The Legacy of a Life
1 Samuel 25
Turn in your Bible to 1 Samuel 25. I do trust that you pay attention to the mid-week announcement that is sent out to you, and that you take some time to read through the chapter, so helpful. So, let me give you some outline this morning. There are four characters to consider this AM, and I wish to consider them under the heading of Legacy, and they are Samuel, David, Nabal, and Abigail. What we find this week is that David’s men are keeping their distance from Saul. As remember last week where Saul confessed his sin to David, yet David rightfully seems to always take these confessions from Saul with a grain of salt, knowing that at anytime Saul could change his mind for the worse against David. So, in our study this week we see that Samuel has died.
“Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and lamented for him and buried him at his house in Ramah.”
1 Samuel 25:1a (LSB)
And then David finds himself interacting with men who worked for Nabal, a very wealthy man. Next, David sends his men to Nabal to let him know how kindly David’s men have treated Nabal’s men, but Nabal says (vs 10), who is David? And the gist of the story is that Nabal let David know that he had no intentions of returning kindness back to David and his men, to which David is quick to take offense and prepares to go after Nabal and his boys. But Abigail, Nabal’s wife hears of all this and quickly plans to keep peace. And so, she comes between them and basically tells David that her husband is a fool, and therefore, do not take vengeance into your own hands. And the plan works, and David is grateful that he did not act out of haste. And then of course, God takes Nabal’s life, and so, David takes Abigail to be his wife. It sounds like it would be a good old black and white western movie. Let’s pray. Lord, we come before a passage this AM that seems to be a hodgepodge of events. Yet again, we see all these things are orchestrated by You as are the events of our lives. Help us to see, understand, and know Your purposes in these verses this morning, that we might better live for Your glory and know You greater, amen.
What kind of legacy are you leaving in your life? When we hear the term legacy, we usually think of a good legacy, in other words, we mostly use it in a positive sense. Yet the definition of legacy is simply, “the long-lasting impact of particular events or actions that took place in the past of a person’s life.” And I would say the key word here is impact, in other words, what will be the impact that someone will leave their children or the next generation. We also think of the word legacy when a person dies, as two of the key players in our story will die in this chapter, Samuel and Nabal. But I would also suggest that a legacy does not start when a person dies as we can have an impact upon others, good or bad, or indifferent, while we live, as there is much going on here in the life of David and Abigail that will have a lasting impact of others.
SAMUEL
Now it is interesting that the chapter begins with the death of Samuel, our first character. We have not heard a whole lot about Samuel of late in our study, yet he is the one who was the first to recognize David as the next king of Israel. This all started way back in 1 Samuel 15 where Samuel said that the kingdom would be taken from Saul and be given to one who is better that Saul. And then in chapter 16, David is anointed by Samuel. And this action by Samuel is made known to many people as Jonathan soon recognized this as he says (1 Sam 23) that David you will indeed be king in Israel. And we also read that even the people of Israel seemed to recognize this (1 Sam 18) as they loved David. And strangely enough even the Philistines (1 Sam 21) said, is this not David, the king of the land? And we will see that in our story this morning that even Abigail seems to know that God’s hand is on David, while the only ones who want to fight against this notion are Saul and in our study this week, Nabal.
Now Samuel’s death is mentioned rather quickly here, yet we do read that all Israel lamented for him. And this is significant for Israel as it is difficult when someone who has such a stabilizing effect as Samuel dies in the history of Israel, even though for some time now Samuel has been old. You may have experienced this in your own circles. Maybe a granddad or grandmother or godly aunt or godly uncle passes away, and you miss the effect of their life. Or maybe you witnessed this in a church setting where a significant influence passed away, and though their ministry was not as active as it may have been a few years earlier, there is a big hole left and you wish their stability was still present. Many times, when interacting with my kids and grandkids I will often think, boy, it would be really nice if my Dad was still around to give some good oversight or influence here. Often teenagers will say things when they get older that they resisted falling to a certain sin or taking a wrong path because of their love for their Mom and Dad or because they did not want to disappoint their grandfather or grandmother. And part of the tension in this story is that David will face another dilemma, and the question will be, which way will he turn this time without having Samuel still around?
NABAL
The next character in our story is Nabal, whose name means “fool.” He is sort of this rich “hothead” who seems to live like it is his way or the highway. And Nabal is very wealthy and has a large crew of men who work for him, and he has a beautiful wife named Abigail. And the idea of Nabal entertaining any thoughts of being kind to David are quickly dismissed when he is requested to be accommodating to David’s men. We read (vs 14) that when David’s men greeted Nabal’s men, it tells us that Nabal rushed at them angrily. Now this seems more that just a rough exterior, as we may have known of someone over the years who are a little rough on the edges. Do you know someone like that? But not all that bad once you get to know them.
Before I started selling kitchens, I worked at the contractor desk, and there was this rough, old contractor. Now I say “old,” but he was likely about fifty at the time named Ray. And I was absolutely terrified of him, as he would come to the counter without a smile and would demand a fast delivery. His replies were always quick and sharp, and he was never overly kind. And I was just always scared that I would mess up his order. And I remember that when he would leave, the staff at the counter would always laugh at each other, “Ha! Ha! You had to deal with Ray this morning!” But as the years went on, we became friends, not great friends. But over time I realized that he was just a little “crusty” on the outside.
But of course, there is much more here to Nabal, as he was evil. And it is interesting here that the passage says (vs 3) that Nabal was a Calebite, which means that he was a descendant of Caleb, a man of great character back in the early days. For remember when the spies were sent into the Promised Land, and they came back with a bad report and afraid to go in and take the land which the Lord had promised to them. And there were only two men who had faith that God could do what He said, Joshua and Caleb. And now we read that this evil man named Nabal was from that family line of Caleb, teaching us that a good godly legacy can easily be short-circuited at any time along the way.
And so too, a great Mom or Dad’s legacy can soon dissolve if the children do not continue the strong spiritual example. Sometimes we might even “boast” about the godly heritage we may have received from our parents or grandparents, but we really have no intention of carrying that on. We may think that we do, but our actions and choices pale sometimes in comparison. And sometimes we can see this in a church. Where someone may pastor or lead in some way for years and leave behind such a legacy of ministry, a strong congregation, only to see it fumbled away by the next generation who are no where near as committed. And many Christian universities have been started by strong Christians, and their sons take over and drop the ball and the testimony of that school is tarnished, and their reputation is lost. I guess the moral of this part of the story is better to be a Caleb than a Nabal; however, even when you are a Caleb there is no guarantee of how long that legacy will continue.
This is such an important lesson here that we tend to see a legacy from those in the past, but we fail to see the responsibility of building a godly legacy now in our own lives. We might say it is important, but we just have stuff going on. We have a generation of people today that view their legacy as more of handing down fun, maybe happiness, maybe some great trips together, but we sometimes fail to see our legacy as handing down godly character, hard work, faithful commitment, and biblical truth. And we know that a legacy can soon be gone with a wrong turn in life, or someone just blaming a church or blaming a person for their own lack of passion for spiritual things, or by a greater interest in other things, things that just gently pulled them away from what should be the most important things in life. And here we see Nabal as a descendant of Caleb, such a godly servant, and yet what we read is that he is concerned with (vs 11) my bread, my water, my meat, and my shearers, things that we too might get too concerned with.
ABIGAIL
The next character in our story is Abigail who hears about all this.
“But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, ‘Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he rushed at them angrily. Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not dishonored, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the field. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them shepherding the sheep. So now, know and see what you should do, for evil is decided against our master and against all his household; and he is such a vile man that no one can speak to him.’”
1 Samuel 25:14-17 (LSB)
Now, Abigail has already been described as (vs 3) good in insight and beautiful in appearance, the exact opposite of the fool Nabal who is described here as vile. Hard not to think about Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the peacemakers, for this is exactly what Abigail is doing here, trying to maintain peace. Also, we do see a bit of a parallel here of Abigail and Jonathan, as Jonathan acted secretly to get David out of trouble against his father, and now Abigail acts secretly here to stop David from taking revenge against her husband. Now the gift that Abigail prepares here.
“Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of roasted grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.”
1 Samuel 25:18 (LSB)
Doesn’t seem to be enough for 600 men. It might be like bringing in a dozen doughnuts for all of us to enjoy after the church this morning. We might say that it was the thought that counts. I have told you before the excitement Ottaway’s have for doughnuts, it is our legacy! And a few years ago we were getting together with a family we knew from our Chatham days, and all our crew was there as well. And for dessert we all brought a dozen doughnuts. And we were going to have a taste-test to see who had the best doughnuts. And we had Global Doughnuts, a place in the States, two places from London, Maple City Bakery in Chatham, and a doughnut place in Cambridge. And we all arrived with our doughnuts at 11am, six dozen, seventy-two doughnuts! With twenty-nine of us there, that’s like two and a half each! I like that! And the doughnuts were to be for dessert, but all it took is for one of our boys to say, why don’t we have the taste-test now, and then all of a sudden there was no waiting for after lunch. And we had the best doughnut taste-test ever! Unfortunately, I think the American doughnuts won. But I am not sure if Abigail had as many doughnuts to go around. But she acted quickly, and she was successful. Look what she did.
“Please do not let my lord pay attention to this vile man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and wicked foolishness is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.”
1 Samuel 25:25 (LSB)
She states the truth, and it was to the point. In other words, David don’t get all upset by Nabal, it’s not worth it.
“So now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has restrained you from shedding blood, and from saving yourself by your own hand, so now, let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal.”
1 Samuel 25:26 (LSB)
Secondly, she is basically saying, let the Lord deal with Nabal. This seems to be the logic that David told himself last week when dealing with Saul. Last week David had the level head that Abigail has this week. And last weak David’s men were the hotheads that David is threatening to be this week. In other words, last week David allowed his conscience to calm him down, but this week he seems to need the help of Abigail to calm him down.
“So now let this gift which your servant-woman has brought to my lord be given to the young men who went about with my lord.”
1 Samuel 25:27 (LSB)
Next, Abigail presents her gift, the seventy-two fresh doughnuts. And then finally (vs 28-31) she asks David to forgive the sin of her husband. And then notice what she says.
“And it will be that when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel.”
1 Samuel 25:30 (LSB)
It would seem that the original announcement by Samuel has been spreading, as even Abigail seems to be fully aware that David will become king. Hard to know how much Abigail really knew of all this, but she is laying before David here the truth that when he becomes king he should rule with grace and mercy, not be the kind of king who went around shedding blood as Saul did, especially when we think back to the story of Saul killing the eighty-five priests. Abigail’s words here seem to be preaching a sermon that the Apostle Paul would write to the Roman Christians years later:
“Never paying back evil for evil to anyone, respecting what is good in the sight of all men, if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, never taking your own revenge, beloved—instead leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:17-21 (LSB)
It is good isn’t it, to have spiritual people around us to speak godly sense to us when we may not be listening to our conscience or to the Spirit of God. Young people, don’t think that you can always be strong on your own, because you are going to need strong Christian friends to speak into you, and the value in listening to your Mom and Dad. I also notice here that David did not seek the Lord’s counsel on this, as sometimes when we might ignore God’s Word, our own conscience, the prompting of the Spirit, yet fortunately God sends a wise voice to David, even when he was not looking for it. And look what would have happened if David was not stopped, the anger of David would have also been against Abigail.
“Then David said to Abigail, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from saving myself by my own hand. Nevertheless, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male.’”
1 Samuel 25:32-34 (LSB)
Nabal was foolish, arrogant, and evil, but it does not mean that all of Nabal’s family is foolish, arrogant, and evil, teaching us that we can never throw everyone in the same basket because of family or race or country. Well, if you have read the story, you know that the Lord dealt with Nabal (vs 36-38) as after a feast and a lot of drinking a few days later he dies. Sadly, this will be the end of every rich fool, as he received his proper judgement, not from David, but from the Lord.
DAVID
Lastly, we have David himself, who we have addressed, but I wish to comment on a few more things about him. One, there is a troubling verse we read after the sensible plan here by Abigail has been accepted by David, and after David hears the news of Nabal’s death.
“Then David heard that Nabal was dead, so he said, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has kept back His servant from evil. Yahweh has also returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.’ Then David sent a proposal to Abigail, to take her as his wife.”
1 Samuel 25:39 (LSB)
This rubs against the grain a little, of our Christian thinking, as we might ask if we were honest, why is David rejoicing in the death of Nabal? As we might want to think, David, don’t you have a heart or any prayer that Nabal may have come to the Lord. And that is a good question. I mean we read in 2 Timothy 2:
“And the Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
2 Timothy 2:24-26 (LSB)
I believe there is something that we must consider here, and to do so we must think of Christ as the King, as the One who must be worshipped and served. So, I want you to think of this, kingship is Christ’s rightful position, as serving Christ is not optional. For serving Christ is either what will make or break every human being. In other words, it is not “nice” that someone becomes a Christian, it is imperative that someone becomes a Christian. We can sort of get in our heads as we live in this culture that there are many different religions and we are Christians. And yet in the real picture, in the eternal picture, there are really only those who serve the King and those who do not. In other words, there are those who are saved and the rest are lost. We saw this in our Sunday evening Revelation study. So, in closing this morning, turn to Revelation 22, where ultimately, the lord creates a new heaven and a new earth, and all things become new, and there is no more night, death, or sin. And after John has recorded all the future events, the time of the tribulation, the coming judgments, the coming 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth, and then the final eternal kingdom, he closes with a final message to come.
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work … And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes receive the water of life without cost.”
Revelation 22:12, 17 (LSB)
And the question of “why” to come to this King is answered in these final words by John.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end … I, Jesus, sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Revelation 22:13, 16 (LSB)
Why come to the King? Because of the person of Christ. He is the first and the last. Why else to come?
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”
Revelation 22:14-15 (LSB)
Why come to the King? Because of the exclusivity of heaven. As only those who have been washed by Christ may enter the gate. No one else may enter. Why else to come?
“I bear witness to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”
Revelation 22:18-19 (LSB)
Why come to the King? Because of the truthfulness that is found in the Bible. In other words, God’s truth has been written in God’s book. Finally, why else to come?
“He who bears witness to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”
Revelation 22:20-21 (LSB)
Why come to the King? Because of the certainty of His return. I am coming quickly. In our story David is the appointed king of God. And it is just not that Nabal or anyone chooses not to serve this king, but it is the fact that they have rejected God’s king, the one whom God has appointed. Whereas amazingly even when David is still poor, in the countryside, a ragtag crew follow him, Jonathan follows him, and Abigail follows him. John Woodhouse comments here:
“We must remember here that David was God’s king. Nabal’s foolish behaviour was more than a personal insult to the man David. He was scorning God’s king.”
John Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader 483
Do we understand what is at stake here? There is only one King, Jesus Christ, and He must be served, for all who do not serve Him will perish. You know, we may be quick to suggest to someone who to vote for in an election. That you might say to your friend, you should vote for this party for these reasons, or you should support this candidate or this world leader. But this is much greater than that, as in reality people need to serve this King or they will forever perish. And we have this great responsibility not to just to serve God personally, but we have no right to back down from God’s honour or His message. In other words, we can never be embarrassed that we are His servants.
And we have seen various reactions to God’s king in our study. There are those who have embraced David. There are those who, like the Philistines actually respect his greatness, but they will not follow him, for they have their own gods and sins to follow. And I suppose in our day we also have those who would live decent lives. But they have their own lives to live, their own vacations to plan, their own houses to fix up, but they do not have a passion for the King. Maybe a little like Saul who does not embrace David but unwillingly acknowledges that he is king. And then there are the Nabal’s who say about God’s king, so, who is David? This is what ultimately will determine our legacy. To answer the question, what are we really passionate about? Who did we passionately follow?
When we were with some of my family on Canada Day, I was speaking with my brother and sister about our grandparents, my Dad’s Mom and Dad, who have not been around for years. When I think back to my Gramps, I remember watching channel 11 Hamilton wrestling with him, playing checkers, taking the dog for a walk, all good stuff. When I think back to my Nana, I remember commitment to ministry, a love for Christ, her love for God’s Word, and her hope in Christ, all good stuff. Now if I learned from the legacy of my Gramps, I might be a fun guy who could beat you at checkers. Yet if I learned from the legacy of my Nana, I would be compelled to love Christ. And I say this respectfully, as I do not really know where the heart of my Gramps truly was, though he would have attended church. But fortunately, my Dad learned from his Mom.
So, what are you leaving as your legacy? And when we think of something like a legacy, Revelation is a good book to go to as it is referring to the end, where we find out what was most important. And Revelation speaks of those who will be rendered by Christ to every man according to his work. And it speaks of those (Rev 14) who followed Christ wherever He went. Let’s pray. Lord, we understand that Christ is the King, that He is the first and the last. And therefore, the gate is open only for those who receive Him and serve Him. And we know these things because they are written in You eternal Word, where we have been assured that the King is coming quickly to make all things new. So, Lord, would You move in our hearts in such a way that we might remove the so many things that we place before you. That we would be a legacy for this King, the only King. That the anthem of our lives when others look at us would be, they are subjects of the King. So, may we be faithful to Your calling. And all God’s people said, amen.