NABAL
“foolish, foolish.”
Rich owner of small livestock; He lived in the city of Maon, but his flocks grazed around the city of Carmel, on the edge of the desert of Judah. His wife was named Abigail.
David and his men, during the time when Saul was pursuing them, remained in this place, and protected the property of the inhabitants against the bands of marauders. When Nabal dedicated himself to shearing his sheep, ten young men came to ask him, in David’s name, for an amount of food that he himself wanted to give them with good will.
The fool refused the request in an insolent and rude manner. David, enraged, set out against him accompanied by 400 of his people. Abigail, intelligent and warned of the danger, hurried to bring the provisions to David and managed, with prudent words, to prevent justice from being done by her hand.
When she returned, Abigail found Nabal completely drunk after a banquet. The next morning, when she had slept off her drunkenness, she revealed to him what danger he had escaped. She fell prey to an attack upon learning these facts and died ten days later. David married the widow (1 Sam. 25:1-42).