[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY MARCH 27

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY MARCH 27

DAILY BIBLE READING

1 Samuel 25-27 New King James Version
Death of Samuel
25 Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for
him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to
the Wilderness of [a]Paran.

David and the Wife of Nabal
2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was
very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was
shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name
of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful
appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the
house of Caleb.

4 When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5
David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel,
go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6 And thus you shall say to him who
lives in prosperity: 'Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all
that you have! 7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds
were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from
them all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will
tell you. Therefore [b]let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come
on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and
to your son David.' "

9 So when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these
words in the name of David, and waited.

10 Then Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David, and who is
the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one
from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my [c]meat
that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know
where they are from?"

12 So David's young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came
and told him all these words. 13 Then David said to his men, "Every man gird
on his sword." So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on
his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred
stayed with the supplies.

14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Look, David
sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he [d]reviled
them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we
miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. 16
They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them
keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for
harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he
is such a scoundrel[e] that one cannot speak to him."

18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins
of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one
hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them
on donkeys. 19 And she said to her servants, "Go on before me; see, I am
coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of
the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she
met them. 21 Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have protected all that
this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that
belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good. 22 May God do so, and
more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to
him by morning light."

23 Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell
on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. 24 So she fell at
his feet and said: "On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please
let your maidservant [f]speak in your ears, and hear the words of your
maidservant. 25 Please, let not my lord [g]regard this scoundrel Nabal. For
as his name is, so is he: [h]Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But
I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. 26
Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the
Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging[i]
yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek
harm for my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now this present which your maidservant
has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28 Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the Lord will
certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the
battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days. 29
Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my
lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and
the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.
30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according
to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you
ruler over Israel, 31 that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of
heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my
lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord,
then remember your maidservant."

32 Then David said to Abigail: "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent
you this day to meet me! 33 And blessed is your advice and blessed are you,
because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging
myself with my own hand. 34 For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who
has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet
me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!" 35 So
David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, "Go
up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your
person."

36 Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, holding a feast in his
house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for
he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until
morning light. 37 So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from
Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within
him, and he became like a stone. 38 Then it happened, after about ten days,
that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

39 So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord,
who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has
kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has returned the wickedness of
Nabal on his own head."

And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the
servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying,
"David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife."

41 Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, "Here is your
maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 42 So
Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, [j]attended by five of her
maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and so both of them were his wives.

44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to [k]Palti the son
of Laish, who was from Gallim.

David Spares Saul a Second Time
26 Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is David not hiding in
the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?" 2 Then Saul arose and went down to
the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him,
to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul encamped in the hill of
Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David stayed in the
wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David
therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had indeed come.

5 So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David
saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his
army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him.
6 Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the
son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul
in the camp?"

And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."

7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay
sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head.
And Abner and the people lay all around him. 8 Then Abishai said to David,
"God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore,
please, let me strike him [l]at once with the spear, right to the earth; and
I will not have to strike him a second time!"

9 But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out
his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?" 10 David said
furthermore, "As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall
come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. 11 The Lord forbid
that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But please,
take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us
go." 12 So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul's head, and
they got away; and no man saw or knew it or awoke. For they were all asleep,
because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

13 Now David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill
afar off, a great distance being between them. 14 And David called out to
the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, "Do you not answer, Abner?"

Then Abner answered and said, "Who are you, calling out to the king?"

15 So David said to Abner, "Are you not a man? And who is like you in
Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the
people came in to destroy your lord the king. 16 This thing that you have
done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have
not guarded your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's
spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head."

17 Then Saul knew David's voice, and said, "Is that your voice, my son
David?"

David said, "It is my voice, my lord, O king." 18 And he said, "Why does my
lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my
hand? 19 Now therefore, please, let my lord the king hear the words of his
servant: If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an
offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the
Lord, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance
of the Lord, saying, 'Go, serve other gods.' 20 So now, do not let my blood
fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has
come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

21 Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you
no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have
played the fool and erred exceedingly."

22 And David answered and said, "Here is the king's spear. Let one of the
young men come over and get it. 23 May the Lord repay every man for his
righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord delivered you into my hand
today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. 24
And indeed, as your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life
be valued much in the eyes of the Lord, and let Him deliver me out of all
tribulation."

25 Then Saul said to David, "May you be blessed, my son David! You shall
both do great things and also still prevail."

So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

David Allied with the Philistines
27 And David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish someday by the hand of
Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to
the land of the Philistines; and Saul will [m]despair of me, to seek me
anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand." 2 Then
David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to
Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 So David dwelt with Achish at Gath,
he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives,
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow. 4 And
it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more.

5 Then David said to Achish, "If I have now found favor in your eyes, let
them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there.
For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" 6 So Achish
gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of
Judah to this day. 7 Now [n]the time that David dwelt in the country of the
Philistines was one full year and four months.

8 And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the [o]Girzites,
and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from
[p]of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. 9 Whenever
David [q]attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took
away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and
returned and came to Achish. 10 Then Achish would say, "Where have you made
a raid today?" And David would say, "Against the southern area of Judah, or
against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area
of the Kenites." 11 David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring
news to Gath, saying, "Lest they should inform on us, saying, 'Thus David
did.' " And thus was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of
the Philistines. 12 So Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his
people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever."

Footnotes
1 Samuel 25:1 So with MT, Syr., Tg., Vg.; LXX Maon
1 Samuel 25:8 be gracious to the young men
1 Samuel 25:11 Lit. slaughter
1 Samuel 25:14 scolded or scorned at
1 Samuel 25:17 Lit. son of Belial
1 Samuel 25:24 speak to you
1 Samuel 25:25 pay attention to
1 Samuel 25:25 Lit. Fool
1 Samuel 25:26 Lit. saving yourself
1 Samuel 25:42 Lit. with five of her maidens at her feet
1 Samuel 25:44 Paltiel, 2 Sam. 3:15
1 Samuel 26:8 Or one time
1 Samuel 27:1 despair of searching for
1 Samuel 27:7 Lit. the number of days
1 Samuel 27:8 Or Gezrites
1 Samuel 27:8 ancient times
1 Samuel 27:9 Lit. struck