NABAL BIBLE STUDY

NABAL BIBLE STUDY TRUTH
NABAL IN THE BIBLE EVENTS

Now, In Maon (a city about fifteen miles east/southeast of Engedi) there lived a rich man named Nabal who owned property in Carmel (which was about a mile north of Maon). Nabal was a cruel and evil man. His wife Abigail, however, was a smart and beautiful woman. Nabal had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats and he took his sheep for shearing to Carmel.

Haven't had a Daily Bread Stick in a while, have we? Let's talk about sheep shearing! This is the third time we've heard about sheep shearing in the Bible. The first time in Genesis 31:19, Jacob fled from Laban while Laban was away shearing his sheep. In Genesis 38:13, Judah went up to his sheepshearers in Timnath after he finished mourning his wife's death. Now we have Nabal taking his sheep up to Carmel to have them sheared. In each instance, the sheep owners took the sheep elsewhere to have them sheared. Perhaps the cities they were taken to were cities of trade, where purchasers of wool, or markets were. Another thing to remember when you picture what's going on in the Bible stories that we share, is the era in which things are happening.

If you think about sheep shearing today, you might automatically think of the shearer holding an electric razor, and you can probably even imagine the sound of it buzzing as the tufts of wool fall from the blades. But they didn't have such luxuries back then. It must have taken much longer to shear a sheep with scissors or knife blades or whatever they used back then. At either rate, it was a time of celebration as well as sort of a harvest time, because the sheep owners would naturally sell the wool and make an abundance of money.

Well ... Imagine how much wool one would get from three thousand sheep! So, one might imagine, just as you would imagine grape harvest time in old Italy, though it was work because they had to stomp the grapes without the modern methods we have today, it was a time of great joy and friends were invited to join in the festivities.

Now, back when David and his fellas were hiding from Saul in Engedi, they used to hang out with Nabal's shepherds around Carmel and there was a good rapport between Nabal's shepherds and David's men.

Remember now, David has since left Nabal's neighborhood and is out in the wilderness of Paran, and he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.So David sent ten of his guys to Nabal in Carmel with a message, saying, "Peace to you, your family, and all that you own. I heard you're sheering sheep. We've always treated your shepherds kindly ... Ask your fellas and they'll tell you.So please be generous and allow my men to find favor in your eyes and give to your servants and your son David whatever you can since we've come at a time of celebration.

So to get a better picture of this, everyone in Israel knows the skinny on David and Saul and what's going on with that situation. And David, along his travels as a fugitive, gains supporters along the way. Some actually follow him as soldiers, while others back him in mind and heart and if possible help out with food and other provisions.

David's men returned to David reporting everything Nabal said.This sort of made the hair on the back of David's neck stand up and he said to his men, "Get your swords." And with about 400 men, David went to confront Nabal, while 200 men stayed behind with the supplies.