Two roadblocks preventing David from becoming king – 1st Samuel 25, Part 1

What is the largest number of people you ever had to feed? Maybe at a wedding or funeral you’ve had to feed a couple hundred people.  As we continue the story of David in 1st Samuel 25, David’s army has 600 men, and they need to eat every day.  This is why an efficient and dependable supply chain is essential for any military.  I cannot fathom what it must take to feed and outfit militaries with tens of thousands of soldiers. 

But even though David and his men are only 600, they have a uniquely difficult situation because they are fugitives.  They cannot just walk into the local Costco and buy those huge packs of meat.  They will be spotted. As we have learned in the previous couple chapters of 1st Samuel, there are plenty of people watching out for David and reporting on his whereabouts to King Saul who is hunting David to kill him. So David and his men are extremely cautious.  They carefully develop relationships with the people living near their hiding spots, hoping to earn the favor of those people, so those people will feed them.

That brings us to the events of 1st Samuel 25. Verse 1 concludes a major storyline,

“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 Paran.”

For 24 chapters one man has been the spiritual leader of the nation of Israel.  Actually, because Samuel was on the scene before Israel’s kings, for decades he served a kind of combo role as the nation’s spiritual and political leader.  Then Israel asked for a king, which was a slap in the face to God, their true king, as well as to Samuel who up until that time had been their human leader.  God allowed it, though, asking Samuel to anoint a guy named Saul to be king.  And Saul did not turn out to be a good king. 

God then tells Samuel to anoint David to succeed Saul as king, because David is a man after God’s own heart.  David, because he has a heart in line with God’s heart, has the chance to not only succeed Saul as king, but also to succeed Samuel as the spiritual leader of the nation.  Since David emerged on the scene, we haven’t heard much about Samuel.  Now with Samuel’s passing, there is a vacancy in the spiritual leader category. 

In the political leader category, however, Saul is still king, and he is doing his best to kill David.  Saul doesn’t want David to fill any leadership role.  But in chapter 25, we learn that David faces a very different roadblock that could easily stop him from become the spiritual and political leader of Israel that God has anointed him to be. 

After mentioning Samuel’s passing, verse 1 tells us that David is on the move again.  No surprise there.  When you are a fugitive, you are constantly moving, avoiding getting caught.  David is now in the Desert of Paran.  And that is where he comes up against the roadblock I mentioned.  You can read about the roadblock in verses 2-13.

Did you see the roadblock to David becoming the new spiritual and political leader of Israel?  Nabal.  We should call him Nabal the Fool because in Hebrew his name is actually the word Fool.  Can you imagine any parents naming their child “fool”?  I went to high school with a girl whose first name was Barbara, and her last name was Wire. I kid you not. Barb Wire.  She was nothing like barbed wire.  But Nabal…he just might be appropriately named. 

Nabal is a roadblock for sure, but he is not the roadblock to David that I was referring to earlier.  The roadblock I am referring to is much more serious.  Skim through verses 2-13 again, because you can read about that more serious roadblock too.  I’ll admit, the more serious roadblock is kind of hidden.  As we study verses 2-13, see if you can identify the roadblock.

Remember the narrative context of 1^st Samuel 25, that David and his men are fugitives, being hunted by King Saul.  Because David and his men are fugitives, they need food and supplies. 

That’s what gives David the idea to reach out to Nabal the Fool.  David and his men need to eat.  Nabal is rich. He has thousands of livestock he could help David with.  Also David and his men have protected Nabal’s servants and livestock.  It only seems natural that Nabal would respond to David’s kindness with kindness of his own.  Even though Nabal is not the major roadblock in this story, Nabal is a roadblock because despite his wealth, Nabal refuses to help David. 

Have you ever met or heard about people like that, people who are both rich and selfish?  Some people are very disagreeable people and they have loads of money.  To be fair, there are people who do not have loads of money who are also selfish, and there are wealthy people who are exceedingly generous and kind.  Nabal just happens to have a lot of money, and he is selfish and foolish, just like his name. 

But maybe, just maybe, Nabal has a good reason for not helping David.

By now word is out around the country that King Saul has been more than willing to commit atrocities in his mad pursuit of David.  Maybe Nabal is thinking, “I don’t want King Saul anywhere near here.  I don’t want Saul to find out I helped David, or Saul will destroy me.” Or maybe Nabal is just selfish and doesn’t want to help David. Maybe Nabal just has a self-assured personality that says, “I worked hard for my money, I’m not giving it away to some fugitive.” Nabal is a roadblock in this story.  He doesn’t agree with David’s request, and so he makes life more difficult for David than if Nabal would have said, “Sure, I’ll feed you and your men, David.”  So Nabal is a roadblock, but he is not the much more serious roadblock that I have asked you to look for in the story.

Check back in to the next post, as we search for the major roadblock to David becoming the leader of the people.

Photo by Fahim Junaid on Unsplash