Largeheartedness of David
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gave thanks and blessings because she advised him righteously. How
few take reproof with gratitude and bless those who seek to save them
from pursuing an evil course.
Remorse and Fear Take Nabal’s Life
When Abigail returned home she found Nabal and his guests in
drunken revelry. Not until the next morning did she relate to her
husband what had occurred in her interview with David. When he
realized how near his folly had brought him to sudden death, he seemed
smitten with paralysis. He was filled with horror and sank down in
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helpless insensibility. After ten days he died. In the midst of his
making merry, God had said to him, as to the rich man of the parable,
“This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”
Luke 12:20
.
David afterward married Abigail. He was already the husband of
one wife, but the custom of the nations of his time had perverted his
judgment. The bitter result of marrying many wives was sorely felt
throughout all the life of David.
Again the Ziphites, hoping to secure the favor of the king, informed
him of David’s hiding place. Once more Saul summoned his men of
arms and led them in pursuit of David. But friendly spies brought
tidings 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 slumber. In answer
to David’s question, “Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?”
Abishai promptly responded, “I will go down with thee.”
Hidden by the shadows of the hills, David and his attendant entered
the encampment. They came upon Saul sleeping, his spear stuck in
the ground and a cruse of water at his head. Beside him lay Abner,
his chief commander, and all around them were the soldiers, locked in
slumber. Abishai raised his spear. “God hath delivered thine enemy
into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee,
with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the
second time.” He waited for permission, but there fell upon his ear the
whispered words: “Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand
against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless? ... As the Lord liveth,
the Lord shall smite; ... or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The