24:10. And said to Saul: Why dost thou hear the words of men that say: David seeketh thy hurt?
24:11 Behold this day thy eyes have seen, that the Lord hath delivered thee into my hand, in the cave, and I had a thought to kill thee, but my eye hath spared thee. For I said: I will not put out my hand against my lord, because he is the Lord"s anointed.
A thought to kill thee... That is, a suggestion, to which I did not consent.
24:12. Moreover, see and know, O my father, the hem of thy robe in my hand, that when I cut off the hem of thy robe, I would not put out my hand against thee. Reflect, and see, that there is no evil in my hand, nor iniquity, neither have I sinned against thee: but thou liest in wait for my life, to take it away.
24:13. The Lord judge between me and thee and the Lord revenge me of thee: but my hand shall not be upon thee.
Revenge me of thee... Or, as it is in the Hebrew, will revenge me. The meaning is, that he refers his whole cause to G.o.d, to judge and punish according to his justice: yet so as to keep himself in the mean time, from all personal hatred to Saul, or desire of gratifying his own pa.s.sion, by seeking revenge. So far from it, that when Saul was afterwards slain, we find, that instead of rejoicing at his death, he mourned most bitterly for him.
24:14. As also it is said in the old proverb: From the wicked shall wickedness come forth: therefore my hand shall not be upon thee. After whom dost thou come out, O king of Israel?
24:15. After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea.
24:16. Be the Lord judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and judge my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand.
24:17. And when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, Saul said: Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept:
24:18. And he said to David: Thou art more just than I: for thou hast done good to me, and I have rewarded thee with evil.
24:19. And thou hast shewed this day what good things thou hast done to me: how the Lord delivered me into thy hand, and thou hast not killed me.
24:20. For who when he hath found his enemy, will let him go well away?
But the Lord reward thee for this good turn, for what thou hast done to me this day.
24:21. And now as I know that thou shalt surely be king, and have the kingdom of Israel in thy hand:
24:22. Swear to me by the Lord, that thou wilt not destroy my seed after me, nor take away my name from the house of my father.
24:23. And David swore to Saul. So Saul went home: and David and his men went up into safer places.
1 Kings Chapter 25
The death of Samuel. David, provoked by Nabal, threateneth to destroy him: but is appeased by Abigail.
25:1. And Samuel died, and all Israel was gathered together, and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And David rose, and went down into the wilderness of Pharan.
25:2. Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great: and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and it happened that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3. Now the name of the man was Nabal: and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman: but her husband was churlish, and very bad and ill natured: and he was of the house of Caleb.
25:4. And when David heard in the wilderness, that Nabal was shearing his sheep,
25:5. He sent ten young men, and said to them: Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and salute him in my name with peace.
25:6. And you shall say: Peace be to my brethren, and to thee, and peace to thy house, and peace to all that thou hast.
25:7. I have heard that thy shepherds that were with us in the desert were shearing: we never molested them, neither was there ought missing to them of the flock at any time, all the while they were with us in Carmel.
25:8. Ask thy servants, and they will tell thee. Now therefore let thy servants find favour in thy eyes: for we are come in a good day, whatsoever thy hand shall find give to thy servants, and to thy son David.
25:9. And when David"s servants came, they spoke to Nabal all these words in David"s name, and then held their peace.
25:10. But Nabal answering the servants of David, said: Who is David?
and what is the son of Isai? servants are multiplied now days who flee from their masters.
25:11. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and the flesh of my cattle, which I have killed for my shearers, and give to men whom I know not whence they are?
25:12. So the servants of David went back their way, and returning came and told him all the words that he said.
25:13. Then David said to his young men: Let every man gird on his sword. And they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword: and there followed David about four hundred men, and two hundred remained with the baggage.
25:14. But one of the servants told, Abigail, the wife of Nabal, saying: Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness, to salute our master: and he rejected them.
25:15. These men were very good to us, and gave us no trouble: Neither did we ever lose any thing all the time that we conversed with them in the desert.
25:16. They were a wall unto us, both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
25:17. Wherefore consider, and think what thou hast to do: for evil is determined against thy husband, and against thy house, and he is a son of Belial, so that no man can speak to him.
25:18. Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred cl.u.s.ters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dry figs, and laid them upon a.s.ses:
25:19. And she said to her servants: Go before me: behold, I will follow after you: but she told not her husband, Nabal.
25:20. And when she had gotten upon an a.s.s, and was coming down to the foot of the mountain, David and his men came down over against her, and she met them.
25:21. And David said: Truly in vain have I kept all that belonged to this fellow in the wilderness, and nothing was lost of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good.
25:22. May G.o.d do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I leave of all that belong to him till the morning, any that p.i.s.seth against the wall.
If I leave, etc... David certainly sinned in his designs against Nabal and his family, as he himself was afterwards sensible, when he blessed G.o.d for hindering him from executing the revenge he had proposed.
25:23. And when Abigail saw David, she made haste and lighted off the a.s.s, and fell before David, on her face, and adored upon the ground.
25:24. And she fell at his feet, and said: Upon me let this iniquity be, my lord: let thy handmaid speak, I beseech thee, in thy ears, and hear the words of thy servant.
25:25. Let not my lord the king, I pray thee, regard this naughty man, Nabal: for according to his name, he is a fool, and folly is with him: but I, thy handmaid, did not see thy servants, my lord, whom thou sentest.
His name... Nabal, in Hebrew, signifies a fool.
25:26. Now therefore, my lord, the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, who hath withholden thee from coming to blood, and hath saved thy hand to thee: and now let thy enemies be as Nabal, and all they that seek evil to my lord.
25:27. Wherefore receive this blessing, which thy handmaid hath brought to thee, my lord: and give it to the young men that follow thee, my lord.
25:28. Forgive the iniquity of thy handmaid: for the Lord will surely make for my lord a faithful house, because thou, my lord, fightest the battles of the Lord: let not evil therefore be found in thee all the days of thy life.
25:29. For if a man at any time shall rise, and persecute thee, and seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be kept, as in the bundle of the living, with the Lord thy G.o.d: but the souls of thy enemies shall be whirled, as with the violence and whirling of a sling.