Now the name of the man was Nabal (the Fool); and the name of his wife Abigail: and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal sheared his sheep. And David sent ten young men, and David said unto the young men, "Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: and thus shall ye say, "All hail! Peace be both unto thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: thy shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee: wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand, unto thy servants, and to thy son David.""
And when David"s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
And Nabal answered David"s servants, and said, "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants nowadays that break away every man from his {419} master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they be?"
So David"s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words.
And David said unto his men, "Gird ye on every man his sword." And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred remained in the camp.
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal"s wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he flew upon them. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we were with them, when we were in the fields: they were a wall unto us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow that one cannot speak to him."
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred cl.u.s.ters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on a.s.ses.
And she said unto her young men, "Go on before me; behold, I come after you."
But she told not her husband Nabal. And it was so, {420} as she rode on her a.s.s, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.
Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good. G.o.d do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man child."
And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off her a.s.s, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. And she fell at his feet, and said, "Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thine handmaid." Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal [the Fool] is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
"Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
"Forgive, I pray thee, the trespa.s.s of thine handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days.
{421}{422}
[Ill.u.s.tration]
JERUSALEM, LOOKING UP THROUGH THE VALLEY OF HINNOM.
It is said that continual fires were kept burning in the valley of Hinnom for the destruction of the refuse from the city. It was here, too, that the human sacrifices to the G.o.d Molech took place, where the victims were made "to pa.s.s through the fire."
[End ill.u.s.tration]
{423}
And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy G.o.d; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.
"And it shall come to pa.s.s, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel; that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: and when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid."
And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy wisdom, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, liveth, which hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man child."
So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said unto her, "Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person."
And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal"s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: {424} wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
And it came to pa.s.s in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
And it came to pa.s.s about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died.
And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept back his servant from evil: and the evil-doing of Nabal hath the Lord returned upon his own head."
And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him to wife. And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke unto her, saying, "David hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife."
And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, "Behold, thine handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."
And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an a.s.s, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
DAVID BECOMES KING.
_The Lament for Saul and Jonathan. After Long Waiting the Throne is Gained_.
(At last came that fatal battle with the Philistines in the hills and, when the sun set, Saul and his three sons lay dead upon the field.)
And it came to pa.s.s after the death of Saul, on the {425} third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and when he came to David, he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. And David said to him, "From whence comest thou?" And he said unto him, "Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped."
And David said to him, "How went the day? I pray thee, tell me."
And he answered, "The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also."
And David said to the young man that told him, "How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?"
And the young man that told him said, "As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and the hors.e.m.e.n followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, "Here am I."
"And he said unto me, "Who art thou?"
"And I answered him, "I am an Amalekite."
"And he said to me, "Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and slay me, for anguish hath taken hold of me; because my life is yet whole in me." So I stood beside him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord."
Then David took hold of his clothes, and rent them; {426} and likewise all the men that were with him: and they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword. And David said to the young man that told him, "Whence art thou?"
And he answered, "I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite."
And David said to him, "Why wast thou not afraid to put forth thine hand to destroy the Lord"s anointed?"
And David called one of the young men and said, "Go near, and fall upon him." And he smote him that he died.
And David said to him, "Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, "I have slain the Lord"s anointed.""
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: and he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow.
_The Song of the Bow_.
Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places!
How are the mighty fallen!