ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for 1 Samuel 25

1 Sam 25:1 Samuel died and was buried in his house. Burial in a house was common in some ancient cultures, though unusual in Israel. Perhaps David went to Paran because he feared that Samuel’s death might turn Saul against him again.

1 Sam 25:2 “The wilderness of Paran” (v. 1) usually refers to the northeastern part of the Sinai peninsula (Num. 10:12). If the “stronghold” of 1 Sam. 24:22 is Masada, David would not have had to travel very far. Carmel is not the mountain in the north of Israel but a Judahite town between Ziph and Maon (see 15:12).

1 Sam 25:3 Nabal means “foolish” or “boorish” (see v. 25). Since it is unlikely that someone would be given a name with that meaning, it may have originated from another Hebrew word that is now unknown. Calebite may mean a descendant of Caleb, one of the scouts who was willing to enter Canaan (Num. 14:6–7) and who was given the land around Hebron (Josh. 14:6–14). Nabal’s wife Abigail should not be confused with David’s sister Abigail (1 Chron. 2:16–17).

1 Sam 25:4–8 Sheepshearing was a time of festivity (v. 8) as well as work. David addresses Nabal politely and respectfully. Sending ten young men suggests that he was asking for a substantial handout, but hardly enough to feed 600 men.

1 Sam 25:10 Nabal refuses David’s polite request (which might have been justifiable), and he treats David’s men with contempt. Like Saul and Doeg (20:27; 30; 22:8; 9; 13), Nabal seems to use the son of Jesse as an insult.

1 Sam 25:22 God do so to the enemies of David and more also is a common conditional curse formula (as in 3:17 and 14:44). The word male in this verse translates a Hebrew phrase that literally means “one who urinates at a wall.” In the Bible, the phrase always refers to the killing of all the males of a group (compare 1 Kings 14:10; 2 Kings 9:8).

1 Sam 25:23–31 Abigail warns David not to shed innocent blood. It would not be good for the future king to have killed fellow Israelites. He must let God remove his enemies, not take vengeance himself. The bundle of the living (v. 29), or “the document of the living,” is probably equivalent to “the book of the living” in Ps. 69:28.

1 Sam 25:32–35 For David to give up taking vengeance meant breaking the vow he made in v. 22. If one vows to sin, however, it is better to break the vow than to commit the sin vowed. Indeed, the very act of making a rash vow is a sin (Lev. 5:4–6). Jephthah (Judg. 11:29–40) and Herod the tetrarch (Matt. 14:7–9) should have broken their sinful vows.

1 Sam 25:35 Go up in peace to your house is more than just a conventional greeting. David is telling Abigail that her household is safe.

1 Sam 25:37–38 Abigail’s words had a devastating effect on Nabal. Whether he had a heart attack (his heart died within him) or a stroke (he became as a stone), ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

1 Sam 25:43 Because Ahinoam is always mentioned first, David probably married her before he married Abigail (v. 42). Ahinoam was the mother of David’s eldest son, Amnon (2 Sam. 3:2; 13:1–13). Abigail became the mother of David’s little-known second son Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3), also known as Daniel (1 Chron. 3:1). Since no mention is made of Chileab in the later family quarrels, he probably died young.

1 Sam 25:44 David had probably not seen his first wife, Michal, since she helped him escape from Saul in 19:11–17.