Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 25:28
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.
28. the trespass of thine handmaid ] She takes the blame of the wrong done to David upon herself, as in v. 24.
for the Lord, &c.] Abigail grounds her request on the conviction that David will succeed to the kingdom, when, as she points out in 1Sa 25:30-31, such an act of violence as he was minded to commit would be a burden on his conscience. Her conviction rests (1) on the fact that he has proved himself the champion of Jehovah’s people (see on 1Sa 18:17); (2) on his blameless life. Doubtless the nation was already anxiously looking forward to David as its future king.
will certainly make my lord a sure house ] Will establish him and his posterity on the throne. For the phrase see 1Sa 2:35; and compare the promise in 2Sa 7:16. The same epithet is applied to David himself in 1Sa 22:14 (E. V. faithful).
evil hath not been found in thee ] Cp. 1Sa 24:11; Psa 7:3. David’s generous and winning character was in sharp contrast to Saul’s jealous suspicion and mad cruelty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the Lord will make … a sure house – Compare 1Sa 2:35, and 2Sa 7:16; 1Ki 11:38. Abigails firm persuasion of Davids kingdom stands upon the same footing as Rahabs conviction of Gods gift of Canaan to the Israelites Jos 2:9-13. Both testified to Gods revelation and their own faith. This is doubtless the reason why Abigails speech is recorded.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 28. And evil hath not been found in thee] Thou hast not committed any act of this kind hitherto.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The trespass of thine handmaid, i.e. which I have taken upon myself, 1Sa 25:21, and which, if it be not pardoned, but punished, the punishment will reach to me.
Will certainly make my lord a sure house, i.e. will give the kingdom to thee, and to thy house for ever, as he hath promised thee. And therefore let Gods great kindness to thee make thee gentle and merciful to others; do not sully thy approaching glory with the stain of innocent blood; but consider that it is the glory of a king (which thou art by Gods appointment, and shall ere long actually be) to pass by offences, and that it will be thy loss to cut off such as will shortly be thy subjects.
The battles of the Lord, i.e. for the Lord, and for the people of the Lord, against their enemies, especially the Philistines. And as that this is thy proper work, and therein thou mayst expect Gods blessing and help; so it is not thy work to draw thy sword in thy own private quarrel against any of the people of the Lord, and God will not bless thee in it.
Evil hath not been found in thee all thy days; though thou hast been oft aspersed, and charged with many critics, by Saul and others; yet thy innocency hath been and is evident to all men: do not therefore now by this cruel act of vengeance justify thine enemies reproaches, nor blemish thy great and just reputation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid,…. The trespasses, as the Targum, either the sin of her husband, she had taken upon herself, or her boldness in troubling him with her petitions and solicitations, and even with the present she had brought:
for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house; or a firm kingdom, as the Targum; would raise him to the kingdom of Israel, and establish it in his posterity, that it should not be taken from him, as it would be from Saul:
because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord; the battles of the people of the Lord, as the Targum, of the people of Israel against the Philistines; which he had often done with success, the Lord being with him, and prospering him and therefore would firmly settle him on the throne, and continue the kingdom in his posterity:
and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days; no unjust action had been committed by him against his king and country, however he had been reproached and calumniated; and she hoped that therefore none would be done by him now to stain so fair a character.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(28) The trespass of thine handmaid.Abigail again takes upon herself the wrong; the gracious act of forgiveness, of which she feels assured beforehand, she reminds David, will be shown to her. Thus all the chivalry of Davids characterif we may use a term which belongs to another agewas brought out by this wise and beautiful woman.
For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house.Unconsciously, perhaps, without any very definite conception of their far reaching and magnificent meaning, the Israelitish lady repeats the words which she had heard perhaps in Samuels Naioth by Ramahpossibly from some trained or inspired disciple of the prophets school. She was thinking, perhaps, of the young captain then standing before her in all the pride of his early reputation, as the future hero-king of Israel, sitting on the throne of the insane and gloomy manher evil husbands friendKing Saul, and it may be of his son reigning after him; but the unconscious prophetess, we may be sure, never dreamed of that glorious and holy One in whose person, far down the stream of ages, the Eternal would make good her words, and indeed found for that outlawed chieftain, before whom she was then kneeling, a sure house.
The battles of the Lord.Abigail, in common with the pious Israelites of her time, looked on the wars waged by the armies of Israel against the idolatrous tribes and nations around them as the wars of Jehovah. We frequently in these early records meet with the expressions, fighting the battle of the Lord, the ranks of the living God, the battle is the Lords. We hear, too, of an ancient collection of songsballads, perhaps, would be a more accurate designationnow lost, entitled The Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14). For several years now since his famous combat with the great champion of idolatry, Goliath, David had been the popular hero and the favourite subject of those folk-songs which ever loved to sing of these Wars of Jehovah.
Evil hath not been found in thee.Rauh, evil, here signifies not wickedness, but misfortune. The wife of Nabal means to say that all through that stormy, restless life of Davids, the Lord had ever held him up. It had given him victory and crowned his efforts with splendid success; and in the later days of bitter persecution, the same invisible One had shielded him, and had turned what seemed to be the certain ruin of his prospects into a still more certain career of usefulness and popularity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Forgive the trespass of thine handmaid The trespass of coming unbidden into thy way and opposing thy purposes.
For This casual particle refers to what is implied in the preceding words. Thou canst afford to forgive, for the Lord, etc.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 25:28 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.
Ver. 28. Because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord. ] Non autem privatas ultiones tuas. a Here she argueth from his office, which was to fight the Lord’s battles, and not to revenge his own quarrel.
And evil hath not been found in thee,
a Jun.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
trespass. Hebrew. pasha`. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
forgive: 1Sa 25:24
the Lord: 1Sa 15:28, 2Sa 7:11, 2Sa 7:16, 2Sa 7:27, 1Ki 9:5, 1Ch 17:10, 1Ch 17:25, Psa 89:29
fighteth: 1Sa 17:47, 1Sa 18:17, 2Sa 5:2, 2Ch 20:15, Eph 6:10, Eph 6:11
evil hath: 1Sa 24:6, 1Sa 24:7, 1Sa 24:11, 1Sa 24:17, 1Ki 15:5, Psa 119:1-3, Mat 5:16, Luk 23:41, Luk 23:47
Reciprocal: Exo 1:21 – made them Jdg 5:23 – to the help 1Sa 2:35 – I will build 1Sa 29:3 – found 2Sa 23:5 – and sure 1Ki 2:24 – made me 1Ch 12:18 – thy God 1Ch 22:18 – before the Lord 2Ch 14:13 – his host Psa 7:4 – without Psa 17:7 – savest Psa 75:3 – I bear Psa 119:121 – I have Lam 3:52 – without
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 25:28. Forgive the trespass of thy handmaid That is, the trespass which I have taken upon myself, and which, if it be punished, the punishment will reach to me. Sure house Will give the kingdom to thee, and to thy house for ever, as he hath promised thee. And therefore let Gods kindness to thee make thee gentle and merciful to others; do not sully thy approaching glory with the stain of innocent blood; but consider that it is the glory of a king to pass by offences: and that it will be thy loss to cut off such as will shortly be thy subjects.
My lord fighteth the battles, &c. For the Lord, and for the people of the Lord, against their enemies; especially the Philistines. And, as this is thy proper work, and therein thou mayest expect Gods blessing; so it is not thy work to draw thy sword in thy own private quarrel against any of the people of the Lord; and God will not bless thee in it. Evil hath not been found in thee, &c. Though thou hast been charged with many crimes, by Saul and others, yet thy innocence is evident to all men. Do not therefore, by this cruel act, justify thine enemies reproaches, or blemish thy great and just reputation.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a {k} sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days.
(k) Confirm his kingdom to his posterity.