks Christians. That is why the world hates us. Because we are the only ones that they can get at.

Saul is out to get the Lord’s anointed one. What does the word "anointed" mean in Hebrew? Messiah! Saul is after God's Messiah and Saul is after God's believing priests.

Satan still has the same strategy today. He worked to put to death God’s Messiah and instead death was defeated. Satan is powerless against Jesus. And so, he attacks us.

This is not a physical battle. It has physical ramifications and sometimes even leads to physical persecution, but the battle itself is a spiritual one and is fought with spiritual weapons.

Ahimelech pleads ignorance to treason. He says, "Aiding and abetting the enemy? What enemy? David? The king’s son-in-law? The captain of the guard? The one who is honored in the house of the king? That "enemy"?

Saul is not content with Ahimelech’s answer. He is angry and he is going to take it out on someone and he does not care if that someone is guilty or innocent.

Saul orders the execution of all the priests of the Lord. But the retainers of Saul are hesitant to lift up their hand against the priests of the Lord.

Saul now turns to his pagan mercenary. And Doeg does the dastardly deed - acting as Saul’s executioner. Saul puts the city of Nob under the ban. Everything is destroyed - men, women, children, infant, livestock.

Do you remember why Saul was last rejected by God? It was because he had disobeyed in destroying all that God had told him to destroy. He had spared the choice livestock from the Amalekites. But he does not do so here. His dedication in fighting against God’s people goes far beyond any dedication he showed in fighting the enemies of the Lord. He places the city under the ban.

There was a provision in the Mosaic Law under which Israelite cities were to be destroyed. It was for cases of idolatry.

Saul orders the city of the priests of the Lord are to be put under the ban and utterly destroyed. This was the penalty of idolatry. But against which god had they been unfaithful? Who is Saul’s god whom he is trying to protect? HE is! He sees idolatry against himself as idolatry against his god, namely himself.

Abiather escapes and comes to report to David. What is David’s response? He takes full responsibility for the tragic events.

This is the difference between David and Saul. It was not that Saul was a sinner while David was righteous. They were BOTH sinners. But David was willing to confess his sin.

The chapter thus concludes with king-elect and priest-elect joining forces as fellow fugitives.

Keilah was a town of Judah. It was located about 8 miles northwest of Hebron. David receives news that it is under attack.

Threshing floors were open, circular areas where the grain kernels were separated from their husks. By looting the threshing floors, the Philistines were robbing Keilah's citizens of all their food supplies. David inquires of the Lord and is led by God to rescue the city.

Saul hears the news that David has rescues the city from the Philistines. What is his response! Does he show concern for his subjects? Is he thankful for David’s actions? No! He sees a self-serving opportunity to capture and kill David.

Up to this point, Saul has been unable to locate David. David has been keeping one step ahead of the law, first by leaving the country, and then hiding out in Sherwood Forest (the Hebrew says Hereth Forest).

When David hears that Saul is on his way, he inquires of the Lord as to whether the men of Keilah are to be trusted. The Lord speaks through Abiather, telling him that the men of Keilah will betray him.

Saul was a dogged hunter. He did not give up easily. But he could not catch David - not because David was so good at hiding, but because the Lord was in control.

Nevertheless, it would be physically, emotionally and spiritually wearing upon David to be constantly on the run. It would have been easy to become discouraged. And so, the Lord sends an encourager to minister to David.

Jonathan comes and meets David, near Hebron. Jonathan’s encouragement is in the form of a prophecy. The prophecy is that Saul will not find him, but that instead he will survive to be king. Jonathan seals his agreement with a formal covenant.

There is a noteworthy contrast here between the men of Keilah and Jonathan. The people of Keilah thought to give David up to Saul, perhaps to ingratiate themselves before the king. But Jonathan, the crown prince, has everything to lose and nothing to gain by protecting David. And yet it is HE who makes a covenant with David.

Whereas the people of Keilah were ready to give up David if Saul came and surrounded their city, the inhabitants of Ziph actively sought out Saul to betray David into his hands.

The Keilahites were planning to betray David, but they were not going to initiate the betrayal. They would let Saul do that. He was going to surround their city and destroy it in order to be sure he got David and all his men. The Keilahites would just hand David over.

The Ziphites live to the west of the Dead Sea, right in the heart of Judah. They are members of the same tribe as David. You would think they would be on his side. But they are not. They are only looking for what THEY can get out of it.

Saul has them to a thorough reconnaissance to trace all of David’s movement. Only then does his make his move. As he comes down to capture David, David bolts for his hiding place in the wilderness. And Saul follows, for he has learned of David’s hiding places. Saul plans for all possible contingencies. But he does not plan on the Lord.

Saul may have thought of this as mere "bad luck." But David new better. He knew that God had brought about this way of escape.

Engedi is on the western side of the Dead Sea. It is an oasis where the rain from the Judean hills trickles down the limestone cliffs through steep valleys as it makes its way down to the Dead Sea.

Saul is still out to capture David. This time he hand-picks an elite fighting force. His men outnumber David’s men 5 to 1. With this force, he travels down the wilderness to the oasis on the edge of the Dead Sea known as Engedi.

The name "En-gedi" means "eye of the little goat." It is a little paradise nestled between the steep limestone cliffs on the eastern edge of the wilderness of Judah where it drops down to the Dead Sea.. Where the waters of the mountains of Judah cascade over the cliffs in shimmering waterfalls, they have carved out hundreds of caves.

As Saul is conducting his reconnaissance in an effort, he decides to take a restroom break. There aren’t any port-o-potties in the area, so Saul makes diligent use of a nearby cave. As chance would have it, Saul chooses the very cave in which David and his men are hiding.

David’s men are elated. They whisper among themselves, "We are seeing a prophecy come true! God said that David would reign instead of Saul and here is Saul at our mercy!"

David silently moves against Saul, but not to murder him. David contents himself with merely cutting a piece off Saul’s robe. My first impulse is to commend David’s restraint. After all, he had Saul at his mercy and let him live. What’s a piece of robe between enemies?

But on further reflection, we should note that this action was highly disrespectful on David’s part. A bit like taking a photograph of the boss and putting it up on the dart board. Or fastening a note on someone’s back that reads, "Kick me." Or keying someone’s double-parked car.

What David did was a token slaying. He is thumbing his nose at the king of Israel. And after he has done this, he realizes the significance of his actions.

David realizes that his actions were directed against the Lord’s anointed one. The fact that he has also been anointed by God does not make a difference. His sin is effectively a rebellion against God.

This has direct ramifications in how we deal with conflicts with other Christians. Have you ever played the game, "Roast the pastor?" Or put down another Christian?

David names his sin before the Lord. His sin is in stretching out his hand against the Lord’s anointed. His sin is murder - murder of the heart. David and Saul are both murderers. One has made an open attempt at murder. The other has performed a symbolic act of murder. But they are both guilty before the Lord.

After Saul has departed from the cave (and presumably has put no little distance between himself and David), David calls out to Saul and shows the piece of robe as evidence that he had Saul in his power but then released him alive.

Saul has been focusing upon David. David points to the Lord - the God of the covenant; the God who anointed Saul king; the God who allows Saul to stay king. Saul is not fighting David, he is fighting God.

To this end, David described himself as "a dead dog." What is the point? It is that David is nothing. God is everything. You’ve heard the old saying that "His bark is worse than his bite." Dead dogs can neither bark nor bite. They can do NOTHING.

David realizes that this is true of himself. He is powerless without the Lord. He is lower than a dog. He is a dead dog. Or perhaps even less. A flea on the carcass of a dead dog. Saul has been chasing after a single flea while the Philistines infest the entire country.

Saul’s reaction is one of repentance.

Did you notice what Saul had been calling David up to now? "Son of Jesse" (son of that family descended from the Moabitess). That kid!

But as David calls to Saul and shows compassion, mercy and respect, addressing him as, "My lord, the king" and "my father," Saul responds with a repentant heart.

Saul makes a public confession and fully acknowledges that David is doing right. He shows genuine remorse for his sins. And yet, we cannot help but notice that his words of blessing are identical with those with which he blessed the Ziphites for betraying David into his hands in chapter 23.

Notice the emphasis of his blessing. It is self-centered. It is a blessing of benefit of SELF.

Before we are too quick to condemn Saul, let us pause and examine ourselves. How often do our prayers reflect a similar self-centered attitude? How often do we treat God as though He were a short order cook ("I’ll have a couple of blessings, a shot of spirituality and a day of divine protection to go").

Despite his failings, I believe that Saul was sincere. After all, he had originally loved David. And I think that there is something within Saul’s heart that still loves David. This is seen as he predicts that David will indeed become king.

Saul himself confirms that he knows David will one day be king. The very man David wanted to kill is the very man God uses to strengthen David’s faith. On the other hand, I think it possible that this request points out a conspicuous flaw in David's character.

It was common in the ancient world for a new dynasty to eliminate man, woman and child, particularly male children, of the old dynasty. They wanted to eliminate all chance of opposition. When we come to the book of Kings, the wicked kings of the northern ten tribes do this again and again.

This request from the lips of Saul are an echo of Jonathan’s request of David when he made a covenant with him and acknowledged that David would some day be king. Jonathan had requested, "If I am alive, be good to me and if I am dead, be good to my relatives." (1 Samuel 20:14-15).

Both Saul and Jonathan had loved David. And they both asked that, when the time came for David to reign, he would not effect retaliation upon their family.

Perhaps they knew something about David. Perhaps they knew that David had a tendancy toward vindictiveness. For this reason, they both ask that this vindictiveness not be directed toward their families.

This vindictiveness comes to light in the next chapter as David encounters two new characters - Nabal and Abigail.

Samuel had been friend and champion, first to Saul, and now to David. But now he was gone. And with his going would also go the last restraint upon Saul. David must have felt as though everything were now lost. And so, David travels southward.

The Massoretic Text reads that David came to the wilderness of Paran. However, this would have him entering the Sinai desert and this seems doubtful. The NIV has adopted the Septuagint reading of "Maon" (as is found in verse 2).

We are introduced to a man and his wife. They lived in Maon, a town in the hill country of southern Judah (9 miles south of Hebron).

a. Nabal means "fool."

b. Abigail means "joy of her father."

David sends a delegation to Nabal asking for supplies. It is a reasonable request. David has been instrumental in protecting Nabal’s flocks from theAmalekite rustlers. The reason that Nabal is having such a prosperous season because of the presence of David. And so, David appeals to the grace of Nabal.

Nabal’s words are insulting in the extreme. By pretending ignorance as to David’s mere existence, he indicates that David is too unimportant and too insignificant a man for him to know.

If you want to insult a Mideasterner just question his heritage, his parentage. Nabal not only feigns ignorance of this national hero, but he casts disparaging remarks upon David’s family.

Gone are the gracious words in the message he sent to Nabal. David is furious. He is out for revenge.

Notice what David does NOT do here that he has done prior to every other battle. He does not inquire of the Lord. In his anger, it seems as though he has forgotten all about the Lord. Vengeance will be his, and the Lord can have whatever is left.

When Abigail learns of how her husband has treated David, she goes behind his back to take matters into her own hand.

Abigail takes drastic steps to save her husband from the results of his own folly. It might be argued that she is not being submissive to his authority. This is another case of civil (or in this case, domestice) disobedience.

Her purpose is the same as Jonathan’s civil disobedience. She is seeking to redeem her husband from the effect of his folly. And she also seeks to redeem David from his sinful vengeance.

Abigail’s actions are similar to those of Jacob when he returned to the land of Canaan and was confronted with the news that Esau was coming to meet him with a force of 400 men.

Do you remember what Jacob did? He took a groups of sheep, goats, camels, cattle and donkey and had each group approach Esau one after another with word that these were presents. Five great presents approached Esau, one after another. As a result, Esau’s anger was assuaged. Abigail does the same thing here.

Abigail shows us how to deal with an angry man. She had lived all her married life with an ungodly man and David is acting in an ungodly manner. She begins with the approach outlined in 1 Peter 3, "Wives be submissive to your own husbands so if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of they wives as they observe your pure and respectful behavior."

a. Respectful behavior.

b. An attitude of submission. Abigail falls to David’s feet. Instead of pride, there is true humility here.

c. She accepts the full weight of Nabal’s guilt: "On me alone, my lord, be the blame."

David realizes that the hand of the Lord has been active in sending Abigail to him in this situation. We know the nature of his repentance by looking at his focus. It is upon the Lord.

He realizes that it would have been sinful to take matters into his own hands and to take his vengeance against Nabal. Not because Nabal is right. Indeed, he does not change his mind about Nabal. The issue is not about Nabal at all. The issue is submission to the Lord.

Notice the role of Abigail. She plays the part of an intercessor. She sets out to be a peacemaker. She stops David from taking vengeance.

What role are you playing today? Which of these is a picture of your own spiritual life? Are you a Nabal, a David or an Abigail?

Notice what Abigail does not do. She does not desert her husband to go running off with David. She returns to her proper place. Neither does she try to deceive him. Instead, she confesses her actions.

Instead of David taking vengeance upon Nabal, it is the Lord who strikes him down. Hearing the news, David sends a proposal to Abigail, taking her as his wife.

This is not the first time that Abner has been mentioned, but he will come more and more to the forefront as we progress through the books of Samuel.

Abner was Saul’s cousin. He had been with Saul for a long time. It had been Abner who had first presented David to Saul following his slaying of Goliath (17:55-58).

Joab and Abishai were cousins to David. They were his two companions both in war and in peace. Between the two, it was Abishai who seems to have been the more impetuous one.

As they come upon Saul in the midst of the camp, Abishai asks permission to strike Saul and kill him in his sleep. His reasoning is that...

David is not swayed. He has consistently refused to take part in the slaying of the Lord’s anointed.

Saul was the Lord’s anointed one. It did not matter that David was also anointed of the Lord. He respected the fact that Saul was special and holy in the eyes of the Lord and he would not dishonor that anointing.

In Psalm 2, we read of kings and rulers who take counsel against the Lord and against His Anointed (Psalm 2:2). The word "anointed" is the Hebrew word "Messiah." The Greek translation is the word "Christ."

First taking himself out of Saul’s reach, David calls out and attracts the attention of those who are pursuing him. He directs his comments to Abner, berating him for doing such a poor job of protecting Saul and showing as evidence the spear and jug of Saul.

Saul again speaks words of repentance, inviting David to return to the land in peace.