1 Samuel 25:3

_NOW THE NAME OF THE MAN WAS NABAL; AND THE NAME OF HIS WIFE ABIGAIL: AND SHE WAS A WOMAN OF GOOD UNDERSTANDING, AND OF A BEAUTIFUL COUNTENANCE: BUT THE MAN WAS CHURLISH AND EVIL IN HIS DOINGS; AND HE WAS OF THE HOUSE OF CALEB._ He was of the house of Caleb - of course, of the same tribe with David himself; but many versions consider Caleb (dog) not as a proper, but a common noun, and render it 'he was snappish as a dog.'...

2-11 We should not have heard of Nabal, if nothing had passed between him and David. Observe his name, Nabal, "A fool;" so it signifies. Riches make men look great in the eye of the world; but to one that takes right views, Nabal looked very mean. He had no honour or honesty; he was churlish, cross, and ill-humoured; evil in his doings, hard and oppressive; a man that cared not what fraud and violence he used in getting and saving. What little reason have we to value the wealth of this world, when so great a churl as Nabal abounds, and so good a man as David suffers want!, David pleaded the kindness Nabal's shepherds had received. Considering that David's men were in distress and debt, and discontented, and the scarcity of provisions, it was by good management that they were kept from plundering. Nabal went into a passion, as covetous men are apt to do, when asked for any thing, thinkin...

Verse 1 Samuel 25:3. _THE NAME OF THE MAN_ WAS _NABAL_] The word נבל _nabal_ signifies to be _foolish, base_, or _villanous_; and hence the Latin word _nebulo, knave_, is supposed to be derived. _THE NAME OF HIS WIFE ABIGAIL_] The _joy_ or _exultation of my_ _father_. A woman of sense and beauty, married to the boor mentioned above, probably because he was _rich_. Many women have been thus sacrificed. _OF THE HOUSE OF CALEB_] והוא כלבי _vehu Chalibbi_, "he was a Calebite." But as the word _caleb_ signifies _a dog_, the _Septuagint_ have understood it as implying a man of a _canine disposition_, and translate it thus, και ὁ ανθρωπος κυνικος, _he was a doggish man_. It is understood in the same way by the _Syriac_ and _Arabic_....

EXPOSITION DEATH OF SAMUEL (1 Samuel 25:1). 1 SAMUEL 25:1 AND SAMUEL DIED. According to Josephus, Samuel had for eighteen years been contemporaneous with Saul's kingdom. If this calculation, which probably rests upon some Jewish tradition, be at all correct, we must include the years of Samuel's judgeship in the sum total of Saul's reign (see on 1 Samuel 13:1), as evidently his fall was now fast approaching. Samuel's life marked the beginning of the second age of Israelite history (Acts 3:24). Moses had given the people their law, but

NOW THE NAME OF THE MAN [WAS] NABAL,.... Which signifies a "fool"; one would think his parents should not give him this name, though it is a name proper enough to men in common; and Kimchi thinks this was a nickname, which men gave him agreeably to his genius and conduct, and which is not improbable: AND THE NAME OF HIS WIFE ABIGAIL; which signifies "my father's joy", he delighting in her for her wit and beauty, as follows: AND [SHE WAS] A WOMAN OF GOOD UNDERSTANDING, AND OF A BEAUTIFUL COUNTENANCE; she was not only of a good understanding in things natural, civil, and domestic, but in things spiritual, as her speech to David shows, and which, with her external form, completed her character, and greatly recommended her; which is the character Aelianus u gives of Aspasia, wise and fair: BUT THE MAN [WAS] CHURLISH AND EVIL IN HIS DOINGS; morose and ill natured in the temper and disposit...

CHAPTER 25 _ 1. The death of Samuel (1 Samuel 25:1)_ 2. Nabal and his refusal (1 Samuel 25:2) 3. Abigail's deed and her prayer (1 Samuel 25:14) 4. David's answer to Abigail (1 Samuel 25:32) 5. Nabal's death (1 Samuel 25:36) 6. Abigail becomes David's wife (1 Samuel 25:39) After the death of Samuel, briefly mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, David went still further south into the wil

1 SAMUEL 25:1 A. (TO RAMAH). DEATH AND BURIAL OF SAMUEL. (An editorial addition.) 1 SAMUEL 25:1. IN HIS HOUSE: in the grounds belonging to it. 1 SAMUEL 25:1 B - 1 SAMUEL 25:44. DAVID, NABAL AND ABIGAIL (J). From one of the oldest sources. The story is complete in itself, and has no obvious connexion with any of the other sections. 1 SAMUEL 25:1 B - 1 SAMUEL 25:13. David goes to the wilderness of Paran at the S. of the Araba

THE MAN. Note the introversion of the four lines of this verse:. Nabal.:. Abigail,:. Abigail.:. Nabal.: Nabal. foolish.: OF THE HOUSE OF CALEB. a Calebite. But Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic have translated the word "cynical"....

Nabal's churlish behaviour to David 2. _a man in Maon_ Nabal's home was in the city of Maon, and his possessions (or, HIS BUSINESS) about a mile to the north at Carmel. These places are mentioned together in Joshua 15:55. See also note on ch. 1 Samuel 15:12. _very great_ i.e. very rich. The same epithet is applied to (2 Samuel 19:32)....

NABAL—AS OF THE HOUSE OF CALEB— כלבי _kalibi,_ in the Hebrew, _and he was a Calebite._ As כלב _caleb_ signifies a _dog,_ some of the ancient interpreters understand the word as expressive of his bad disposition; whence the Syriac, Arabic, and LXX translate it, _a man of a churlish, snarling,_ or _dog-like disposition,_ ανθρωπος Κυνικος. See Le Clerc and Calmet....