Well, with that, let's open our Bibles to First Samuel, chapter 25. And I'm actually going to read a slightly different text that we read at the top of this in order to set this passage up. Well, so we're going to be reading 1st Samuel, chapter 25, and I'm going to be reading verses one through three as we pick up the story. David is the anointed king of Israel, but he is not on the throne yet. Saul is still king. And we've seen this continued conflict, but now we're about to hit a crucial moment in the life of David. And that crucial moment begins in verse one. This is God's word. Now, Samuel died and. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him. And they buried him in his house at Ramah. And then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now, the name of the man was. Was Nabal. The name of his wife, Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful. But the man was harsh and badly behaved. He was a Calebite. This is God's word.
And Lord, I pray your blessing over the preaching and the hearing of your word. And Lord, I just pray very practically that my voice would hold out well that I may be able to explain the Bible and lead my brothers and sisters to see what you have for us today in the Word, in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, if I describe a particular image, I bet you anything you're going to have a very vivid and particular picture that pops into your mind. Here's the image. A character in a story forced to make a decision where suddenly pops up on their shoulder a little red person brandishing a pitchfork with little horns, ready to give advice. Anybody see him? Anybody see that little guy? Okay. And then on the other shoulder pops into existence a contrastingly white robed character with a golden halo, also ready to give advice. Anybody see those? Where does that picture even come from? And I began. That was the question I began to ask this week. Where. Where did that picture enter my mind? Was it Bugs Bunny? Was it a movie? I've seen what you know where. And I've seen it so many times, it even still floats around in Internet culture. Or like, you'll see a meme of it. This person. This person. Here's the advice. Here's. And. And so finally, this is the stuff I do. This is the stuff I use the Internet for. I tried to find the origin of this in pop culture, and I traced it, I believe, to a 1938 short film, very influential, starring the character Donald Duck. Donald Duck is who we owe this image to. And essentially, in this little short, Donald Duck, who I thought he was an adult, but in this short, he has to go to school. He's got his books, like, in a little belt, and he's, like, going to school. But this character appears, this devilish character, and basically tells Donald, no, you should not go to church. You should sleep in. Don't go to school. You should waste time. And then the height of the Temptation of Donald Duck, this thing that you're like, oh, that's a bridge too far, is that the devilish character entices Donald Duck to smoke a corn cob pipe and go fishing instead of going to school. And I'm like, I guess this is what they were dealing with in 1938. A lot of, like, fifth graders with corn cob pipes in the schoolyard. And then you've got the angel, right, of course, who's like, no, you should wake up. You should go to school. You should learn. You should resist the temptation of corn cob pipes and so on.
Now, of course, this image didn't just pop out into the 20th century. It goes further back. It goes all the way to Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, if you know that play, if you're a Shakespeare fan, to medieval morality plays, to church Father, even describing this conflict. But here's what I think. I think if you trace this concept of two voices counseling you, I think if you trace it all the way back, it actually originates here. In fact, more specifically, in Hebrew literature. And Hebrew literature would have these characters, characters that, like pop culture. Characters, for us are things like Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam. If I say Uncle Sam, he's like, boop. You got a picture of Uncle Sam, right? Well, in literature, in Hebrew literature and Hebrew culture, they had characters that were similar, that were meant to help instruct. And two of the characters that were most prominent, if you read the Book of Proverbs, you'll see them all over. The two characters are Lady Wisdom and Mr. Fool, Mr. Fool and Lady Wisdom, both calling out to the people and both calling out, saying, listen to me now. Surprisingly, these two characters make an appearance in the book of First Samuel, which is why it's amazing to see the way that the genres of the Bible intersect with one another. It's almost like the wisdom literature, for a second, jumps into the narrative of First Samuel. And we're set up because this woman, Abigail, is described as discerning and beautiful, like Lady Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs. And contrastingly, her husband is described. Well, his name is Nabal, which, if you have a little footnote in your Bible, like mine, if you look back, Nabal means what? Fool. Literally, his name is fool, which I got a lot of questions about his parents and what list of names they were looking at, but that's his name. Okay? And so here's what happens. We arrive in 1st Samuel at this critical moment where Samuel the prophet has died. Now, remember, Samuel the prophet has been the one guiding David and guiding Israel throughout the whole book up until this point. He's kind of the Jiminy Cricket, as it were, of the story. And yet now, in this crucial moment, that voice is gone. And all of a sudden, David is forced to choose what kind of path he's going to walk, what kind of king he's going to be. And it just so happens that he's thrown into a middle of a situation where two very different voices are calling out to him. The voice of the fool and the voice of Lady Wisdom.
And so for David and for us, the main question today is this. Are you listening to Mr. Fool or Lady Wisdom today? Because we all have the same choice in front of us this week. Today, will you listen to Mr. Fool or Lady Wisdom?
We're going to look at this in three sections, three voices. The first voice is the voice of Mr. Fool.
6 · The pastor expounds the narrative context of David's request to Nabal and Nabal's insulting refusal, highlighting the deliberate demeaning language Nabal uses toward Israel's war hero and future king
Now, we've already said that the man's name means fool, but he's described as harsh and badly behaved, which we will see. Now, the story is set up in verses four through eight, because David, remember, he's a war hero. He's the future anointed king of Israel, but he's not the king yet, and he's on the run from King Saul. And so what's happening is he is. He's moving around, trying to basically get away from Saul, and he happens to land in the same area as this man, Nabel. Now, this man naval, is very wealthy, and David's army, who, which by the way, sort of become the militia of Israel, like anytime Israel needs help, David is still ready to fight. And the militia goes. And so they're out there, and we learn later, they're actually helping protect the flocks of Nabal, keep raiders and people out of the way. And so a feast day is coming up in Hebrew culture. So they. They see all of this wealth that Nabal has, and they basically send a Message saying, hey, Nabel, we are, you know, your countrymen. We're out over here. A feast day is coming up. Happen to notice that you have, like, a lot of stuff. Would you by any chance want to contribute some food to these old war heroes trying to keep Israel safe? You know, it's okay if not, but, you know, they basically ask that. Nabal responds, well, surprisingly. Look at verse nine. When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David. And then they waited, and Nabal answered, david's servants, who is David? Now, notice this. He's not asking, who's David? Like, who is this guy? Everyone in Israel knows who David is. Okay, remember, you may remember the incident with a giant. You may have remembered multiple incidences where he saved God's people. You may remember the popular Israelite song, Saul has slain his thousands, but David, his ten thousands. Right? That's the number one hit on Israelite radio at the time. Of course he knows who this is. He essentially is demeaning David, who's this guy? And notice what he says next. Who is the son of Jesse? Now, Nabal is probably very wealthy and well to do when his family name is known. And Jesse, oh, he's just a sheepherder from some corner of Israel. Look at what he says. There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. He basically refers to David like a slave who's uppity, a bond servant who's uppity against a master in the ancient world. Verse 11. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where right now in Nabal's response, you think, okay, well, that's not good.
7 · The pastor identifies and expounds the first two characteristics of the foolish voice: pride (self-centeredness) and uncontrolled sinful emotion, applying these directly to contemporary culture's valorization of unrestrained emotional expression
But let's. Let's dive one level deeper. Why is it not good? What does the voice of a fool sound like? We need to learn to hear it in case it's speaking to us today and in case it's coming out of our mouths. So first, the foolish voice sounds like pride. You see what Nabal's doing to demean David? He's saying, listen, you don't have the status. I do. You don't have the wealth. I do. You're nothing more than a hired servant. I am a wealthy, important man. And do you see that language? My, my, my, me, I, my me, I. Right? That's what the voice of a fool sounds like. Like, if you've ever. Listen, man, if you've ever been at a party and somebody's, you know, you're looking at them in the corner and all you hear from them is, my, my, me, my, I, I, my, my. You're like, okay, one of those guys, huh? Right? Every office has one. Sorry, maybe not yours. Maybe it's you. I don't know. The foolish voice, though, always sounds like pride. Proverbs 26 says, do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There's more hope for a fool than for him. Meaning somebody who thinks that they're smart and proud and powerful is worse than a fool to the left of a fool. And so here's the important thing. Foolish voices will always say, make it about. And foolishness always starts with making it about you. Whatever the situation is, what happens is you enter it and go, it's about what about me? What about me? That's where foolishness starts. Second, the foolish voice is laced with sinful and I would say, uncontrolled, ungoverned emotions. Now, why does Nabal respond this way to David? It appears that he is offended by David's request. He could have said, sorry, don't have enough to go around this year, and politely decline. But instead, this is personal. Suddenly, he demeans David. He demeans David's family. He demeans David's calling. He basically responds, offended that this guy would even ask. And in this, we see the voice of a fool. Well, it's always laced with sinful, uncontrolled emotion. Proverbs 14:17 says this. A man of quick temper acts foolishly. Or Proverbs 29:11 says, A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Right? Foolishness runs on reactive emotions, right? It runs on, hey, no restraint. Say what you think at any moment, any emotion you have, express it fully. And in fact, I think our culture today values almost as a virtue expressing your emotion fully without restraint. Have you noticed that it's almost virtuous to be like, if you're jealous, you gotta speak fully your jealousy. If you're frustrated, you gotta speak that. If you're angry, you gotta, you gotta give vent to that. And we'll say things like, listen, I just run hot. Okay? That's just part of, part of being around me is, I just run hot. I'm a hot blooded person. And you're like, I'm not seeing that as a category in here. Right? Meaning our culture almost sees it as a virtue to have ungoverned emotion. Now, should you express emotion appropriately? Absolutely. David, in the Psalms expresses all kinds of emotions. But this is sinful, ungoverned emotion that leads to foolish action. Are you listening to voices like that? Is your voice sound like that?
8 · The pastor identifies the third characteristic of the foolish voice: the complete absence of any consideration of God, his character, or his revealed will in the situation
Third, the fool's voice carries the absence of God and his ways. Now, what's not in Nabal's speech is any reference to the Lord or any. Any part of his action or words informed by the Lord, even though there are a bunch of places he should be informed by the Lord, right? So. So he. He should have brought to bear what the Old Testament says about generosity, about the sojourner, about kindness, about loving your neighbor. He should have brought that out here. None of that. And even if he didn't do that, he should be discerning enough to understand that David is the future king of Israel, that God is obviously raised this man up, this man who has defended the nation time and time again. And Nabal almost looks at what God's doing and goes, yeah, whatever, right? The fool's voice carries nothing about the reality of God into the situation. Remember that Psalm 1 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 1. Rather, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So you could flip that and say, the absence of the Lord, the absence of the reality of the Lord, well, that's the beginning of foolishness. And so this is what Nabal does.
9 · The pastor applies the three marks of foolishness to contemporary media consumption, arguing that foolish voices in entertainment can influence believers to speak and act foolishly themselves
Now, why. Why does this matter for us today? Well, because we today often either listen to voices who say, make it all about you, don't govern your emotions, and don't think about the Lord. Right? There's all kinds of advice that's always given to us. Now, some of that is. Is interpersonal. Maybe it's co workers, maybe it's family. Maybe you. You're not even realizing how much it's affecting you. Some of it may even be. I just want to throw this out as a category. The media that we're consuming. Now, listen, sometimes as parents, we're more alert to this with our kids than we are for ourselves, right? A number of years ago, there was this PBS show that would come on after a show my son liked to watch when he was a toddler. And the show was. Well, it contained what I really believe might be the worst child in all of media. And when I say his name, every parent that knows who this is will shudder. Caillou. Does anybody know Caillou? You guys tracking Caillou? Oh, my gosh, this kid, the whiniest child on the face of the earth. And so here's what I began to observe. If Ford watched Caillou, and Caillou would be like. His parents would be like, all right, Caillou, we're going to the grocery store. And he'd be like, why do we have to go to the grocery store? I don't want to go to the grocery store. You know? And I would notice in the afternoon when my wife would say, hey, little bud, we're going to the grocery store. What would we hear? Why do I have to go to the grocery store? I don't want to go to the grocery store right now. It's like, oh, well, it's obvious this is influencing him. But, guys, we often think like, yeah, we can interact with whatever media, and it's not gonna influence me. Meanwhile, we're listening to the voice of fools at times, right? Think about this. Maybe you watch, you know, you binge watch a bunch of reality TV full of ungoverned emotions, people making it about themselves, nothing about the Lord. And their voice is like, why do I have to go with you to that party? I don't want to go with you to that party, Right? And. And should we then be surprised when later that evening, your husband's like, hey, I need you to come with me. This. And what comes out of our mouth is, why do I have to go? Right? It's just the Caillou thing. And this is what. This is what Proverbs is telling us. This is what this passage is telling us, that we need to listen and understand. That's a foolish voice. That is not a voice to emulate.
10 · The pastor uses a personal story about his son mimicking the behavior of a television character to illustrate how consuming foolish voices shapes our own speech and actions
A number of years ago, there was this PBS show that would come on after a show my son liked to watch when he was a toddler. And the show was. Well, it contained what I really believe might be the worst child in all of media. And when I say his name, every parent that knows who this is will shudder. Caillou. Does anybody know Caillou? You guys tracking Caillou? Oh, my gosh, this kid, the whiniest child on the face of the earth. And so here's what I began to observe. If Ford watched Caillou, and Caillou would be like. His parents would be like, all right, Caillou, we're going to the grocery store. And he'd be like, why do we have to go to the grocery store? I don't want to go to the grocery store. You know? And I would notice in the afternoon when my wife would say, hey, little bud, we're going to the grocery store. What would we hear? Why do I have to go to the grocery store? I don't want to go to the grocery store right now. It's like, oh, well, it's obvious this is influencing him.
11 · The pastor establishes the principle that consuming foolishness produces foolishness in our own lives, either through direct influence or reactive mimicry
And here's the challenge. Often when we take in foolishness, what comes out of us is foolishness. It either is an influence or in this case, even perhaps more common reaction.
12 · The pastor expounds David's reactive fury toward Nabal, showing how David mirrors all three marks of Nabal's foolishness: wounded pride, ungoverned anger, and a self-serving invocation of God rather than genuine submission to him
So look at what David does. David listens to this. And in verse 12, it says, so David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. And David said to his men, every man strap on his sword. Look down at verse 21. Now, David had said, surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness. And so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him. And he has returned me evil. For good God do so to the enemies of David. And more. Also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all belonging to him. Oh, right. Not great, right? So this guy demeans David. And David's response is, I'm going to kill every man in his household. And you're like, whoa. That escalated quickly. That went from 0 to 110 David, but do you see what's happening? David is mimicking the voice of pride. Nabal's pride's hurt now. David's pride's hurt. He's mimicking the voice of ungoverned sinful emotion. Nabal's offended now. David's offended now. Nabal doesn't respond with any reality of the Lord. And what David does, he's. He actually twists his reference to God to be self serving. Rather than David going, lord, what would you like me to do in this situation? He goes, God, you know, God's on my side and he's going to, he's going to come with me as I smite you, right? It's a godless view of the situation.
13 · The pastor applies David's reactive foolishness to marriage and interpersonal conflict, showing how foolish reactions escalate into cycles of mutual offense and increasing sinfulness
So foolishness, guys begets more foolishness. And it might look like influence, like you're listening to, you know, the devil telling you to smoke the corn cob pipe like Donald Trump. I'm sure that's not a tutorial for most people, but you get influenced that way. Or let me just say this, it might be as, or more common that you listen to the voice of fools and your sinful reaction is to respond in foolishness, right? How many times does this happen in marriage, right? Where your spouse says something maybe not the best, and what do you respond with? Something a little bit more not the best. And so that they hearing that are offended and then they respond with foolishness. And then you're more offended now and you respond with escalating foolishness, right? Maybe this doesn't happen to anybody else. Does that happen to anybody else? And this is what we gotta be on our guard for. Hearing the voice of the fool and reacting to it, either by taking it in or by mimicking it, leads to death.
14 · The pastor signals the transition from examining the voice of folly to the voice of wisdom, expressing relief that the narrative doesn't end with David's foolish reaction
But second, another voice interrupts the voice of lady wisdom. Aren't you glad there's another voice that interrupts here? Because otherwise this is not good.
15 · The pastor reads Abigail's speech to David in full, highlighting the stark contrast between her wise counsel and the foolish voices of Nabal and David's reactive anger
So what happens is Abigail discerning this is what's funny. She's got to be street smart about this. Abigail is wise and discerning, discerning that insulting a war hero and his band of veterans who have killed more people in the ancient near east than anyone else is not a good idea for her husband decides to take matters into her own hands, right? She's going, these aren't the people to insult, honey. Like the guy with five medals of honor and all of his squad. That's not. You don't want to do that. And so she walks out and she meets David. And I just want you to listen for the Difference of the voice here. Okay, look at verse 24. She fell at his feet and said, on me alone, My Lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant. Let not my Lord regard this worthless fellow Nabel. For as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your servant, did not see the young men of my Lord whom you sent. And now then, my Lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from blood guilt and from saving with your own hand. Now then, let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my Lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my Lord be given to the young men who follow my Lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house. Because my Lord is fighting the battles of the Lord. And evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living, in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord is done to my Lord, according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause, or for my Lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my Lord, then remember your servant. Do you hear the difference even in Nabal's speech and David's speech back, and then this speech. This is the voice of wisdom.
16 · The pastor identifies the first mark of wisdom's voice as other-centeredness, contrasting it with folly's self-centeredness by showing how Abigail risks herself for others' good
And notice the three opposite. The opposite of the three things we saw in the first section. First, this wisdom is not self centered wisdom. Sounds like concern for others. Notice that Abigail, she's actually not in danger. In fact, let's just be honest here. If she, she was probably forced to marry this foolish man according to custom, and if this guy dies, do you not think her life might get better and not worse? So, you know, a less godly woman could just be like, okay, you know, like, come on in, boys, here's the key. But she's there in front of these two opposing sides because she cares for others. Her concern is actually not just for her household people that work with her and for her and David's men, that she doesn't want any of them to perish, but her concern is actually for David, that he not do something Rash or foolish. This is what wisdom sounds like, guys. It's a concern for others. And often we want to seek out voices that will tell us, yep, it is all about you. This tough situation, it's all about you. Just think about you. And it's hard sometimes to hear the voice going, but what about others? And yet that's exactly what wisdom sounds like.
17 · The pastor identifies the second mark of wisdom's voice as self-control, using a framework from marriage ministry to distinguish between reactive emotion and wise response
And second, wisdom sounds like self control. Abigail is restraining David from reacting and helping him think about what he's about to do. Now, I was so helped last earlier this year when we went through Re Engage, our marriage curriculum. My wife and I went through it. And one of the categories in there is they talk about the difference between reacting and responding. If you've been through reengage, this will be familiar to you. But the way that they talk about reaction is it's what comes out of you. And without any governance, when someone sins against you or somebody does something you don't like, right? So something happens, you react, just comes out. Responding is different. Responding is when you pause, you think about it, you apply a godly amount of governance to your emotions, and you wisely respond. What she's telling David to do is, don't react to this, David, respond. Think about this. And that's often what the voice of wisdom sounds like. When we are fired up or when we're emotional, we want to seek out voices that will be just as emotional as we are, right? Like we want. Like, I'm, I feel envious, or I feel frustrated or I feel angry. And we want to find whatever voice is like, you're right to be envious, frustrated, angry, whatever. But wisdom often is. I know it hurts, but let's think for a minute, right? Let's consider this for a minute. And you're like, I don't want to consider this. I just want a friend that's going to be mad with me, right? And that's what Abigail is, the voice of wisdom.
18 · The pastor identifies the third and most important mark of wisdom's voice as theological grounding—Abigail reorients the situation by inserting God's promises, care, and righteousness into David's calculus, fundamentally changing how the conflict appears
And then third thing, most importantly, wisdom sounds like the fear of the Lord and his ways. Do you notice that Abigail actually gives David a theological argument for why not to take vengeance? She does what David and Nabal have not done. Neither of them have had the Lord in the picture as they're reacting to each other. But she reinserts God and his ways into the landscape of this situation. And notice this, when she reinserts the Lord into the landscape of the situation, everything changes and everything looks different. For example, she says, david, do not try to make a great house for yourself. Don't believe the lie that this guy's insulted you and he's insulted your family. So you've got to take vengeance because you got to be concerned with your dad's name and your name. She says, God has already promised David to make you a house. God has already promised that he holds your future. God has already promised that he has a plan for you, so you stop worrying about yourself because the Lord is already worrying for you and about you. The Lord has a plan for you. Do you see how much of that venom it takes out of the situation when we go, well, I've got to defend myself. I've got to get in there. No, no, no, the Lord has a plan for you. The Lord is watching over you. Do you see how that different the situation feels? She actually uses this beautiful picture that David is bound by the Lord's care. Like a bundle of sticks is bound together, right? It's a very familiar image to shepherds, right? You're moving a bundle of sticks. So to move it, you. You put it and you bind it over and over and over so it's secure. She's saying, David, that is how secure the Lord has you in his plan and care. Like, stop. Stop worrying for yourself. And then she also brings into the situation the knowledge of righteousness. She basically asks David, in very polite, very kind language, david. She basically says, david, I am trying to keep you from doing something unrighteous. Choose the path of righteousness. And honestly, guys, as I thought about it this week, that's often not the friend's voice I want in my ear right? When I'm, like, fired up, when I'm angry, when I'm emotional. I don't want somebody going, well, what's righteous and unrighteous here? I'm just like, stop it. Just be angry with me. Just be envious with me. Just be frustrated with me. And Abigail is like, but. But what's actually right? And that's friends, sometimes we don't want to hear that voice. But that's exactly the voice we need. What is right in the Lord's sight? Often when I'm going, that's not right. This isn't right. You're not right. Who am I thinking of? Right? According to the law of Ricky Alcantad, right? You have violated the laws of Ricky Alcantad. That's not right. And Abigail is going, what about the laws of the Lord? That's what we should be concerned about.
19 · The pastor applies the need for wisdom's voice to the church's practices of Scripture engagement, community groups, and corporate worship, explaining how each functions to provide access to God's wise counsel
And so you see how this voice sounds. And the reality is this, friends, God has given us this wisdom. And let me just very Briefly make a connection into our. We encourage every week people to do three things. We encourage them one, to be in the Word. Now, why do we encourage people to be in the Word? So that you could hear the voice of wisdom. So you could hear the Lord's voice. Look, all week you're gonna get bombarded with all kinds of other voices. Some of them are gonna be mildly foolish. Some of them are gonna be really foolish. You need the voice of wisdom in your life, so we wanna do that. Second, we encourage people to gather in home groups. Now, why do we do that? So you can have other flesh and blood people that you know that you can get help and get wisdom from, right? And you're like, I don't want these people in my business. That's part of the purpose of the church, is to be in each other's business. You know when you're like, I'm thinking about killing a town of people, people in community groups should go, hey, Fred, could we talk after the meeting? Right, that's what. That's. That's, you know, that's this situation. But maybe you're not thinking something that crazy. But, guys, that's who we need. And then third, opening the Word together, praying over your life with the Lord at the forefront of your mind changes the way you think about your week. That's why we're doing this.
20 · The pastor expounds the narrative conclusion showing God's vindication of Abigail's wisdom through Nabal's death, establishing that the choice between wisdom and folly is not morally neutral but a matter of life and death
All right, let me. Let me just briefly help you see something. Abigail is right. She is right in telling David to trust God to deal with the situation. Because look at how God deals with the situation. In verse 36, Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. See, she's wise in the morning. Verse 37, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And 10 days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died. Wisdom is proved out in this situation, and the need for wisdom is underlined by this. Because often when we're choosing between wisdom and folly, it doesn't feel like that big of a choice. But scripturally, this is what we read, that choosing folly always leads to destruction. For example, Proverbs 1:32 says, for the simple are two killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them. So when we're choosing wisdom or folly, we're not Just choosing A or B. We're not just at the optometrist. Is A better or is B better? You like A? Do you like B? And you're like, ah, there's not that much of a difference. That's not the way it is. With biblical wisdom, with biblical wisdom, it is life or death, right? That's why this choice is so important. And, and essentially you see in a mini picture with this fool what happens to all fools who choose to walk the path of foolishness. And by her intervention, Abigail, in a sense, snatches David out of foolishness.
21 · The pastor signals the final major section of the sermon, introducing the third voice—the voice of Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of wisdom's mediatorial role
Third and last point. This will be very brief, but I could not not included the voice of Christ.
22 · The pastor identifies the first redemptive-historical fulfillment in the passage: Abigail's mediation between David and destruction prefigures Christ's mediation between sinful humanity and God's judgment, tracing the mediator pattern through Old Testament figures to its culmination in Jesus
We've heard the voice of folly, we've heard the voice of wisdom. Now we're going to hear the voice of Christ because there are echoes in this story, by positive and negative, of another voice informing this passage. And the, the voice that we hear in this passage in part is the voice we hear in Christ in full. And the first aspect of the voice is it's the voice of a mediator. Now think about this. David, the future king of Israel, right? We saw him last week do so many righteous things. He's following the Lord, he has a heart for the Lord. And in this moment, he flips a switch and is about to murder a town, right? And you think, oh my goodness, wow, that's not good. And Abigail mediates between him and destroying himself. You have this beautiful picture of these two angry, testosterone filled guys and this woman steps up out in between them with wisdom and changes the situation. And that thread, that thread of a mediator mediating between people about to be destroyed and people who are then not destroyed is a picture of the constant tension of God and humanity over and over. You see, the reality that humanity and you and me, by the way, are a lot more like Nabal than we want to admit. And that we have walked the path of foolishness far longer than any of us want to acknowledge. And so the reality is this, the Lord, if he judges the foolish, judgment is coming for us all. But the thread in the Old Testament is that a mediator steps in in Moses, right? In Joshua, in David, at certain points, in, in prophets, over and over and over, these moments of a voice of mediator, voice of a mediator, voice of a mediator, until in the end we find the true and clear voice of the mediator, the man Jesus Christ. First, Timothy says this. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Do you see what the Lord has done? All of us are like Nabal, walking on the road to destruction. And. And Christ the mediator interrupts our road and speaks peace and calls us back to the Lord. That's the voice of a mediator.
23 · The pastor identifies the second redemptive-historical fulfillment in the passage: David's failure as a husband (taking multiple wives) creates a longing for a faithful husband that finds its fulfillment in Christ's unwavering love for the church as his bride
But then there's a second voice, the voice of a faithful husband. Because this story you expect, okay, this feels like. This feels like it's going to have a happy ending, right? Well, kind of, because, in fact, it actually sets us up a little bit. We think we're about to hit a. Almost a hallmark ending for the thing now. Because what I haven't told you before is David just happens to be single at this time because Saul took his daughter, who he had given in marriage to David. He took his daughter and gave her away to another person. So David and Abigail just so happen to find themselves single at the end of this thing, right? And so, you know, it's kind of that moment at the end of the romantic comedy where they're, like, both walking toward each other, and you're like, oh, my gosh, this is great. And the snow begins to fall, and I don't know why, but in Hallmark, it's always the snow begins to fall and they move toward each other, right? And you're like, this is beautiful. This is perfect. Perfect. You got the wisest wife ever. And then you read verse 40, and so David does take her as his wife. And then verse 43, and David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. And you're like, what? What? That's not the Hallmark movie I saw. And here's what's going on. This is the first hint in first and Second Samuel, which is one big story. This is the first hint of the thing in David's life that will destroy him later. Because you remember what he does later. He desires another man's wife. He's not content with one. And so in this story, you're like, David, great. He chose the path of wisdom. And then at the end, you're like, oh, wow. He, like, veers off into polygamy, and you're going, oh, my gosh, what? What's wrong with you? And you desire, like, what should happen in your heart is, I desire someone faithful who's like David, but who won't fail, who won't turn aside. I desire the voice of a faithful husband who's not going to have his eye turn and wonder and friends that faithful husband theme woven throughout the Old Testament present in Hosea finds its full expression in the person of Jesus Christ as well. Because we not only find a mediator who steps in to so to stop God's wrath against those who deserve it, we find a faithful husband who loves his people like a bride and never turns aside.
24 · The pastor synthesizes the two prior biblical-theological moves by showing that Jesus is both the wisdom of God (truth) and the grace of God (mediator and faithful husband), uniting what 1 Samuel 25 anticipates in separate threads
And here is the good news when we arrive at the New Testament, this voice of wisdom that is in First Samuel we find most fully expressed. Let me just read this to you in another word. In John chapter 1, verse 14, we read this and the word, or you could say the voice became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. Full listen of grace and truth. The happy surprise that we find in the New Testament when we look back on this passage is that Jesus, Jesus is not only the wisdom of God who tells us what to do, but he is the grace of God who is the mediator who jumps in between us and destruction and grabs us as a faithful husband. Right? That. That is who Jesus is. Not just truth, but grace. Not just grace, but truth united in the voice and the person of Jesus Christ as the longings we have in 1st Samuel 25 find flesh in John chapter 1.
25 · The pastor concludes by issuing two calls: an evangelistic appeal to those who have never trusted Christ as Savior, and a call to believers to continue listening to Christ's voice rather than drifting toward foolish counsel
And so in. In conclusion, here, here is the call, guys. When you think of Mr. Fool and Mr. Wisdom and Lady Wisdom, what you're really listening to, when you listen to wisdom is the voice of Christ. And let the voice of Christ, friend, guide you today. Maybe you need to be guided eternally. Maybe you have never decisively turned to the Lord as your Savior and Lord and you've realized, man, the person I've been getting advice from, they're the worst and I don't like it. And it started with that corn cob pipe and then it ended in a real different place. And you realize I need to. I need help. Go to him as Savior and Lord. Go to him, Christ the wisdom and the mediator that you need. And then if you are in Christ, friends, how often is it that we begin to drift toward listening to other voices? This passage is here to remind us. Listen, friend. Listen, brother. Listen, sister, to the voice of Christ today.