Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 25:6
And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity], Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast.
6. to him that liveth in prosperity ] The meaning of the single Heb. word thus rendered is exceedingly obscure. It seems best to explain it as an exclamation, “Hail!” literally, “For life!”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That liveth in prosperity – The Hebrew is obscure, and is variously interpreted. The simplest rendering is, And ye shall say thus about (his) life, i. e., with reference to his life, health, circumstances, etc.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Peace be both to thee] This is the ancient form of sending greetings to a friend: Peace to THEE, peace to thy HOUSEHOLD, and peace to all that THOU HAST. That is, May both thyself, thy family, and all that pertain unto thee, be in continual prosperity!
Perhaps David, by this salutation, wished Nabal to understand that he had acted so towards him and his property that nothing had been destroyed, and that all had been protected; see 1Sa 25:15-17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To him that liveth in prosperity, Heb. to him that liveth. Life is oft put for a prosperous and happy life, as in that prayer, Let the king live, 1Sa 10:24; 1Ki 1:25, and in other passages of Scripture, and other authors; for an afflicted and calamitous life is unworthy of the name of life, and is esteemed a kind of death, and oft so called, as 2Co 1:10; 11:23. By this expression David both congratulates Nabals felicity, and tacitly minds him of the penury and distress in which David and his men now were.
To thine house, i.e. to all thy family.
Unto all that thou hast; to all thy goods. So Davids prayer is very comprehensive, reaching to his soul, and body, and wife, and children, and servants, and all his estate.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity],…. That lives, while others, as David and his men, might be rather said to starve than live; they lived in great meanness, but he in great abundance, and therefore in a capacity to give to others, and particularly to relieve them: or the sense is, they should say to him, “thus” shall it be, or may it be “for life”: for the time of life, for the year to come; at this time next year, at next sheep shearing, mayest thou be in as great prosperity then as now, and even all the days of thy life:
peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast; that is, all prosperity to thy person in soul and body, to thy family, wife, children and servants, and let the same attend thy estate, cattle, farms, fields, vineyards, and all that belong to thee; and wish for a blessing on him, and his, and all that were his, or he had; a more extensive one could not well be made.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) And thus shall ye say.On such a festive occasion near a town or village, an Arab sheik of the neighbouring desert would hardly fail to put in a word, either in person or by message; and his message, both in form and substance, would be only the transcript of that of David.Robinson, Palestine, p. 201.
To him that liveth in prosperity.Considerable diversity of opinion exists as to the meaning of the Hebrew original here, lechai. The Vulg. alters the text slightly, and renders to my brother. The LXX. have an impossible translationeis horas, for times, or for seasons. It is better, however, to take it as a popular expression of congratulation, not found, as Lange well puts it, in the literary language. So Luther, glck auf, may it turn out well, may you be prosperous. The famous Hebrew commentator Raschi, and also the Babylonian Talmud, apparently understand it in this sense.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. That liveth in prosperity It is better to regard the word as a salutation, For life! that is, Health! Prosperity! Then render: Thus shall ye say, Health! Peace be both to thee, etc.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Abigail Informs Nabal of What Has Happened and Nabal Has A Heart Attack And Dies ( 1Sa 25:6-39 b).
On receiving news from Abigail about how close they had come to disaster Nabal had a stroke and died, causing David, when he heard of it, to thank YHWH for taking up his cause while keeping him from evil.
Analysis.
a
b And it came about in the morning, that when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone (1Sa 25:37).
c And it came about approximately ten days after, that YHWH smote Nabal, so that he died (1Sa 25:38).
b And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be YHWH, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil” (1Sa 25:39 a).
a “And the evildoing of Nabal has YHWH returned on his own head” (1Sa 25:39 b).
Note that in ‘a’ Nabal, having refused David and his men any provision, indulges himself to excess, and in the parallel his evil is said by David to have been returned by YHWH onto his own head. In ‘b’ Nabal had a stroke which is described as his heart dying within him, and in the parallel David learns that Nabal is dead and he blesses YHWH for Himself judging Nabal and preventing David from evil behaviour. Centrally in ‘c’ Nabal died.
1Sa 25:36
‘ And Abigail came to Nabal, and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk, for which reason she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.’
On returning home Abigail found the festivities in full progress with the result that Nabal was in no condition to listen to what she had to say because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing that night and decided to wait until he had sobered up in the morning.
The feast is said to be one which was the equivalent of that of a king, a reminder that we are to see in this incident a precursor of what would shortly happen to the real king. This extravagant language also emphasises the meanness of Nabal in refusing hospitality to David and his men. It had not been due to a shortage of provisions, but simply to nastiness.
1Sa 25:37
‘ And it came about in the morning, that when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.’
Once he had recovered from his excesses in the morning Abigail explained to him all that she had done, and how, as a result, she had been able to turn back an army of armed men who had been coming to destroy them. He found the news so disturbing that it resulted in him having a stroke. His body ceased to function. (Some consider that it was his anger at Abigail’s disobedience that caused his stroke, but no one would have ever known which it was)
1Sa 25:38
‘ And it came about approximately ten days after, that YHWH smote Nabal, so that he died.’
And the result was that around ten days afterwards he died, ‘smitten by YHWH’. (Anyone who had a stroke was in fact, in those days, seen as smitten by YHWH).
1Sa 25:39 a/b
‘And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be YHWH, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. And the evildoing of Nabal has YHWH returned on his own head.”
When David heard the news of the stroke, and Nabal’s consequent death, he blessed God both for avenging him the insult that he had suffered, and for punishing Nabal for his evildoing, while at the same time having prevented it occurring at David’s hands. It demonstrated to him that YHWH was with him, confirmed that in the same way he could also wait for YHWH Himself to deal with Saul, and in addition had given him a lesson in mercy.
The fact that David ‘heard’ so quickly suggests that he had by now an efficient system of spies and informers.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Sa 25:6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity], Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast.
Ver. 6. And thus shall ye say to him that liveth. ] Rich men only seem to live, – the Irish ask such what they meant to die; – poor people are reckoned among the dead, as it were; there is little account made of them, they stand for ciphers and shadows.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
him that liveth = the bon vivant.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
liveth: 1Th 3:8, 1Ti 5:6
Peace be both: 2Sa 18:28, *marg. 1Ch 12:18, Psa 122:7, Mat 10:12, Mat 10:13, Luk 10:5, Joh 14:27, 2Th 3:16
Reciprocal: Gen 43:23 – Peace Jdg 19:20 – Peace be Psa 49:18 – praise Eph 6:23 – Peace Jam 5:5 – have lived
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
25:6 And thus shall ye say {c} to him that liveth [in prosperity], Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast.
(c) Or, for salvation.