1 Samuel · WEB-C
1 Samuel
25
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Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. See also: 1 Samuel 28:3Numbers 20:29Deuteronomy 34:8There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. See also: Joshua 15:55Genesis 38:131 Samuel 23:24Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. See also: Proverbs 14:1Proverbs 31:10Isaiah 32:5-7David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. See also: 2 Samuel 13:23Genesis 38:13David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. See also: 1 Samuel 17:22Genesis 43:23Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have! See also: 1 Chronicles 12:18Psalms 122:7Luke 10:5Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Carmel. See also: 1 Samuel 25:211 Samuel 25:15-161 Samuel 22:2Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’” See also: Esther 9:19Nehemiah 8:10-121 Samuel 3:6When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited. See also: 2 Chronicles 14:72 Kings 2:15Genesis 8:4Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days. See also: Judges 9:28Isaiah 32:7Psalms 123:3-4Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?” See also: Judges 8:6Galatians 6:10Deuteronomy 8:17So David’s young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words. See also: 2 Samuel 24:13Hebrews 13:17Isaiah 36:21-22David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage. See also: 1 Samuel 23:13Proverbs 14:291 Samuel 30:9-10But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he insulted them. See also: 1 Samuel 13:10Mark 15:29But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields. See also: 1 Samuel 25:211 Samuel 25:7Philippians 2:15They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. See also: Job 1:10Exodus 14:22Zechariah 2:5Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.” See also: 1 Samuel 20:7Deuteronomy 13:131 Samuel 20:9Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. See also: 2 Samuel 16:1Proverbs 6:4-5Proverbs 18:16She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal. See also: Genesis 32:20Genesis 32:16Proverbs 31:11-12As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. See also: 2 Kings 4:24Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. See also: Proverbs 17:13Ephesians 4:26Ephesians 4:31God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.” See also: 1 Samuel 3:171 Kings 14:101 Samuel 20:13When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground. See also: 1 Samuel 20:41Judges 1:14Joshua 15:18She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant. See also: 2 Samuel 14:9Esther 8:31 Samuel 25:28Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent. See also: 1 Samuel 25:17Malachi 2:22 Samuel 13:33Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD has withheld you from blood guiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek evil to my lord be as Nabal. See also: 2 Samuel 18:32Romans 12:19-20Genesis 20:6Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. See also: Genesis 33:111 Samuel 30:262 Kings 5:15Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the LORD’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days. See also: 1 Samuel 18:172 Samuel 7:111 Samuel 24:11Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies as from a sling’s pocket. See also: John 17:21Malachi 3:17Matthew 10:29-30It will come to pass, when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, See also: 1 Samuel 13:141 Samuel 15:281 Samuel 23:17that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.” See also: Genesis 40:141 Samuel 25:33Romans 12:19David said to Abigail, “Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me! See also: Luke 1:68Psalms 72:18Genesis 24:27Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. See also: 1 Samuel 25:26Proverbs 25:12Proverbs 27:21For indeed, as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.” See also: 1 Samuel 25:181 Samuel 11:11Joshua 10:9So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.” See also: 1 Samuel 20:42Genesis 19:212 Kings 5:19Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. See also: 2 Samuel 13:28Proverbs 20:11 Samuel 25:19In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. See also: 1 Samuel 25:341 Samuel 25:22Job 15:21-22About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, so that he died. See also: 1 Samuel 25:331 Samuel 6:92 Samuel 6:7When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife. See also: Proverbs 22:231 Samuel 25:341 Samuel 25:26When David’s servants had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.” See also: Genesis 24:51Genesis 24:37-38She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” See also: 1 Timothy 5:10John 13:3-5Ruth 2:10Abigail hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. See also: Genesis 24:61-67Psalms 45:10-11David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives. See also: 1 Samuel 30:5Joshua 15:561 Samuel 27:3Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim. See also: 2 Samuel 3:141 Samuel 18:271 Samuel 18:20
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)29 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
1 Samuel 25:1
Ver. 1. Samuel died. The Rabbins say four months before Saul. Seder, olam 13.
T. --- Others believe about two years; and suppose that he was 98 years old, twenty of which he had been judge: (C.) Salien says 38, and that he lived seventy-seven years. M. --- On all these points the learned are divided. C. vii.
15. They are more unanimous in praising (H.) the conduct of this most holy statesman. Grotius compares him with Aristides. C. --- But he Holy Ghost gives Samuel a far more glorious character. Eccli. xlvi. 16. &c. H. --- Both he and his mother are figures of the two testaments. Anna becomes fruitful --- Samuel is substituted in the place of Heli. The sterility of Anna represents the incapacity of the Synagogue, to produce living and virtuous children. She bears Samuel, the figure of Jesus Christ, who reunites in his person the royal and the sacerdotal dignity. But under another point of view, Samuel, how perfect soever, must give place to the more perfect David, the glorious type of Jesus Christ, and thus the Synagogue, notwithstanding all her prerogatives, must yield to the Church. See S. Aug. de C.
xvii. 1. 4. Many of the ancients have looked upon Samuel as the high priest: but the generality have acknowledged that he was only a Levite, (C.) or an extraordinary priest, like Moses. H. ---
All Israel, or many from every tribe, assembled to attend his funeral; (T.) and all mourned for him, as they had done for Moses and Aaron. Salien. --- House, or among his kindred, (T.) in a place which he had chosen for his tomb. This is called the house of the wicked for ever; but the just raise their hopes much higher, and await a more splendid palace above, and a glorious resurrection.
H. --- The would not bury Samuel in his dwelling-house, as it could not then be entered without incurring an uncleanness. C. --- His bones were translated with great respect to Constantinople, and a noble mausoleum was built for them by the emperor Justinian. Procopius v. S. Jer. c. Vigil. T.
↑ 11 Samuel 25:2
Ver. 2. Maon. Vat. Sept. has the same word in the preceding verse, instead of Pharan. H. ---
Possessions. Heb. "work." Cattle then formed the chief source of riches.
Carmel and Maon were not far from Pharan, in Arabia. C.
↑ 21 Samuel 25:3
Ver. 3. Caleb, the famous companion of Josue. His name means, "a dog;"
whence the Sept. "he was a Cynic." Josephus, "he followed the manners of the Cynics," who were remarkable for their impudence, like dogs. Caleb was of the same tribe as David, and ought to have been more favourable to him on that account, v. 6. H.
↑ 31 Samuel 25:7
Ver. 7. Molested them. This deserved some acknowledgment, as they might have done it with impunity. But David had also been of service to Nabal's men, as one of them told Abigail, v.
16---21.
↑ 71 Samuel 25:8
Ver. 8. Good day, set aside for rejoicing, w hen the sheep were shorn. 2 K. xiii.
24.
↑ 81 Samuel 25:10
Ver. 10. Masters. As if he had said, you and David are but fugitive slaves. C. ---
He might also insinuate, that David encouraged such practices. C. xxii. 2. H.
↑ 101 Samuel 25:11
Ver. 11. Water, under which name all sorts of drinks are included. Nabal had plenty of wine, and was much intoxicated, v. 36. Sept. translate, "wine." Syr.
and Arab. "drink." --- Cattle. Heb.
"victims," which is a term used both for sacred and profane feasts.
↑ 111 Samuel 25:14
Ver. 14. Rejected them. Heb. "flew against them." Chal. "saw them with disgust."
↑ 141 Samuel 25:17
Ver. 17. Determined, and as if it had already taken place. C. xx. 7.
↑ 171 Samuel 25:18
Ver. 18. Raisins. Hebrew tsimmukim, "dried raisins," or clusters of an extraordinary size. Roger speaks of some gathered in the vale of Sorec, which weighed 25½ pounds. A.D. 1634. Sept. "a gomer of dry raisins." Syr. and Arab.
"a hundred cheeses." --- Cakes. Chal. "pounds." Heb. is imperfect, two hundred...of figs. We must supply (C.) cakes, with the Prot. &c. or pounds, with the Chaldee, (H.) as each of the cakes perhaps weighed so much. M.
↑ 181 Samuel 25:19
Ver. 19. Nabal. Knowing his churlish temper, and that he was drunk at this time, (v. 36. H.) she might be well excused from the ordinary laws which forbid a wife to dispose of her husband's property, without his consent. The emergency left no time for consultation. She gave a part to save the whole. C.
↑ 191 Samuel 25:20
Ver. 20. Foot. Heb. "in the obscurity," or road covered with trees. Sept. "in the shade." Chal.
"on the side." David was descending from the mountains of Pharan, at the same time.
↑ 201 Samuel 25:22
Ver. 22. The enemies, is left out in some editions of the Sept. But David wishes all evils to himself, though, to avoid the ominous expression, he specifies his enemies, if he do not punish Nabal. --- Leave. David certainly sinned in his designs against Nabal and his family, as he himself was afterwards sensible, when he blessed God for hindering him from executing the revenge he had proposed. Ch. --- All. Chal. "any one who is come to the use of reason." Syr.
and Arab. "the least thing hanging upon the wall." I will destroy the guilty, and plunder all the valuable effects. C. --- But the Heb. Sept. &c. agree with the Vulg. and the meaning is, either that every man, or that every dog, and even the meanest things, should be enveloped in the general ruin. H. --- The manners of men vary, but those of dogs are always the same. Hence, it is more generally supposed that this expression (C.) denotes that even dogs shall be exterminated, and consequently other things for which Nabal would have a greater affection. H. --- Aurelian being irritated against the inhabitants of Thiane, swore, "I will not leave a dog in this town;" which all people explained as if he meant to leave nothing alive in it. But being afterwards moved with compassion at the distress of the people, he executed his threat literally, and killed all the dogs.
Vopisc. See 3 K. xiv. 10. and xv. 29. and xxi. 21. and 4 K. v. 6. Bochart, Anim. ii.
55. Delrio, adag. 184. C. --- The unhappy Geddes translates, "a dog," to avoid the indelicate allusion. It would have been well if he had allowed himself no greater liberties! H. --- The Heb. mashtin, may denote a shepherd's or a mastiff dog. M.
↑ 221 Samuel 25:24
Ver. 24. Iniquity, or the punishment of this fault, v. 28. C. --- She wishes to divest the mind of David from the consideration of her husband's incivility; and, after condemning it herself, insinuates that it would be unbecoming for a great king to mind so insignificant an enemy, v. 28.
H. --- Thus the emperor Adrian, and Louis XII. would not resent the affronts which they had received before they were raised to that high dignity. T.
↑ 241 Samuel 25:25
Ver. 25. The king, is not in Heb. Sept. &c. David's title was not yet publicly acknowledged. C.
---But Abigail plainly alludes to it, v. 28. H. --- Name. Nabal, in Hebrew, signifies a fool. C. ---
Thus she extenuates his fault, by attributing it to a deficiency in understanding.
↑ 251 Samuel 25:26
Ver. 26. To thee. She felicitates David on not having put his design in execution. C. ---
Theodoret thinks he might lawfully have done it; but others believe that the fault bore no proportion with the intended punishment. T. --- As Nabal, devoid of sense. Abigail displays the eloquence of nature. C.
↑ 261 Samuel 25:27
Ver. 27. Blessing, or present. M. See 2 Cor. ix. 5. C.
↑ 271 Samuel 25:28
Ver. 28. House. Thy family shall long continue in the enjoyment of the royal power. Chal. "an established kingdom." H. --- Lord, as his general. --- Evil. Do no manner of injustice. Heb. "and evil hast not been found," &c. Hitherto thy life has been irreproachable. C.
↑ 281 Samuel 25:29
Ver. 29. Bundle. Such things are more secure than those which are loose. W. ---
Of the living, or predestinate, over whom Providence watches in a particular manner. She seems to allude to the method of carrying pieces of silver in bundles. Prov. vii. 20. Chal. "the soul of my lord shall be in the treasury of the lives of the age, before the Lord God." C. --- It shall be preserved for length of days, like something most precious, (H.) while the wicked shall be in continual danger and anxiety, like a stone in a sling. Zac. ix. 15. By substituting c for b in Heb. the sense may be still more striking: "the soul of my lord shall be preserved like a living (precious, serviceable,) stone.
But the soul of thy enemies shall be whirled in a sling." The Hebrews had a great esteem for slingers, so that this comparison would be sufficiently noble.
A living stone is often mentioned both is sacred and in profane authors. 1 Pet.
ii. 4. Virgil Æneid i. 171. Vivoque sedilia saxo.
↑ 291 Samuel 25:30
Ver. 30. Israel, a thing which all expected, and even Saul himself. C. xxiv. 21.
↑ 301 Samuel 25:31
Ver. 31. Scruple. Heb. "scandal," or sin, for David might defend himself, but ought not to attack or take revenge, like a king. Grot. --- Innocent. Many of Nabal's family were such, and even his fault did not deserve death. Heb. "shed blood without cause." C. --- Handmaid, who has suggested this good advice.
M. --- David was so much pleased with her prudence and beauty, that he afterwards married her.
↑ 311 Samuel 25:32
Ver. 32. Speech. Heb. "advice, or wisdom." Sept. "conduct." C.
↑ 321 Samuel 25:35
Ver. 35. Face. I have been pleased with thy coming, and granted thy request. H.
--- David had sworn with too much haste. C. --- "It is sometimes wrong to perform what has been promised, and to keep an oath." S. Amb. Off. i. C. ult.
↑ 351 Samuel 25:36
Ver. 36. Morning. Admirable pattern of discretion, and how reprimands may be made with advantage. C. --- A medicine given at an improper time often does harm. Plin. xvii. 27. When a person said to Cleostratus, "Are you not ashamed to get drunk?" he replied, "Are you not ashamed to rebuke a drunken man?"
↑ 361 Samuel 25:37
Ver. 37. Stone. Stupified at the thought of the imminent danger to which he had foolishly exposed himself. So the poets represent Niobe as metamorphosed into a stone, at the hearing of her children's death. T. --- Josephus intimates that Nabal was killed by the malignant influence of the stars, sideratus. Ant. vi.
14. Thus, says he, David "learnt that no wicked person can escape the vengeance of God, and that Providence does not neglect human affairs, and abandon them to chance."
↑ 371 Samuel 25:39
Ver. 39. Blessed be, &c. David praises God on this occasion, not out of joy for the death of Nabal, (which would have argued a rancour of heart) but because he saw that God had so visibly taken his cause in hand, in punishing the injury done to him; whilst, by a merciful providence, he kept him from revenging himself. Ch. Ps. lvii. 10.
↑ 391 Samuel 25:41
Ver. 41. Thy servant. She speaks to David's representatives, as if he had been present. H. --- The marriage was proposed probably a month or two after the death of Nabal; and Abigail followed the messengers, in a short time. M.
↑ 411 Samuel 25:43
Ver. 43. Took, or "had taken before," according to Josephus. Hence she is placed first, (C.) as the mother of David's first-born, Amnon. 2 K. iii. 2. M. ---
Michol, whom he married first, had no children. H. --- Jezrahel, a city of Juda.
M. Jos. xv. 56. --- There was another more famous place of this name is Issachar.
↑ 431 Samuel 25:44
Ver. 44. Phalti, or Phaltiel, 2 K. iii. 15. Saul violated all laws by so doing, and David took her back when he came to the throne, which he could not have done if he had given her a bill of divorce. Deut. xxiv. 4. C. --- Michol was not blameless in living thus with another man. M. ---
The Rabbins say that a sword hindered Phalti from approaching her. Horn in Sulp. --- Gallim, a city of Benjamin. Isai. x. 30. C.
↑ 44License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses