旧约 - 撒母耳记上(1 Samuel)第25章

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon.
A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings.
While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.
So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.
Say to him: 'Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
"'Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.
Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.'"
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?"
David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.
David said to his men, "Put on your swords!" So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
One of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail: "David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them.
Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.
Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them.
Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him."
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.
Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them.
David had just said, "It's been useless--all my watching over this fellow's property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good.
May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!"
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.
She fell at his feet and said: "My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say.
May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name--his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent.
"Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal.
And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you.
Please forgive your servant's offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD'S battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live.
Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.
When the LORD has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel,
my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD has brought my master success, remember your servant."
David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.
May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.
Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak."
Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, "Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request."
When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until daybreak.
Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.
About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head." Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.
His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife."
She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master's servants."
Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife.
David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.
But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
撒母耳记上第廿五章   第 25 章 

  撒上 25:1> 集祭司、先知与士师于一身的撒母耳,有何属灵的特质值得我学习? 

  25:1 扫罗虽贵为君王,撒母耳却是民族的属灵领袖。他无论在孩童时代或是年纪老迈时,都常常留心聆听( 3:10 ; 9:14-17 )、顺服( 3:21 ; 10:1-2 )耶和华。他离世以后,以色列人就失去了属灵的领导人,直到大卫兴起作王之后(关于撒母耳,请看第八章的人物介绍),才有另一位属灵领袖。 

  撒上 25:2-11> 吝啬、势利、愚顽有无影响过你帮助他人?怎样改变? 

  25:2-11 拿八粗暴地拒绝大卫的要求,不肯供给他那六百人的饮食。拿八的行为不值得同情,因为第一,照昔日的习俗,按简单的接待客旅条例,对过客不论多少都须款待。拿八非常富有,很容易满足大卫的要求。第二,大卫并不是请求他施舍。他和跟随他的人保护拿八的工人,拿八的财富有一部分是靠大卫的警醒护卫所致。我们对保护我们、帮助我们亨通之人应当慷慨,即使律法与习俗没有那样的规定,也不必计较。 

  亚比该 

  撒上 25:24> 大卫其实有理嘛,为何仍听取亚比该的意见?留心听别人解释,当真如此重要? 

  25:24 大卫带领人想对付拿八,本来没有心情听人解释( 25:13 , 22 ),不过他还是听取了亚比该的陈情。如果他不理会她的话,就会犯亲手报复之罪。不管我们觉得自己怎样有理,总应当留心听别人解释,多花的时间与努力最后总不会徒然。 

  撒上 25:36> 亚比该的贤淑与智慧,给我哪些启发? 

  25:36 因为拿八醉了,所以亚比该一直等到天亮才把自己所做的事告诉他。她知道在他醉的时候向他陈说,他不可能明白,或者会作出粗暴的反应。与别人,尤其是与自己家里的人讨论困难的问题时,找适当时机是极为关键的。求神赐智慧,好知道何时最宜于讨论具争议性的问题,最宜提出易惹人动怒的事情。 

  撒上 25:44> 25:44 大卫与米甲的事并非到此为止(扫罗将米甲给别人为妻,后来大卫将其索回,参撒下 3:12-16 ,另有分解)。──《灵修版圣经注释》