Nabal
A rich and surly man of Maon, whose name means 'fool'. When David's men, who had protected his shepherds in the wilderness, asked for provisions at sheep-shearing, he answered with an insult — who is David? — and David set out with four hundred armed men to kill every male in his household. His wife Abigail intercepted them with loaded donkeys and a speech that turned David from bloodshed. Told of it the next morning when the wine had left him, Nabal's heart died within him; ten days later he was dead, and Abigail became David's wife.
What we know — and how we know it
Where in scripture
1 Samuel2 SamuelNow the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.
1 Samuel 25:3
Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men, whom you sent.
1 Samuel 25:25 — 'Folly is with him'
David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife.
1 Samuel 27:3
David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
1 Samuel 30:5
So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
2 Samuel 2:2
and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
2 Samuel 3:3
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
In their own words — 1 recorded saying
“And Nabal gave them his answer and said, Who is David? who is the son of Jesse? there are a number of servants in these days running away from their masters. Am I to take my bread and my wine and the meat I have got ready for my wool-cutters and give it to men coming from I have no idea where?” — 1 Samuel 25:10-11
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
In art
