1 Samuel 25:2-36
We now come to the story of Nabal, who pictures to us the ungodly part of the nation, of Israel who would not receive the Lord Jesus when He came into this world in humiliation. David sent a message to Nabal saying, “Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.” How this reminds us of the message spoken by the angels at the birth of the Lord Jesus, “On earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14. But how was this message received by men, and by the nation of Israel to whom the Lord Jesus came? Alas, it was received in the same way as Nabal received the message from David, the rejected king. Nabal said, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.” And so when the Lord Jesus came there was no room for Him in the inn. “He is despised and rejected of men.” Isaiah 53:3. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” John 1:11. They did not see or believe who He was as the sent One of God, nor would they even accept the works He did as a testimony to it (John 10:38, 39). David had shown great kindness to Nabal and his men, but Nabal reward him evil for good. And oh, what wonderful works of love and grace the Lord Jesus did, yet in His hour of need, He could say, “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” Psalm 69:20, 21. They not only rejected the Lord of life and glory, but they crucified Him, putting Him to death in the most shameful way.
It is beautiful at this point to see Abigail, the wife of Nabal, brought in. She went out to meet David and brought food and wine for him. She spoke of Nabal as a son of Belial and acknowdged David as her lord, bowing down before him. She owned the guilt of her husband as though it were her own, and pleaded for mercy. David had come out to judge Nabal and his household, but the judgment was not executed at that time. In this way John the Baptist said, when announcing the coming of Christ, “And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Matthew 3:10. Those who came out and were baptized with the baptism of rentance were like Abigail, who identified herself with David, and so the judgment of which John the Baptist spoke, did not fall at once on the guilty nation of Israel. Whether they would receive Christ or not was the final test.
It is interesting to notice that Abigail did not become the wife of David until after Nabal’s death. And so the godly of Israel, while identified with the Lord in measure during His life on earth, did not leave Judaism, nor would it have been right for them to do so until God had set it aside (Matt. 23:2, 3). Even in the early part of the Acts, before the stoning of Stephen, the testimony of Christ’s death and resurrection was presented in the very temple itself, and the Jews were given the opportunity of acknowledging their guilt in rejecting their Messiah. Peter told them that if they would repent, God would send Jesus and bring in the kingdom then. (Acts 3:19-26.) However they rejected this testimony and stoned Stephen, thus sending a messenger after Christ saying, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Luke 19:14.
ML 12/26/1954