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The Beginning of the End
He gave thanks and blessings because she advised him in the right
way. How few people listen to reproof with gratitude and bless those
who try to save them from following an evil course.
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Remorse and Fear Take Nabal’s Life
When Abigail returned home she found Nabal and his guests
in a drunken celebration. She did not tell her husband what had
happened in her meeting with David until the next morning. When
he realized how near his foolishness had brought him to sudden
death, he seemed to become paralyzed. He was filled with horror
and sank down in a helpless daze. After ten days he died. In the
middle of his celebrations, God had said to him, as to the rich man
of the parable, “This night your soul will be required of you.” (
Luke
12:20
).
Later David married Abigail. He was already the husband of
one wife, but the custom of the nations of his time had perverted his
judgment. Throughout all of his life, David felt the bitter result of
marrying many wives.
The Ziphites, hoping to win favor with the king, again told him
about David’s hiding place. Once more Saul summoned his men
of arms and led them in hunting David. But friendly spies brought
word to the son of Jesse, and with a few of his men, David started
out to learn the location of his enemy.
It was night when they came upon the tents of the king and his
attendants and saw, unobserved, the camp quiet in sleep. David
asked, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai
promptly responded, “I will go down with you.”
Hidden by the shadows of the hills, David and his attendant
entered the camp. They came near to Saul who was sleeping, with
his spear stuck in the ground and a jug of water at his head. Beside
him lay Abner, his chief commander, and all around them were
the soldiers, locked in sleep. Abishai raised his spear. “God has
delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please
let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will
not have to strike him a second time!” He waited for permission,
but instead he heard the whispered words: “‘Do not destroy him;
for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and