1 Samuel 25:43

_AND WHEN THE SERVANTS OF DAVID WERE COME TO ABIGAIL TO CARMEL, THEY SPAKE UNTO HER, SAYING, DAVID SENT US UNTO THEE, TO TAKE THEE TO HIM TO WIFE._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

39-44 Abigail believed that David would be king over Israel, and greatly esteemed his pious and excellent character. She deemed his proposal of marriage honourable, and advantageous to her, notwithstanding his present difficulties. With great humility, and doubtless agreeably to the customs of those times, she consented, being willing to share his trails. Thus those who join themselves to Christ, must be willing now to suffer with him, believing that hereafter they shall reign with him....

Verse 1 Samuel 25:43. _DAVID ALSO TOOK AHINOAM_] Many think that this was his wife before he took Abigail; she is always mentioned first in the list of his wives, and she was the mother of his eldest son Ammon. _OF JEZREEL_] There were two places of this name; one in the tribe of Issachar, the other in the tribe of Judah....

In the list of David’s wives Ahinoam is mentioned first 2 Samuel 3:2; 1 Chronicles 3:1. But this may be only because her son was the first-born. David’s now taking two wives was an indication of his growing power and importance as a chieftain. The number was increased to six when he reigned in Hebron 1 Chronicles 3:1, and still further when he became king of all Israel 2 Samuel 5:12. See 1 Samuel 1:2 note. OF JEZREEL - Not the well-known city of Samaria, which gave its name to

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

AND DAVID ALSO TOOK AHINOAM OF JEZREEL,.... A city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:56; that is, he took her to wife, and as it seems before Abigail became his wife; see 2 Samuel 3:2; AND THEY WERE ALSO BOTH OF THEM HIS WIVES; polygamy, though not agreeably to the law of nature, nor the law of God, was a custom which prevailed in those times, which good men gave into, though not to be commended for it....

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

David's marriage with Abigail 39. _pleaded the cause_, &c. Exacted from Nabal a due penalty for the injury he did me. Cp. 1 Samuel 24:15. In those days godly men looked for visible judgments upon the wicked in this world, and rejoiced in them as a vindication of God's righteous government. _hath kept his servant from evil_, &c. The E. V. misses the striking contrast between David and Nabal. Render, HATH RESTRAINED HIS SERVANT FROM WICKEDNESS, BUT THE WICKEDNESS OF NABAL HATH JEHOVAH RETURNED UPON HIS OWN HEAD....

DAVID ALSO TOOK AHINOAM— Ahinoam is always mentioned as first of the wives of David. See chap. 1 Samuel 27:3 1 Samuel 30:5, &c. And, therefore, it is supposed, that he was married to her before he took Abigail. Polygamy was a practice too prevalent in those ages, even under the dark Jewish dispensation; and David, probably, hoped to strengthen his interest in his own tribe by this double alliance, especially when he apprehended that it must be considerably weakened in that of Benjamin, by Michal's being taken away from him, 1 Samuel 25:44. _For Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, a Benjamite;_ which Saul did to take away all his pretensions to the crown from that allian