Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 140
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
1S
| 25:16-34
they were with us. In fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection
to us and the sheep. You need to know this and figure out what to do, for
there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family. He’s so
ill-tempered that no one can even talk to him!”
Abigail wasted no time. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two
wineskins full of wine, five sheep that had been slaughtered, nearly a
bushel of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes. She
packed them on donkeys and said to her servants, “Go on ahead. I will
follow you shortly.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal what she was
doing.
As she was riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David
and his men coming toward her. Dav id had just been saying, “A lot of
good it did to help this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness,
and nothing he owned was lost or stolen. But he has repaid me evil for
good. May God strike me and kill me if even one man of his household is
still alive tomorrow morning!”
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed
low before him. She fell at his feet and said, “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. I know Nabal is a wicked
and i ll-tempered man; please don’t pay any attention to him. He is a fool,
just as his name suggests. But I never even saw the young men you sent.
“Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since
the Lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your
own hands, let all your enemies and those who try to harm you be as
cursed as Nabal is. And here is a present that I, your servant, have brought
to you and your young men. Please forgive me if I have offended you in
any way. The Lord will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty, for you
are fighting the Lord’s battles. And you have not done wrong throughout
your entire life.
“Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe
in the care of the Lord your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the
lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling! When
the Lord has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel,
don’t let this be a blemish on your record. Then your conscience won’t
have to bear the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance.
And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember
me, your servant!”
David replied to Abigail, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has
sent you to meet me today! Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for
keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own
hands. For I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from
hurting you, that if you had not hurried out to meet me, not one of Nabal’s