Life of David: 16. David, Nabal & Abigail

Friday, August 24, 2018
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This is lesson 16 in the Life of David series. David sent men to ask Nabal for food for feast day. David and his men have been protecting the shepherds and David is asking for payment. Nabal is rude and declines. David is angry and Abigail calms him down. This has a good application worksheet to discuss anger and how God wants us to control it.

Saul has been chasing David and he finally caught up with him last week; but it didn’t happen as he planned. Saul took 3,000 men and went to the Rocks of the Wild Goats. They stopped at the sheepfolds by the roads and Saul went into a cave. He didn’t know that David and his men were staying at the back of that same cave.
David snuck up behind Saul and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Once Saul left, David left the cave and called out to Saul. David told Saul that “See, here is part of your robe. I could have killed you, but I do not intend to hurt you! Why are you looking for me to kill me?” Saul realized that David was righteous (good), and he had been treating David badly. Saul realized that David would be the next king and he would be a good one. They made promises and Saul went home. David went back to his stronghold.
Beginning with today’s chapter, we learn that the prophet Samuel has died. The people gathered together to mourn and bury him. David went to the Wilderness of Paran.



Nabal lived in Maon, and he had business in Carmel. He was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was in Carmel shearing his sheep. His wife’s name was Abigail. She was beautiful and smart. But Nabal was mean and evil.
When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep in Carmel, David sent ten young men to see him. David told them to tell Nabal that “They were sent by David, and he has heard Nabal is shearing the sheep. Nabal’s shepherds have been with David and have been kept safe. Their belongings have been kept safe. Nabal can ask his men and they will verify this. So, we have come to you on feast day requesting food for David and his men.”
Nabal answered by asking “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are so many servants that leave their masters! Why should I give bread, water and meat that I have to men I don’t even know? The food is for my shearers.”
David’s men went back to David and told him what Nabal said. David told his men to get their swords and get ready to fight. About 400 men went with David and 200 stayed with the supplies.
One of the men told Nabal’s wife, Abigail, that David had sent messengers to talk to Nabal. He told her “Nabal was angry and sent them away. But David’s men have been very good to us. They kept us safe, and our belongings were safe while David’s men were with us. They ‘were a wall to us’ day and night while we took care of the sheep. Please think about doing something because David is going to fight against Nabal and his workers. Nabal is so evil that we can’t ask him for help.”
Abigail hurried and took 200 loaves of bread, two wines, five sheep ready to eat, some roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins and 200 fig cakes. She loaded the food on donkeys and told her servants to go ahead and she would follow them. She didn’t tell Nabal where she was going. She used the hill as cover.
Abigail rode a donkey and met David on the way. David told her that he had been taking care of Nabal’s shepherds for nothing because Nabal has repaid evil for the good that he has done. David has been protecting Nabal’s shepherds and sheep. David asked to be paid for his work on feast day, but Nabal refused to pay David.
David told Abigail that he planned to kill all the men before morning. Abigail got off her donkey and bowed down to David. She begged him to listen to her. She said that “She knows that Nabal is cruel and is a fool. She didn’t see or talk to the men that David had sent. Please accept this gift that she brought. When David is king over Israel, have no grief and remember me.”
David told Abigail “Blessed is the Lord because He sent you today! And blessed is your advice because you have kept me from killing today. Go in peace!”
The next morning, Abigail told Nabal about David and what almost happened. His heart died and he was like a stone. He died ten days later. When David heard that Nabal had died, he asked Abigail to marry him. She agreed and rode her donkey to meet David with five of her servants. David also married Ahinoam. David’s first wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter) had married someone else while he was gone.
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The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. Although this lesson is appropriate, some lessons about David are not for early elementary. But David is a great study. So, as you can see from the above picture, there is a Q&A. This could be used with younger groups by using the answer sheet and just asking the questions for discussion. Each post in this series will have a maze and some type of puzzle. The additional application has thought questions about how the students can apply the lesson to their daily life. There are answer sheets for all worksheets except for the last application. Everyone will have a different set of answers. Click here to download.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3uNEVAAKowpQUhVTGZCUFJBaUE/view?usp=sharing
 


Bible Verse:  1 Samuel 25:42

http://www.biblefunforkids.com/2018/04/life-of-david-introduction-lesson-links.html
Click here to see the entire list and links for the Life of David series.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission.

1 comment

  1. Thank you so much for having this lesson, I have been looking for something on Nabal and Abigial for a few weeks. This is the first website I have seen so far.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I appreciate it! They will be added as soon as they are approved.