Pushed Too Far

Samuel had served God his entire life, beginning as a little child, and assuming the leadership of Israel as soon as he reached the proper age,  When he got old, the people demanded a king and Saul was selected.  Some twenty five or thirty years later, Samuel anointed David to be the next king.  Severl years after that, Samuel died, in I Samuel 25:1.  “And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.”

Samuel’s death left Israel without a strong prophet or religious leader to restrain Saul.  As a result David David moved into a more remote wilderness area known as Paran, meaning ornamental or beautiful.  While he was there he sent some men back to Maon ask for food for his men, in I Samuel 25:2-8.  “And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.  Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman 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 did shear his sheep.

And David sent out 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 to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.  And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.  Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour 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.”

It seems unlikely that the wilderness of Paran is the same as that referred to in Numbers and Deuteronomy, because of the distances involved.  Descriptive names frequently get applied to more than one location, and it seems far more likely David simply went to another wilderness area nearby, where he would be apt to hear about Nabal going to shear his sheep.  Carmel lay in an area surrounded by undeveloped wilderness areas, including Ziph, Maon, and Engedi, and his sheep may well have ranged in all three areas, where they had come in contact with David and his men>  David suggested Nabal ask his sheep herders for recommendations. 

Nabal was a selfish and greedy man, and instead of simply saying no, became quite insulting and abusive in hies response, in I Samuel 25:9-11.  “And when David's young men came, they spake 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 be many servants now a days that break away every man from his 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, whom I know not whence they be?”

After years of protecting the Israelites from the Philistines and other enemies, both while he was in the army, and after Saul turned against him, David was insulted at being accused of just being a petty thief and lazy bum, as I Samuel 25:12-13 tells us.  “So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.  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 abode by the stuff.”

After years of living under the threat of death when he had committed no crime, Nabal’s words were the final straw that broke the camel’s back.  He was not easily offended, but there limits to anyone’s patience, and David had had enough.  He set out to kill Nabal and his family, leaving two hundred men to guard their camp.  Satan constantly uses other people to try to push us too far in hopes we will do something we shouldn’t.  A more easily offended person would have struck back at Saul the first time he tried to kill him.