The Bible is full of characters, both major and minor. The major ones, like Moses, and Jesus, have movies made about them. The minor ones, not so much unless they did sensational things, like Samson.
The Bible also tends to make assumptions of the reader, since there are many instances in which the Bible doesn’t give details, for instance as to why certain individuals are considered evil. It seems to have a tendency of speaking in general terms when it describes them.
There is a relatively minor character in the Old Testament named Nabal, and his story starts in 1 Samuel 25. In reading about Nabal, one wonders if this story was the inspiration for movies such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Scarface,’ but I’m getting ahead of myself.
By the time we reach 1 Samuel 25, David has established himself as a formidable leader who chases down the Philistines. To the people living in places that could be taken by the Philistines, it rather makes no difference to them as to whom they should show their loyalty to. To them, there is no apparent difference between David and the Philistines.
As the story goes, David is looking for food and other provisions on what he refers to as a Feast Day. He learns that a very rich man named Nabal has such provisions since he too is having a Feast Day and he has provided a feast for the many people who work for him. David also learns that Nabal’s shepherds were in areas occupied by David, who, in his authority, does no harm to them.
What does the Bible tell us about Nabal? 1 Samuel 25:2-3 says, “The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but THE MAN WAS HARSH AND BADLY BEHAVED…”
David tells ten of his men to go to Carmel and ask Nabal if he can spare food and other provisions for his men, since it was a Feast Day. David tells his men in verses 6-8 to tell Nabal, “Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.”
Reading this passage reminds me of the move “The Godfather Part 2,’ in which a young Don Corleone in the Lower East Side, played by Robert DeNiro, asks a landlord to do him a favor and not evict a friend who has a dog. He tells the landlord to ask around about him, so he can see how respectable Corleone is.
Anyway, using the subtle linguo that is often found in the Bible, Nabal responds badly, sorta like the way the landlord disses Corleone. He says to David’s men in verses 10 and 11, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” This angers David, who tells his men to strap on their swords so they can do battle against Nabal.
Nabil’s wife, Abigail, learns of what David intends to do and she goes personally to David to appeal to him to spare Nabal and his men. She doesn’t have any kind words about Nabal either, for she tells David in verse 25, “Let not my lord regard THIS WORTHLESS FELLOW, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.” Regarding the name ‘Nabal,’ we are told by writers that the name means “fool.” One wonders at first how it is that a very rich person can be worthless and a fool, but considering our present leaders, it isn’t too fat fetched; a person can be rich in material things, but foolish and worthless in character.
So anyway, in appealing to David she says, in verse 26, “Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt…let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.” David must have been impressed by Abigail’s mentioning the Lord, for he responds in verses 32-34, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there [would have] not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” David then says in verse 35, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
Well, apparently God didn’t like Nabal either, for we learn in verse 38 that He strikes him dead. David then takes Nabal’s wife, now widow, Abigail, to be his wife. This is the part of the story that reminds me of the movie ‘Scarface,’ in which after the drug merchant Robert Loggia is dead, Al Pacino as Scarface marries the drug merchant’s wife, now widow.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 SAYS THAT ALL SCRIPTURE IS BREATHED OUT BY GOD FOR TEACHING. What have we learned from this story? Why did God kill Nabal? Did He kill him because he didn’t know David, who was doing God’s work? Perhaps it illustrates the pitfalls of not abiding by Leviticus 19:18 and 19:34, and Jesus’ second commandment which is to love your neighbor as yourself, and in so doing, by implication, you are to be a neighbor to that other person as well. Jesus in the Parable of the Good Samaritan says that your neighbor is someone who can help you. Nabal did not show any love to David, and so he suffered the consequences.
Perhaps all those thereafter who have shown hostility to people who live under God and who may have died at an inopportune time, perished because of the hostility they showed to God’s people, and it may serve as a warning to anyone who would be so hostile. Indeed, in that regard, how foolish and morally worthless some people can be.
The Bible also tends to make assumptions of the reader, since there are many instances in which the Bible doesn’t give details, for instance as to why certain individuals are considered evil. It seems to have a tendency of speaking in general terms when it describes them.
There is a relatively minor character in the Old Testament named Nabal, and his story starts in 1 Samuel 25. In reading about Nabal, one wonders if this story was the inspiration for movies such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Scarface,’ but I’m getting ahead of myself.
By the time we reach 1 Samuel 25, David has established himself as a formidable leader who chases down the Philistines. To the people living in places that could be taken by the Philistines, it rather makes no difference to them as to whom they should show their loyalty to. To them, there is no apparent difference between David and the Philistines.
As the story goes, David is looking for food and other provisions on what he refers to as a Feast Day. He learns that a very rich man named Nabal has such provisions since he too is having a Feast Day and he has provided a feast for the many people who work for him. David also learns that Nabal’s shepherds were in areas occupied by David, who, in his authority, does no harm to them.
What does the Bible tell us about Nabal? 1 Samuel 25:2-3 says, “The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but THE MAN WAS HARSH AND BADLY BEHAVED…”
David tells ten of his men to go to Carmel and ask Nabal if he can spare food and other provisions for his men, since it was a Feast Day. David tells his men in verses 6-8 to tell Nabal, “Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.”
Reading this passage reminds me of the move “The Godfather Part 2,’ in which a young Don Corleone in the Lower East Side, played by Robert DeNiro, asks a landlord to do him a favor and not evict a friend who has a dog. He tells the landlord to ask around about him, so he can see how respectable Corleone is.
Anyway, using the subtle linguo that is often found in the Bible, Nabal responds badly, sorta like the way the landlord disses Corleone. He says to David’s men in verses 10 and 11, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” This angers David, who tells his men to strap on their swords so they can do battle against Nabal.
Nabil’s wife, Abigail, learns of what David intends to do and she goes personally to David to appeal to him to spare Nabal and his men. She doesn’t have any kind words about Nabal either, for she tells David in verse 25, “Let not my lord regard THIS WORTHLESS FELLOW, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.” Regarding the name ‘Nabal,’ we are told by writers that the name means “fool.” One wonders at first how it is that a very rich person can be worthless and a fool, but considering our present leaders, it isn’t too fat fetched; a person can be rich in material things, but foolish and worthless in character.
So anyway, in appealing to David she says, in verse 26, “Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt…let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.” David must have been impressed by Abigail’s mentioning the Lord, for he responds in verses 32-34, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there [would have] not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” David then says in verse 35, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
Well, apparently God didn’t like Nabal either, for we learn in verse 38 that He strikes him dead. David then takes Nabal’s wife, now widow, Abigail, to be his wife. This is the part of the story that reminds me of the movie ‘Scarface,’ in which after the drug merchant Robert Loggia is dead, Al Pacino as Scarface marries the drug merchant’s wife, now widow.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 SAYS THAT ALL SCRIPTURE IS BREATHED OUT BY GOD FOR TEACHING. What have we learned from this story? Why did God kill Nabal? Did He kill him because he didn’t know David, who was doing God’s work? Perhaps it illustrates the pitfalls of not abiding by Leviticus 19:18 and 19:34, and Jesus’ second commandment which is to love your neighbor as yourself, and in so doing, by implication, you are to be a neighbor to that other person as well. Jesus in the Parable of the Good Samaritan says that your neighbor is someone who can help you. Nabal did not show any love to David, and so he suffered the consequences.
Perhaps all those thereafter who have shown hostility to people who live under God and who may have died at an inopportune time, perished because of the hostility they showed to God’s people, and it may serve as a warning to anyone who would be so hostile. Indeed, in that regard, how foolish and morally worthless some people can be.
