Stockton Baptist Church
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FOOL. Seeing it's difficult to imagine that his parents were crazy enough to name their son, 'Nabal,' it could well have been a nickname. Regardless, his name means 'fool.' And from the little we know about him, the name fits. As recorded in 1 Samuel 25, Nabal lived during the time of David before he became king. In fact, David is on the run because Saul is seeking to kill him. It was during this time that David and his 600 men showed grace to some shepherds of Nabal by protecting them and their sheep from harm for a period of time. And they also didn't slaughter any sheep for their own benefit. However, as the saying goes, 'No good deed goes unpunished.' After hearing that Nabal was shearing his sheep, David sent some men to ask Nabal to show kindness to him and his men by giving some food to them due to the previous kindness they had shown. However, Nabal foolishly stated in 1 Samuel 25:10, 'Who is David?' Seeing that everyone would have known David after his slaying of Goliath, in short, Nabal was just flatout refusing to honor those who had honored him and his shepherds. One of Nabal's problems was that he was extremely rich (25:2). No, there's nothing wrong with being rich, however, riches can easily lead to arrogance, self-sufficiency, and lack of spiritual incli-nations. So it appears that Nabal was certainly a prideful fool. But he's also described as 'harsh' and 'evil.' What Nabal didn't know was that his wife, Abigail, found out about his foolishness. In response, she loaded up donkeys with food and took it to David to keep him from avenging himself rather than trusting God. David told Abigail, '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' (25:33). In the end, God took Nabal's life (25:38). Nabal was a fool. But David almost became a fool by not trusting God. May God help us to trust Him!
