Sermon Central
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Unsung Heroes: Nabal's Servant
Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Apr 10, 2022 (message contributor)
Introduction: David was God’s choice to be king over Israel, but that wasn’t going to happen as long as Saul was ruling as Israel’s first king. David had done some unusual, some might say questionable, things but at this time he and his men were protecting a large flock of sheep and goats. David sent a group of 10 men to say, in so many words, “Here’s who we are and here’s what we did. Whatever you can give us, we’d appreciate it.”
Nabal’s reply was not only unexpected, but rude and insulting. Even worse, he almost lost his life because of it! But there was one unsung hero who “saw something, and said something.”
Text: 1 Samuel 25:14-17, KJV: 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. 15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: 16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.
Thoughts:
This unnamed servant seemed to have heard the entire conversation, such as it was, between David’s men and Nabal himself. This man promptly informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife, about the whole thing. He told her David’s men “were very good unto us” and provided some extra security for them and the animals.
He also reminded Abigail that because Nabal (this is one word for “fool” in Hebrew) was “such a son of Belial (basically, worthless)” nobody could speak to him. That’s dangerous in any situation, especially so if you’ve insulted a group of men who “had his back”, to quote a frequently used figure of speech at this time.
Abigail got the message and organized a massive effort to stop what could have been a disaster. The rest of chapter 25 details the logistics (what she did and how she transported it) and the reality of just who Nabal really was. In the end, the only casualty was Nabal himself.
Nabal could have avoided a lot of heartache by simply being a better man. His unnamed servant was the unsung hero of this story. Suppose he kept quiet and didn’t want to get involved?
I think the ending might have been much different and much worse. Wouldn’t you agree?
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
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