1 Samuel 25

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1 Samuel 25
Leningrad-codex-08-samuel.pdf
The pages containing the Books of Samuel (1 & 2 Samuel) in Leningrad Codex (1008 CE).
BookFirst book of Samuel
Hebrew Bible partNevi'im
Order in the Hebrew part3
CategoryFormer Prophets
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part9

1 Samuel 25 is the twenty-fifth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible.[1] According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan,[2] but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE.[3][4] This chapter contains the account of David's escape from Saul's repeated attempts to kill him.[5][6] This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5 which records the rise of David as the king of Israel.[7]

Text[]

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 22 verses.

Textual witnesses[]

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).[8] Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q51 (4QSama; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 3–12, 20–21, 25–27, 38–40[9][10][11][12] and 4Q53 (4QSamc; 100–75 BCE) with extant verses 30–31.[9][10][11][13]

Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[14][a]

Places[]

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Places mentioned in this chapter

Death of Samuel (25:1)[]

And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah.
And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.[16]

Samuel's death was at a time when Saul had acknowledged the issue of succession (24:20) and that David, the one anointed by Samuel, would come to the throne.[17]

  • "The wilderness of Paran" according to Masoretic Text. Septuagint has 'the wilderness of Maon'.[17]

David, Nabal, and Abigail (25:2–44)[]

David and Abigail, 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld

The accounts in 1 Samuel 24 and 26 report David's refusal to kill Saul as God's annointed, but in this chapter, he was almost guilty of killing many innocent people in the household of Nabal and Abigail who lived in Maon.[18] Nabal (in Hebrew meaning 'fool') was a 'surly and mean' man, but his wife Abigail was 'clever and beautiful', personifying the fool and the virtuous wife in wisdom literature.[17] The first part of the narrative (verses 2–12) detailed how Nabal foolishly refused David's request for provision, which was carefully structured in verses 5–8:[17]

  1. the offer of peace and friendship to Nabal and his house
  2. a reminder that Nabal's shepherds were not harmed when they were with David's men (easily verifiable)
  3. there is a request for supplies, as a compensation for David's protection to Nabal's shepherds.[17]

Nabal behaved arrogantly with his two questions in verse 10 dismissing David as a nonentity and providing hints that he knew about David's breach with Saul ('men who come from I do not know where').[17] The reference to Nabal as ben blliya'al in verse 17 may classify him with those who despised Saul when he was king-elect (1 Samuel 10:27) and suggest that Nabal also was rejecting a king-elect and refusing to pay him tribute.[17] In anger of the humiliation, David was in danger of taking matters in his own hand and not relying on YHWH, but he was saved from taking foolish action through the interference of Abigail, Nabal's wife, who was informed of the situation by one of Nabal's servants, who liked David and was critical of his own master's rash response (verses 14–18). Abigail intercepted David as he was on his way to annihilate the house of Nabal (verse 22), without consulting her husband, who she counted as a fool (verse 25).[17] Without Abigail's intervention David would have become guilty of 'blood-guilt' and would have 'taken vengeance' with his own hand instead of restraining himself and trusting God, as detailed in Abigail's words (verses 26–31) and David's response (verses 32–34).[17] When Nabal died of sickness, David remembered Abigail (verse 30) and decided to take her as his wife, which also gave David another advantage, for the house of Nabal was a prominent member of the Calebite clan and had control over Hebron, so marrying Nabal's widow would give David control of that particular territory (cf. marrying Ahinoam of Jezreel as another wife), that would also be significant when David later was declared king at Hebron (2 Samuel 2:1–4).[17]

Verse 5[]

So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.[19]
  • "Carmel": was the same place where Saul built a monument for himself (1 Samuel 15:12), so Nabal could actually be a supporter of Saul.[20]

Verse 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.[21]
  • "Abigail" became David's third wife, after marrying Michal (who has been given to marriage to another man by Saul; 1 Samuel 25:44) and Ahinoam of Jezreel (not the same as Ahinoam, the wife of Saul).[20][22]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ The whole book of 1 Samuel is missing from the extant Codex Sinaiticus.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ Halley 1965, p. 182.
  2. ^ Hirsch, Emil G. "SAMUEL, BOOKS OF". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
  3. ^ Knight 1995, p. 62.
  4. ^ Jones 2007, p. 197.
  5. ^ Jones 2007, p. 209.
  6. ^ Coogan 2007, p. 433 Hebrew Bible.
  7. ^ Jones 2007, p. 207.
  8. ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 35–37.
  9. ^ a b Ulrich 2010, pp. 285–286.
  10. ^ a b Dead sea scrolls - 1 Samuel
  11. ^ a b Fitzmyer 2008, p. 35.
  12. ^ 4Q51 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
  13. ^ 4Q53 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
  14. ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
  15. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Codex Sinaiticus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  16. ^ 1 Samuel 25:1 KJV
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jones 2007, p. 212.
  18. ^ Coogan 2007, p. 437 Hebrew Bible.
  19. ^ 1 Samuel 25:5 ESV
  20. ^ a b Evans 2018, p. 257.
  21. ^ 1 Samuel 25:39 NKJV
  22. ^ Coogan 2007, p. 439 Hebrew Bible.

Sources[]

Commentaries on Samuel[]

  • Auld, Graeme (2003). "1 & 2 Samuel". In James D. G. Dunn and John William Rogerson (ed.). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837110.
  • Bergen, David T. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 9780805401073.
  • Chapman, Stephen B. (2016). 1 Samuel as Christian Scripture: A Theological Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1467445160.
  • Evans, Paul (2018). Longman, Tremper (ed.). 1-2 Samuel. The Story of God Bible Commentary. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 978-0310490944.
  • Gordon, Robert (1986). I & II Samuel, A Commentary. Paternoster Press. ISBN 9780310230229.
  • Hertzberg, Hans Wilhelm (1964). I & II Samuel, A Commentary (trans. from German 2nd edition 1960 ed.). Westminster John Knox Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0664223182.
  • Tsumura, David Toshio (2007). The First Book of Samuel. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802823595.

General[]

External links[]

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