Atheist Holiday
An atheist complained to a Christian friend, “Christians have their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; and Jews celebrate their holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur; Muslims have their holidays. EVERY religion has its holidays. But we atheists,” he said, “have no recognized holidays. It’s an unfair discrimination.”
“What do you mean, atheists have no holidays,” his friend replied, “People have been observing a special day in your honor for years.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the atheist said, “When is this special day honoring atheists?”
“April first.”
I. The Introductions
A. Nabal, 2-3
2. And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3. Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
“churlish and evil,” churlish=hard, cruel or stubborn
Nabal=FOOL, 25:17, 25
Two things show that he was a fool.
1. He was ungrateful: he did not recognize the benefit of having David’s servants around, (i.e. verses 10, 15).
There is a connection between ingratitude and foolishness. Romans documents that fact.
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools . . . “ (Romans 1:21).
A simple definition of a fool might be: one who will not recognize the obvious. Look around and up, there is a God. Your wife has good understanding and a beautiful countenance. You are successful because of other people (v. 15, 16).
A fool is not necessarily stupid he just doesn’t recognize the obvious.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal they lay down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
Watson replied, “I see millions and millions of stars.”
Holmes asked, “What does that tell you?”
Watson pondered for a minute. “Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is omnipotent and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
“What does it tell you?”
Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. “Watson, you meathead. Someone has stolen our tent.”
2. He would not listen and could not be reasoned with, verse 17.
“Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words” (Proverbs 23:9).
Some men (and women) take a 1-2-3 approach to marriage. Before the day of the automobile, John wed his sweetheart, Sue, in the community church. Everything went off without a hitch until they climbed into the horse-drawn buggy en route to their new house. Along the way, the horse kept jerking the carriage. John stopped, climbed down and proceeded to beat and berate the poor animal without mercy, finishing his tirade by informing the horse, “That’s one!”
Not long after resuming their ride, the horse began to jerk and sway erratically once more. John stopped the carriage, climbed down and again beat the horse cruelly, claiming, “That’s two!” Sue was too shocked at John’s behavior to utter a word.
Alas, the chastening did no good. The horse continued his halting pace. Sue was holding he breath as John stopped the carriage for the third time. As he climbed down from the wagon, he said, “That’s three!”, pulled out a gun and shot the horse through the head, killing him instantly.
Horrified, Sue shot to he feet and exclaimed, “Are you crazy, John? What is the matter with you? I never dreamed that you had such cruel and uncontrollable temper!”
John looked at her calmly and warned “That’s one, Sue.”
B. The introduction of Abigail, v. 3
“she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance”
II. The Injustice of Nabal
A. David’s Diplomacy, 4-9
4. And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5. And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
6. And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
7. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
8. Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
9. And when David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
1. It did not specify any amount, but asked “whatsoever” Nabal thought was appropriate
2. David humbled himself, saying that he was Nabal’s servant and even his “son.”
3. David and his men had given Nabal a considerable amount of help. (V. 16)
B. Nabal’s Defiance, 10-12
10. And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.
11. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
12. So David’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
Essentially called David a runaway slave.
Nabal should have been grateful, not just for David’s help but also because David had spared the nation from the Philistines. As Kieth Kaynor put it, “Everything Nabal owned had been riding on the stone in David’s sling some years before” (When God Chooses, Regular Baptist Press, 1989, p. 112).
III. The Indignation of David, verse 13, “. . .Gird ye on every man his sword. . . .”
13. And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
David is angry
The Explanation:
A. David was put off (unpaid)
B. David was put-upon (stressed), due to feeding 400 men and increased by Nabal’s action
C. David was put out (wasted time, vs. 21, “Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.”)
D. David was put down (insulted), vs. 10 & 21
David indulged in self-pity because he received evil for good.
David is angry because his actions have not brought about the result he expected. From his point of view, he has dealt kindly with Nabal, and now it is time for Nabal to deal kindly with him. But instead of giving a blessing to David and his men, Nabal insults them and sends them away empty-handed. All of his good works are for nothing, David concludes. And if Nabal will return evil for good, David is now justified in returning evil for evil.
Let me sum up David’s reasoning:
David does good toward Nabal and all his household.
David expects Nabal to respond in kind, and instead he receives nothing but an insult.
David now feels justified in his intention to kill Nabal and every other male in his household.
How many of us minister to others with a measuring stick in our hands? We are willing to love and serve others sacrificially, but with a certain set of expectations. We expect that sacrificial love and service should be reciprocated. When in return for our doing good, our neighbor gives us evil, like David, we get hot under the collar and look for some way to retaliate.
Why do we serve others? Is it done expecting rewards from others or God? Are those the proper motives? And how will we respond when we are not rewarded?
IV. The Intercession of Abigail, 14-31
14-17 The servants expected retaliation
“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.” (1 Sam 25:17)
Are you unapproachable?
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” (Prov 12:15)
“A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.” (Prov 15:5)
“And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.” (1 Sam 25:19)
We ought draw out the wisdom of our wives.
“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:” (Prov 1:5)
A. Abigail’s Approach to calm David
“And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,” (1 Sam 25:23) (Humility in marriage; “Only by Pride cometh contention” Prov. 13:10)
“And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be:(“its my fault, put the blame on me alone”) and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.” (1 Sam 25:24)
Abigail takes blame, 23, 24
1 Sam. 25:23. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
24. And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
No one takes blame in marriage anymore.
I went to my psychiatrist
To be psychoanalzed,
To find out why I killed my cat
And blackened my wife’s eyes.
He put me on a downy couch
To see what he could find,
And this is what he dredged up
From my subconscious mind:
When I was one, my mommy hid
My dolly in the trunk,
And so it follows naturally,
that I am always drunk.
When I was two, I saw my father
Kiss the maid one day,
And that is why I suffer now’
Kleptomania.
When I was three, I suffered from
Ambivalence toward my brothers,
So it follows naturally,
I poisoned all my lovers.
I’m so glad that I have learned
the lesson it has taught,
That everything I do that’s wrong
Is someone else’s fault!
—Anna Russell
B. Abigails Arguments to cool David. All of her arguments are based on the premise that you can control your anger. Reasons with David not be angry
Illustration: You are screaming at your child when the phone rings. You answer the phone calmly, “hello.” You have just demonstrated your ability to control your anger.
“A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” (Prov 29:11)
1. Revelation, She Reveals the true nature of Nabal’s character
“Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.” (1 Sam 25:25)
a. The reason for an angry response
David might have said, “Nabal makes me so mad”
When we say, “You make me so mad,” we are blaming others for our emotion.
Most people like to believe that feelings originate outside themselves. Something ‘happens’ to them that ‘makes’ them sad or happy or angry or lustful. These feelings, in turn, cause them to behave in unusual ways.
“The assumption is convenient because it lets them off the hook. Behavior that otherwise would be unacceptable or suspect becomes ‘understandable’ when an emotional state is seen as the cause. . .”
“We need to turn this cause-and-effect relationship upside-down: instead of supposing that he does what he does because of his feelings, let us imagine that he has the feelings he has because of what they allow him to do.”
“Nobody can be run by his feelings unless, at some level of his being, he wants to be run by his feelings. Or, to put it the other way around, anybody who wants to do something he normally finds unacceptable can generate an emotion that will at least in his own eyes, ‘explain’ and thus excuse the act.”
b. The result of an angry response, to a fool, you become one.
“He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.” (Prov 14:17)
“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.” (Prov 26:4)
2. Restitution, She Restored the food that should have been given him, (25:27: 25:18)
25: 18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
25: 27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
Reconciliation involves restoration.
Some anger is justified. The thing that is wrong about anger, is to not get it settled. (Remember Zacchaeus.)
If your neighbor stole your lawnmower and you forgave him, does he have to return it?
* The concern in restitution is not to punish the forgiven wrongdoer but to help the one who was wronged.
* Secondarily, it may serve as a warning to those who may be inclined to steal. Num. 5:5-10
* Another reason for restitution is to remove all stumbling blocks to future reconciliation between wrongdoer and the one wronged.
3. Reflection, She reflected on David’s future grief if he sheds innocent blood, 25:30, 31
1 Sam. 25:30. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31. That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
You will regret your angry reaction!
A man never opened the car door for his wife or any other woman. He felt it was a sissy Emily Post kind of thing to do and “Besides,” he was fond of saying, “she doesn’t have two broken arms.” His table manners left much to be desired, and manners in general were looked upon by him as quite unnecessary.
After many years of marriage, the wife died and her husband was heartbroken because he truly loved her. Somehow, as the pallbearers brought her casket out of the funeral service, the husband and his family reached the hearse ahead of them. The mortician was back a few feet and, since he knew the husband quite well, he called him by name and said, “Open the door for her, will you?” The man reached for the door handle and then, for one second, just froze. He realized he had never opened a car door for her in life; now in her death it would be the first, last, and only time. It was a moment for him when years of regrets came crashing down around him.
—James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 338.
4. Reminisce, She Reminded David of God’s past, present and future protection and blessing, 25:26,28,29
1 Sam. 25:26. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
28. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
29. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
a. God’s intercession through the voice of Abigail.
“So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.” (1 Sam 25:35)
b. God’s intervention through the vengance upon Nabal
We ought to lay our anger before God
“And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.” (1 Sam 25:38)
“And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.” (1 Sam 25:39)
Psa 18:46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
Psa 18:47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
Psa 18:48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Don’t keep score in marriage, you will suffer injustices. People looking for injustice find it.
Let us accept the cruel fact that multiplied millions of injustices will never be made right, and that our earthly quest for justice will always fall short. International game of Hit Last.
On an old “Amos and Andy” television program, Andy was angry. There was a big man who would continually slap Andy across the chest every time they met. Andy finally had enough of it. He told Amos, “I’m going to get revenge. I put a stick of dynamite in my vest pocket. The next time he slaps me on the chest he’s going to get his hand blown off.” But Andy forgot that the dynamite would also blow his own heart out. Revenge may hurt the other person but it always blows our own heart out.
—Gaylord Goertsen in The Christian Leader (Feb. 26, 1991). Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 7.
A Proverbs 31 Woman Married to an April 1st Man
1 Samuel 25
I. The Introduction of the Couple
A. The Introduction of Nabal, 2-3
B. The Introduction of Abigail, v. 3
II. The Injustice of Nabal
A. David’s Diplomacy, 4-9
B. Nabal’s Defiance, 10-12
III. The Indignation of David, verse 13, “. . .Gird ye on every man his sword. . . .”
A. David was put off (unpaid)
B. David was put-upon (stressed), due to feeding 400 men and increased by Nabal’s action
C. David was put out (wasted time, vs. 21, “Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.”)
D. David was put down (insulted), vs. 10 & 21
IV. The Intercession of Abigail, 14-31
A. Abigail’s Approach to calm David
B.Abigails Arguments to cool David.
1. Revelation, She reveals the true nature of Nabal’s character
a.The reason for an angry response
b. The result of an angry response
2. Restitution, She restored the food that should have been given him, (25:27: 25:18)
3. Reflection, She reflected on David’s future grief if he sheds innocent blood, 25:30, 31
4. Reminisce, She reminded David of God’s past, present and future protection and blessing, 25:26,28,29
a. God’s intercession through the voice of Abigail.
b. God’s intervention through the vengance upon Nabal
