He Changest Not
1 Samuel • Sermon • Submitted
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As I was studying this chapter, I caught myself thinking: “Again? The same topics all over again? Another sermon about what the Lord is doing, how the Lord operates, the work the Lord does? Another sermon on the same topic? That’s not good...”
I confess: I was getting a little tired of the same themes and I was worried you’d be a little bored by the hearing the same stuff all over again.
And then it hit me. Conviction or comfort, maybe both. This is what we need to hear. If we didn’t need to hear it, it wouldn’t be recorded for us as often as it is.
God’s Word is perfect and profitable, timeless and timely. The focus of God’s Word is God—who He is and what He has done.
We need as much of this as we can possibly get.
Here’s what we need to hear, to read, to see, to feel, to know: The Lord is at work today just as He was in David’s day.
It dawned on me that there is a lot of repetition here in 1 Samuel. There are topics and themes repeated over and over.
I decided that’s probably on purpose. It’s not so much that I need to be concerned about new and original sermon content; it’s that I need to be concerned about faithfulness to the text.
There is a reason the themes are repeated over and over. It’s because the Lord is constant. He is steady. He never changes. How He operates in 1 Samuel 1 is how He operates in 1 Samuel 25. How He operates in 1 Samuel 25 is how He operates in Rich Hill 2022.
There’s no small amount of encouragement in that.
The repetition here is for me. It’s for us. For those who need truth repeated a few dozen times.
What we have here in 1 Samuel 25 is more of the same. And I’m thankful. Maybe I’ll finally figure it out. Maybe it’ll start to sink in. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord will use the repetition to teach me.
As we begin 1 Samuel 25, we read a death notice. It’s sad and sobering. The people mourn, as they should.
1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.
This is the end of an era; the loss of a great leader. Mourning accompanied the deaths of Jacob and Aaron and Moses. And now, Samuel.
Samuel we know and David we know, but there are a couple of new characters here. We are introduced to them in rather interesting fashion.
The author of the story gives us the detail about a certain man before he gives us the fella’s name. And then we learn about his wife.
2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.
For all time, it’s recorded that Nabal is surly and mean; Abigail, intelligent and beautiful. And they married each other.
Nabal is a Calebite, meaning a descendant of Caleb, possibly the Caleb who volunteered to scout Canaan and was given the land around Hebron. If this is the case, Nabal is prominent both by wealth and descent.
The set-up here is pretty obvious. Something is going to take place with Nabal and Abigail and their introductions are going to prove accurate.
4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
7 “ ‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’ ”
9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.
10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
Well, that escalated quickly! What started as a polite request from David to Nabal in return for the protection and help David’s men provided Nabal’s shepherds, turned ugly, and fast.
David might have been asking for a substantial handout, but 10 men couldn’t have transported enough to feed 600 men. David wasn’t asking for the farm, just a meal or two— whatever [Nabal] can find for them.
Nabal doesn’t just refuse; he answers David’s men hatefully. He even uses the phrase “son of Jesse” the way Saul did. There was a way Nabal could have denied the request that would have been justifiable. Instead, Nabal—surly and mean—behaves as one might expect from the author’s introduction.
Verse 13 is clear. Every reader, especially one reading a word-for-word translation, knows what 400 men and David intend to do.
1 Samuel 25:13 (NASB95)
13 David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
Sword is mentioned three times for a reason. They aren’t going to help Nabal sheer some sheep; they’re going to take care of Nabal and his bad attitude once and for all.
Thankfully, one of Mean Nabal’s servants relayed all this to Intelligent Abigail, who wisely responds.
14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
Abigail hurries to do what should have been done in the first place. Even Nabal’s servant knows what kind a fool Nabal is, and Nabal’s wife certainly knows.
Notice, for the servant, it wasn’t surprising at all that David might bring disaster upon them. And Abigail knew to act quickly. When she met up with David and his men, David’s purpose and reasoning is made clear to us:
20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26 And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
28 “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”
It’s been a few weeks since we were last in 1 Samuel, so we might need a reminder.
Do you remember what David did to Saul when Saul came in to the same cave David was hiding in? Instead of killing Saul, David does what?
He cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe, and then David even apologizes for that. David is awfully restrained. David even restrains his men, threatening them and telling them not to touch Saul.
Where is David’s restraint here? He and 400 men are going to battle. David takes an oath (v. 22) that he’s going to kill every single man who belongs to Nabal.
In chapter 24, David is the restrainer; he will not harm Saul or allow his men to do so.
In chapter 25, David must be restrained.
David sees clearly that he must not take vengeance against the the Lord’s anointed, but doesn’t make the same connection when it comes to Abigail’s husband.
David must not allow a crazy and murderous Saul nor an obnoxious Nabal to throw him off course.
David must not mar God’s work with his own folly. David must extend the restraint he showed to Saul to Nabal as well.
Restraint with Saul. Absolutely no restraint here with Nabal.
That is, until the Lord restrains him. This is where the story gets good and instructive for us.
Abigail, beautiful and intelligent, asks David to listen. She makes an excuse for her foolish husband, the only thing she has to say for him is that he’s a fool, acting foolishly.
But notice, it’s Abigail who brings the Lord into the discussion. David uses “God” to add some veracity to his promise to kill Nabal and all the men of his household (v. 22). But it’s Abigail who brings the Lord Yahweh to bear in this interaction.
David has no restraint of his own in this instance, so the Lord provides restraint with this reminder from Abigail.
I just love how the Lord works, how He uses His people to remind and restrain.
David recognizes this:
32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”
Abigail was the jolt David needed. David takes a pause and recognizes the Lord’s work in this specific situation. What a significant moment this is; don’t miss it.
And notice the wisdom David exercises here, thanks to Abigail and the Lord’s intervention. David accepted Abigail’s offering of food and wine and provisions.
Unlike David, Nabal is his foolish self to the bitter end:
36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. 37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”
41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife. 43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
1 Samuel 25 repeats for us a few glorious truths:
The Lord Rescues and Restrains
The Lord Rescues and Restrains
How often the Lord rescues His people from their own stupidity!
Can I get a witness?
As I read this chapter and realized that this—keeping David from his own stupidity—this is what the Lord is up to, I was moved to think of all the ways the Lord has rescued me from my own sinful, foolish ways.
I’ve got stories for days!
The Lord rescues us from our stupidity and often restrains us from executing our sinful purposes. The Lord Yahweh “graciously and firmly intercepts us on the road to folly.”
This is something the Lord does here in 1 Samuel 25 for his anointed king. But the Lord’s mercy is not confined to His special servants. His restraint is not restricted to the 11th century BC!
Dale Ralph Davis writes: “What loving hands construct the roadblocks to our foolishness! What mercy sends frustration to our purposes! What kindness builds hindrances in our path!”
Look at the Lord’s restraining mercy here in David’s life:
1 Samuel 25:26 (NIV)
… the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands…
1 Samuel 25:33 (NIV)
…keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands…
1 Samuel 25:34 (NIV)
...the Lord, the God of Israel…has kept me from harming you…
1 Samuel 25:39 (NIV)
… “Praise be to the Lord, who…has kept his servant from doing wrong...
If you can’t see how the Lord has restrained you from going your own sinful route, from executing your foolish plans for yourself, it’s probably because you haven’t looked.
If you can’t remember how the Lord has done this for you, it’s because you haven’t thought about it.
The Lord rescues us and restrains us, and we should praise Him for it, like David does:
1 Samuel 25:39 (NIV)
… “Praise be to the Lord, who…has kept his servant from doing wrong...
The Lord Keeps His Word and Cares for His People
The Lord Keeps His Word and Cares for His People
Abigail is such a great and faithful character in the story; it’s no wonder David wants to marry her. It’s no surprise parents name their daughters Abigail.
Abigail reminds David of what he needs to remember, namely that what the Lord has said the Lord will do. The Lord will keep His word to David—David doesn’t need to take matters into His own hands.
1 Samuel 25:30 (NIV)
…the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel,
The Lord keeps His word. Always. And He cares for His people. Always.
David recognizes this. He understands it’s the Lord who sent Abigail to him at just the right time:
32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.
And for all of David’s posturing (arming 400 men to go kill someone who insulted him), it’s the Lord who handles Nabal.
It’s mentioned as briefly as it could be mentioned in verse 38: the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
David got himself all worked up in a murderous tizzy instead of trusting the Lord to handle it. Look at the ease with which the Lord takes care of this! Think about how silly all David’s maneuvering against Nabal is. The Lord has it handled!
Now think about how we worry, how we stress, how we take on ourselves burdens we aren’t meant to carry.
Doesn’t the Lord care for us? Doesn’t the Lord fight for us? Somewhere I read something that says: The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still (Exodus 14:14).
David realizes the Lord upheld his cause where Nabal is concerned. And, friends, this is what the Lord does, all the time.
Now, the Lord probably won’t strike dead the person who insults you. But doesn’t faith suggest trust? Aren’t we to hand over to the Lord all our concerns, all our worries, all our fears, and believe that He will act?
I’m quite certain that’s the idea. And we know—or we should be learning—that the Lord is at work today just as He was in David’s day.
The same Lord. The same rescue and restraining mercy. The same care and help. The same faithfulness.
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”
As we look at the book of 1 Samuel, we see the Lord establishing His kingdom on earth. And we see on every page how this can only be the Lord’s work.
The task can never be fully entrusted to human instruments.
Eli honored his sons above the Lord.
Saul refused to be ruled by God’s Word.
Even godly Samuel would have chosen another “Saul” as king.
And here, David was ready and willing to spill Nabal’s blood over an impolite comment or two.
There is only one Servant who can be trusted with the Kingdom. And He understood that kingdom glory came from enduring the hostility and opposition of foolish sinners.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The faithfulness of Jesus, the un-changeability of our Lord—this is where our hope rests secure.