1 Samuel 25:9-18 – When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name.  Then they waited.  Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David?  Who is this son of Jesse?  Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days.  Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?” . . .  Abigail lost no time.  She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys…”

Nabal was a wealthy man in Israel.  He was harsh and self-centered.  His name is the Hebrew word for “fool,” (nabal) and he belonged to the clan of “Calebites,” which in the Hebrew was the same word for “dogs.” (See also Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15).  This story happened while David was in the wilderness, hiding from his persecutors.  David and his men had helped guard Nabal’s shepherds and farm workers and treated them well for a period of some weeks.  All this occurred in an area called Carmel, which means “vineyard” in Hebrew, which reminds us of the abundant blessings we have through the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  When David needed some provisions for his men, he sent messengers asking Nabal for help.  Nabal refused, insulting David and his men, showing ingratitude for all they had done for him.

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2 Samuel 24:1-4 - Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”  So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”

But Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”  The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders…

This census was one of David’s two greatest sins. The story is also recorded in 1 Chronicles 21, which says God incited David by allowing the Enemy to tempt him to do this. This sin of counting the “sheep” of Israel (see 2 Samuel 24:17) brought a terrible judgment from the Lord. 70,000 people died from a plague throughout the country, within three days’ time! We often compare the Work of the Holy Spirit to the “work of David,” so it is important to see the application of this problem in David’s life to our churches today.

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Acts 13:20-22 - “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.  Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.  After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” 

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1 Samuel 22:1 -  ”David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. “

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1 Samuel 14:24 – “Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food…” 

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1 Samuel 13:14 - the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

Acts 13:22 - “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”

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“With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.” - 1 Samuel 24:7

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Acts 13:22 – ” After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” 

Saul had a large standing army and weapons, but could not fight against a single person who defied his army (Goliath – see 1 Samuel 17).  David defeated Goliath with a simple stone and slingshot. 

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1 Samuel 14:36-37 - Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive.”  “Do whatever seems best to you,” they replied.  But the priest said, “Let us inquire of God here.”  So Saul asked God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines?  Will you give them into Israel’s hand?”  But God did not answer him that day.

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1 Samuel 14:25-27 - “The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground.  When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath.  But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb.  He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened…”

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