Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 25:18
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched [corn], and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid [them] on asses.
18. Abigail made haste, and took ] A store of provisions was prepared for the shearing feast ( 1Sa 25:11). For the different items of the present compare 2Sa 16:1; 1Ch 12:40.
two bottles of wine ] Skins, holding a considerable quantity. Ziba only brought one “bottle” of wine for David in his flight (2Sa 16:1). Those now used in the East are made of kid, goat, or ox skins, according to the size required.
five measures of parched corn ] See on 1Sa 17:17. The “measure” (Heb. seah) contained one third of an ephah. See on 1Sa 1:24. Parched corn was only a delicacy, which accounts for the comparatively small quantity.
clusters of raisins ] Lumps of dried grapes. The vineyards near Hebron still produce the largest and best grapes in all the country, and the finest of them are dried as raisins. Robinson’s Bibl. Res. I. 214, II. 81.
cakes of figs ] Figs dried and compressed. They still grow in abundance in the neighbourhood of Hebron.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Two bottles – Rather, two skins, each of which would contain many gallons. These leather vessels varied in size according to the skin they were made of, and the use they were to be put to. The smaller and more portable kind, which may not improperly be called bottles, were made of the skin of a kid: larger ones of the skin of a he-goat. The Arabs invariably to this day carry their milk, water, etc., in such leather vessels. One skin of wine was a handsome present from Ziba, sufficient for Davids household 2Sa 16:1. The provisions were all ready to Abigails hand, having been provided for the sheep-shearing feast.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Took two hundred loaves] The Eastern bread is ordinarily both thin and small; and answers to our cakes.
Two bottles of wine] That is, two goat-skins full. The hide is pulled off the animal without ripping up; the places where the legs, c., were are sewed up, and then the skin appears one large bag. This is properly the Scripture and Eastern bottle. There is one such before me.
Five sheep] Not one sheep to one hundred men.
Clusters of raisins] Raisins dried in the sun.
Cakes of figs] Figs cured, and then pressed together. We receive the former in jars, and the latter in small barrels and both articles answer the description here given.
Now all this provision was a matter of little worth, and, had it been granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured the good offices of him and his men. Abigail showed both her wisdom and prudence in making this provision. Out of three thousand sheep Nabal could not have missed five; and as this claim was made only in the time of sheep-shearing, it could not have been made more than once in the year: and it certainly was a small price for such important services.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Abigail took two hundred loaves; which she did without his leave, and against his mind, because it was a case of apparent necessity, for the preservation of herself, and husband, and all the family from imminent ruin. And surely that real and urgent necessity which dispenseth with Gods positive commands, might well dispense with the husbands right in this case.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then Abigail made haste,…. As the case required, her family being in imminent danger:
and took two hundred loaves; of bread; of what size or weight they were is not said; though it may be reasonably concluded they were pretty large, since they are not called cakes, but loaves, and since they were to be a present to David and his men, who were numerous:
and two bottles of wine; not such as ours are, which would have borne no proportion to the rest of the provision; but these were leathern bags which held a large quantity, in which they put and carried wine in those times and countries; the Septuagint version is, two vessels or casks of wine:
and five sheep ready dressed; killed and dressed by the butcher, or made ready by the cook, boiled or roasted; the word which the Targum uses, according to the interpretation of Jarchi, from one of their Rabbins, signifies such as were stuffed with small pieces of meat, and eggs in them, or, as it should seem, made into pastries:
and five measures of parched [corn]; or five seahs, a measure which held, according to Bishop Cumberland b, two wine gallons, four bottles, and a little more; of this parched corn, [See comments on 1Sa 17:17]; where mention is made of an ephah of it; and the Septuagint version has the same measure here, and calls them five ephahs of flour:
and an hundred clusters of raisins; or dried grapes, as the Targum; the Septuagint is, one omer of them, which was the tenth part of an ephah:
and two hundred cakes of figs; which were dried, and pressed, and made into lumps, and she took two hundred of these; or, as the Targum, two hundred pound weight of them:
and laid [them] on asses; one not being sufficient to carry all this provision.
b Of Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Abigail Meets David. | B. C. 1057. |
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. 19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. 20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. 21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. 22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, 24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. 25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. 29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; 31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
We have here an account of Abigail’s prudent management for the preserving of her husband and family from the destruction that was just coming upon them; and we find that she did her part admirably well and fully answered her character. The passion of fools often makes those breaches in a little time which the wise, with all their wisdom, have much ado to make up again. It is hard to say whether Abigail was more miserable in such a husband or Nabal happy in such a wife. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, to protect as well as adorn, and will do him good and not evil. Wisdom in such a case as this was better than weapons of war. 1. It was her wisdom that what she did she did quickly, and without delay; she made haste, v. 18. It was no time to trifle or linger when all was in danger. Those that desire conditions of peace must send when the enemy is yet a great way off, Luke xiv. 32. 2. It was her wisdom that what she did she did herself, because, being a woman of great prudence and very happy address, she knew better how to manage it than any servant she had. The virtuous woman will herself look well to the ways of her household, and not devolve this duty wholly upon others.
Abigail must endeavour to atone for Nabal’s faults. Now he had been in two ways rude to David’s messengers, and in them to David: He had denied them the provisions they asked for, and he had given them very provoking language. Now,
I. By a most generous present, Abigail atones for his denial of their request. If Nabal had given them what came next to hand, they would have gone away thankful; but Abigail prepares the very best the house afforded and abundance of it (v. 18), according to the usual entertainments of those times, not only bread and flesh, but raisins and figs, which were their dried sweet-meats. Nabal grudged them water, but she took two bottles (casks or rundlets) of wine, loaded her asses with these provisions, and sent them before; for a gift pacifieth anger, Prov. xxi. 14. Jacob thus pacified Esau. When the instruments of the churl are evil, the liberal devises liberal things, and loses nothing by it; for by liberal things shall he stand,Isa 32:7; Isa 32:8. Abigail not only lawfully, but laudably, disposed of all these goods of her husband’s without his knowledge (even when she had reason to think that if he had known what she did he would not have consented to it), because it was not to gratify her own pride or vanity, but for the necessary defence of him and his family. which otherwise would have been inevitably ruined. Husbands and wives, for their common good and benefit, have a joint-interest in their worldly possessions; but if either waste, or unduly spend in any way, it is a robbing of the other.
II. By a most obliging demeanour, and charming speech, she atones for the abusive language which Nabal had given them. She met David upon the march, big with resentment, and meditating the destruction of Nabal (v. 20); but with all possible expressions of complaisance and respect she humbly begs his favour, and solicits him to pass by the offence. Her demeanour was very submissive: She bowed herself to the ground before David (v. 23) and fell at his feet, v. 24. Yielding pacifies great offences. She put herself into the place and posture of a penitent and of a petitioner, and was not ashamed to do it, when it was for the good of her house, in the sight both of her own servants and of David’s soldiers. She humbly begs of David that he will give her the hearing: Let thy handmaid speak in thy audience. But she needed not thus to bespeak his attention and patience; what she said was sufficient to command it, for certainly nothing could be more fine nor more moving. No topic of argument is left untouched; every thing is well placed and well expressed, most pertinently and pathetically urged, and improved to the best advantage, with such a force of natural rhetoric as cannot easily be paralleled.
1. She speaks to him all along with the deference and respect due to so great and good a man, calls him My lord, over and over, to expiate her husband’s crime in saying, “Who is David?” She does not upbraid him with the heat of his passion, though he deserved to be reproved for it; nor does she tell him how ill it became his character; but endeavours to soften him and bring him to a better temper, not doubting but that then his own conscience would upbraid him with it.
2. She takes the blame of the ill-treatment of his messengers upon herself: “Upon me, my lord, upon me, let this iniquity be, v. 24. If thou wilt be angry, be angry with me, rather than with my poor husband, and look upon it as the trespass of thy handmaid,” v. 28. Sordid spirits care not how much others suffer for their faults, while generous spirits can be content to suffer for the faults of others. Abigail here discovered the sincerity and strength of her conjugal affection and concern for her family: whatever Nabal was, he was her husband.
3. She excuses her husband’s fault by imputing it to his natural weakness and want of understanding (v. 25): “Let not my lord take notice of his rudeness and ill manners, for it is like him; it is not the first time that he has behaved so churlishly; he must be borne with, for it is for want of wit: Nabal is his name” (which signifies a fool), “and folly is with him. It was owing to his folly, not his malice. He is simple, but not spiteful. Forgive him, for he knows not what he does.” What she said was too true, and she said it to excuse his fault and prevent his ruin, else she would not have done well to give such a bad character as this of her own husband, whom she ought to make the best of, and not to speak ill of.
4. She pleads her own ignorance of the matter: “I saw not the young men, else they should have had a better answer, and should not have gone without their errand,” intimating hereby that though her husband was foolish, and unfit to manage his affairs himself, yet he had so much wisdom as to be ruled by her and take her advice.
5. She takes it for granted that she has gained her point already, perhaps perceiving, by David’s countenance, that he began to change his mind (v. 26): Seeing the Lord hath withholden thee. She depends not upon her own reasonings, but God’s grace, to mollify him, and doubts not but that grace would work powerfully upon him; and then, “Let all thy enemies be as Nabal, that is, if thou forbear to avenge thyself, no doubt God will avenge thee on him, as he will on all thy other enemies.” Or it intimates that it was below him to take vengeance on so weak and impotent an enemy as Nabal was, who, as he would do him no kindness, so he could do him no hurt, for he needed to wish no more concerning his enemies than that they might be as unable to resist him as Nabal was. Perhaps she refers to his sparing Saul, when, but the other day, he had him at his mercy. “Didst thou forbear to avenge thyself on that lion that would devour thee, and wilt thou shed the blood of this dog that can but bark at thee?” The very mentioning of what he was about to do, to shed blood and to avenge himself, was enough to work upon such a tender gracious spirit as David had; and it should seem, by his reply (v. 33), that it affected him.
6. She makes a tender of the present she had brought, but speaks of it as unworthy of David’s acceptance, and therefore desires it may be given to the young men that followed him (v. 27), and particularly to those ten that were his messengers to Nabal, and whom he had treated so rudely.
7. She applauds David for the good services he had done against the common enemies of his country, the glory of which great achievements, she hoped, he would not stain by any personal revenge: “My lord fighteth the battles of the Lord against the Philistines, and therefore he will leave it to God to fight his battles against those that affront him, v. 28. Evil has not been found in thee all thy days. Thou never yet didst wrong to any of thy countrymen (though persecuted as a traitor), and therefore thou wilt not begin now, nor do a thing which Saul will improve for the justifying of his malice against thee.”
8. She foretels the glorious issue of his present troubles. “It is true a man pursues thee and seeks thy life” (she names not Saul, out of respect to his present character as king), “but thou needest not look with so sharp and jealous an eye upon every one that affronts thee;” for all these storms that now ruffle thee will be blown over shortly. She speaks it with assurance, (1.) That God would keep him safe: The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God, that is, God shall hold thy soul in life (as the expression is, Ps. lxvi. 9) as we hold those things which are bundled up or which are precious to us, Ps. cxvi. 15. Thy soul shall be treasured up in the treasure of lives (so the Chaldee), under lock and key as our treasure is. “Thou shalt abide under the special protection of the divine providence.” The bundle of life is with the Lord our God, for in his hand our breath is, and our times. Those are safe, and may be easy, that have him for their protector. The Jews understand this not only of the life that now is, but of that which is to come, even the happiness of separate souls, and therefore use it commonly as an inscription on their gravestones. “Here we have laid the body, but trust that the soul is bound up in the bundle of life, with the Lord our God.” There it is safe, while the dust of the body is scattered. (2.) That God would make him victorious over his enemies. Their souls he shall sling out, v. 29. The stone is bound up in the sling, but it is in order to be thrown out again; so the souls of the godly shall be bundled as corn for the barn, but the souls of the wicked as tares for the fire. (3.) That God would settle him in wealth and power: “The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, and no enemy thou hast can hinder it; therefore forgive this trespass,” that is, “show mercy, as thou hopest to find mercy. God will make thee great, and it is the glory of great men to pass by offences.”
9. She desires him to consider how much more comfortable it would be to him in the reflection to have forgiven this affront than to have revenged it, 1Sa 25:30; 1Sa 25:31. She reserves this argument for the last, as a very powerful one with so good a man, that the less he indulged his passion the more he consulted his peace and the repose of his own conscience, which every wise man will be tender of. (1.) She cannot but think that if he should avenge himself it would afterwards be a grief and an offence of heart to him, Many have done that in a heat which they have a thousand times wished undone again. The sweetness of revenge is soon turned into bitterness. (2.) She is confident that if he pass by the offence it will afterwards by no grief to him; but, on the contrary, it would yield him unspeakable satisfaction that his wisdom and grace had got the better of his passion. Note, When we are tempted to sin we should consider how it will appear in the reflection. Let us never do any thing for which our own consciences will afterwards have occasion to upbraid us, and which we shall look back upon with regret: My heart shall not reproach me.
10. She recommends herself to his favour: When the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid, as one that kept thee from doing that which would have disgraced thy honour, disquieted thy conscience, and made a blot in thy history. We have reason to remember those with respect and gratitude who have been instrumental to keep us from sin.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Abigail Intercedes, vs. 18-31
The wise Abigail immediately took the problem in hand and made up a rich present for David’s men. She loaded asses with bread, wine, dressed sheep, parched grain, raisin clusters, and cakes of figs and set out with the servant to intercept David before his army could destroy them. The matter was urgent, and she did not tell Nabal who would doubtless have opposed it. As she came around one side of the mountain she met David coming round the other toward her.
David’s intent is now fully revealed. His feeling was that all he had done for Nabal was not only unappreciated, but shamefully belittled. In David’s anger he felt justified in destroying the fellow and confiscating the goods of the ungrateful wretch. So he had sworn to leave no male member of his household alive by the morning light. This is the resentful person with whom Abigail now came face to face, and she must pacify him or lose all.
The wisdom of Abigail appears at once. She begins with great humility, getting down from her donkey and bowing herself in deference and honor before David. She fell down at David’s feet and took the blame for the insult made to him by her husband, Nabal. She made some very significant points in her plea to David which emphasize a great lesson for all God’s children in any age.
First, Abigail called on David to consider the person against whom he is so understandably incensed. He is a man of Belial, of worthless character. His name is Nabal, from the Hebrew word “fool”, and that is what he is. His life had been characterized by deeds of folly. How beneath David, God’s anointed king of Israel, to massacre the house of a fool.
Second, David should consider that to this point of his long flight from Saul he had not been compelled to shed the blood of any of the people of Israel. In this sense God had kept him in the goodwill, at least of most of the people, of Israel. All of those who opposed David were foolish like Nabal, as it was obvious that God was blessing and aiding the establishment of David.
Third, David had sent to Nabal for provisions and share in the feasting of Nabal’s shearers. Abigail had brought an abundance of good things as a present to them, so that they no longer had, an excuse from that standpoint for attacking the camp of Nabal.
Fourth, though Saul had risen up to pursue .and attempt to interfere with David’s becoming the ruler of Israel, it was apparent to all those wise like Abigail that he would not succeed. David had fought for the Lord’s honor and his life was bound up in the life of the Lord his God. In other words, the Lord had preserved David, and he could not be destroyed, although his enemies would be destroyed when God slings them out of His sling.
Finally, when the time came that David would ascend the throne of Israel as God had promised, if he withdrew from this undertaking he was now on, there would be no blot on his career. Abigail was advising David that should he persist in the rashness of anger to shed blood for no cause, taking vengeance for himself instead of leaving it to God, he would bring himself a lifetime of regret. David was about to commit the very thing against Nabal which he had shortly before refused to commit with reference to Saul. David is asked to consider the seriousness of what he is about to do.
As a postscript to her speech Abigail asked David, when the Lord has brought to pass vengeance on the behalf of David, to remember her, his handmaid. Abigail here endeared herself to David, for she did, indeed, give him very worthy and sage advice, (Php_4:13; Php_4:19; Heb 13:5).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(18) Five measures.The LXX. alter the measure into five ephahs, thinking the quantity in the text ridiculously small for such an host as followed David. Ewald too, would change 5 into 500; but the truth is that Abigail in her haste, thinking rightly that no time must be lost, as the danger was pressing, simply pro-provided a liberal present for Davids own immediate followers, not for the whole force.
An hundred clusters of raisins.That is, an hundred cakes of dried grapeswhat in Italy is called simmuki.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(18) Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. (19) And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. (20) And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. (21) Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. (22) So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. (23) And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, (24) And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. (25) Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. (26) Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. (27) And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. (28) I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. (29) Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. (30) And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; (31) That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
I need not offer any comment, by way of explaining what is already so very plain; or of recommending what is so very beautiful in itself, in this conduct and address of Abigail, to the Reader’s notice. But, while I would leave the Reader to his own reflections on this most interesting passage in the chapter, I cannot suffer him to pass on, without calling on him to remark with me, how very evident the wisdom and grace of God must have been working upon Abigail’s mind, to induce this conduct. Oh, Sir! it is sweet, very sweet, to observe how a gracious God arrangeth and disposeth of a thousand things to bring about the purposes and counsels of his own will. Whether Abigail knew the Lord, or whether she did not, at this time, yet God was pleased to make her an instrument to save the shedding of blood, to protect and shelter the innocent from being included in the common calamity with the wicked, and to keep back his servant David from sin. Perhaps David referred to this instance when he expressed himself in that Psalm, of being kept from presumptuous sins. Psa 19:13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.” 1Sa 25:18 .
All this was done to propitiate a man. Some rule of courtesy had been violated, and the wife of the reckless violator undertook to make amends. We may be more careful about etiquette than we are about righteousness. It is possible to be more anxious to placate a human enemy than to assure God of our penitence and contrition because of our violation of his law. There is a kind of natural religion whose instincts should teach us a good deal about the higher piety. When we have committed a trespass against human law natural religion urges us to confession, amendment, and reparation: ought we not to carry the teaching of that instinct still higher, and to reason with ourselves that if we have broken the law of God we should go in humblest attitude before him and with a broken heart seek his forgiveness? The danger is lest the light that is in us be darkness, and then how great is the density of that gloom! We know what to do to one another, and yet we know not what to do to Almighty God. We have kept our ceremonial life clear of all blame, and yet our spiritual life may be filled with all the mischief of disobedience and rebellion. In going to God we need not make all this large preparation; we take nothing in our hand, we bring no price along with us; we simply cling to him who is our Surety, our Defence, our Propitiation. Still the same principle is involved in both cases. In the one case there has been human neglect to a human king; in the other there has been human disobedience to a divine Lord; in both cases there must be a sense of neglect or wrongdoing, and in both cases the offended must be placated by some action on our part. The Lord has no need of sacrifices of our making; he asks not that we should serve him by outward decorum or buy his pardon with gifts of gold: we are called upon to avail ourselves of the mystery of Christ’s priesthood, and to find in Christ the answer to every charge as to a broken law. We bring most when we bring nothing. All we are required to bring is a broken heart, and faith in him who died that our sins might be forgiven. This is a great mystery. There is nothing here that appeals to vanity, or that elicits from us a display of those ostentations which delight the fancy and dazzle the public: we are to be shut up with God in the privacy of unknown and unheard of communion, and in that holy secrecy we are to receive the blessing which comes from the eternal Christ alone.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
1Sa 25:18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched [corn], and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid [them] on asses.
Ver. 18. Then Abigail made haste. ] As if she had had wings, and “wind in her wings,” as Zec 5:9 for she well knew the danger of delays in such a case.
And took two hundred loaves.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6), emphasising Abigail’s thought and care, as well as rapidity. measures. See App-51.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a Wise Womans Plea
1Sa 25:18-31
What a contrast between the sordid Nabal and his beautiful wife-as lovely in disposition as in face! What a terrible trial for such a woman to be united with a man of whom his servant did not hesitate to speak to his wife in the words of 1Sa 25:17! With what admirable tact did Abigail treat the whole situation! She did not talk to her husband while he was drunk; she took the matter in hand without a moments delay and marshaled her arguments with commendable sagacity.
It is a blessed partnership when husband and wife are so united that they are animated by a common purpose; but where this is not the case, let not the evil disposition of the one hinder the devotion and grace of the other. In the home-life, as in redemption, where sin abounds, grace should much more abound, that where the former reigns unto death, the latter may reign in life, Rom 5:21. Never let the difficulties of your home lead you to abdicate your throne. Do not step down to the level of your circumstances, but lift these to your own high calling in Jesus Christ. Be not conformed, be transformed, Rom 12:1-2.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
made haste: 1Sa 25:34, Num 16:46-48, Pro 6:4, Pro 6:5, Mat 5:25
took two: The Eastern bread is generally both thin and small; and answers to our cakes. Gen 32:13-20, Gen 43:11-14, 2Sa 17:28, 2Sa 17:29, Pro 18:16, Pro 21:14
two bottles: That is, two goatskins’ full.
five sheep: Not one sheep to one hundred men.
clusters: Heb. lumps, Raisins dried in the sun, 2Sa 16:1
cakes of figs: Figs cured and then pressed together. Now all this provision was a matter of little worth; and had it been granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured his good offices.
Reciprocal: Jdg 1:15 – a blessing Jdg 8:5 – loaves Rth 2:14 – parched 1Sa 16:20 – an ass laden 1Sa 17:17 – parched corn 1Sa 27:3 – with his two 1Ch 12:40 – cakes of figs Pro 31:12 – General Luk 12:58 – give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 25:18-19. Then Abigail took two hundred loaves, &c. This shows he was a great man, who had plenty of provisions in his house. Abigail did this of her own accord, without her husbands leave, because it was a case of apparent necessity, for the preservation of herself and husband, and all the family, from imminent ruin. She said unto her servants, Go on before me, &c. They carried the present, that David, beholding it, might be a little mitigated before she came to him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Abigail’s preparations for appealing to David 25:18-22
As Abimelech had done earlier (1Sa 21:4), Abigail prepared to sustain the Lord’s anointed and his men with food. Compare Jacob’s similar scheme to placate Esau (Gen 32:13-21). Was it proper for Abigail to do this without telling her husband? I would say that it was since she was attempting to save Nabal’s life. If she had told him, he probably would not have permitted her to go and would have died at David’s hand as a result.