Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: David takes a wife named Abigail, Saul pursues David, David saves Saul's life another time and Saul "repents," and David moves to the land of the Philistines so that Saul will not pursue him there.
Samuel dies, and Israel laments him. David goes into the wilderness. A rich man named Nabal has a wife named Abigail, who is wise and beautiful, but the man is evil. When David hears the man is shearing his sheep, he sends ten servants, telling them to greet the man in his name and speak peace to his household, and to ask his young men to find favor with him- since his men had helped him guard his sheep- and share provisions with him when they pass by. Nabal answers his servants and basically says, "Who is David that I should share with him?" They report this to David, and David tells his men to prepare for battle, and 400 men go with him towards Nabal. And Abigail is told that the men have been good to them and that her husband refused to help them. A servant tells her what David intends to do and tells her to decide what she is going to do. She takes provisions and tells her servants to go ahead of her, but she doesn't tell her husband. So she rides on a donkey under cover and greets David. David says he helped the man in vain and that he has repaid him evil for good, and he swears to kill Nabal and his household. But Abigail falls on her face and begs him for mercy and says may he not regard "the scoundrel Nabal, for as his name is, so is he." (Nabal means "folly.") She asks him to receive her gifts and forgive her husband. She says that David fights the battles of the Lord and evil is not found in him. She even refers to him as lord, and she asks him to remember her when he is blessed of the Lord. David blesses the Lord and Abigail- and also her advice, since she has kept him from bloodshed and from avenging himself instead of letting the Lord avenge him, and he receives the gifts. He tells her to return in peace. So she goes back to Nabal, who is holding a feast like a king; he is drunk and merry, so she waits until morning to tell him these things. When she tells him, it says "his heart [dies] within him," and he becomes like a stone. After ten days, the Lord strikes him dead. When David hears, he blesses the Lord for avenging him and not allowing him to commit murder. And David proposes to Abigail through his servants and takes her as his wife. She says she will wash the feet of his servants, and with five of her maids she goes. David also takes another wife. Saul had given David's wife Michal to another.
The Ziphites come to Saul and tell him where David is hiding in the wilderness, and Saul pursues him with 3,000 men. David sends spies, and then he goes to Saul's camp and sees Saul and his men asleep. David and another man go by night and see him sleeping with his spear by his head. His man tells him to let him kill Saul, but David says not to touch the Lord's anointed, because whoever does will be guilty, and that the Lord Himself will strike Saul by letting him die in battle. "The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed." But they take his spear and jug of water. And "a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them." David stands afar off, and then calls out to the people. David chastises one of Saul's men for failing to guard the king and says he deserves to die for his failure to do so. And he points out the missing spear and jug. Saul says, "Is this your voice, my son, David." David answers, "It is my voice, my lord, my king." David asks Saul why he has pursued him, since he has never done him wrong. He says if the Lord has stirred him against him, fine, but if it is of men, may they be cursed. He tells him to stop seeking to harm him. Saul admits he has sinned and says he will "harm [David] no more." He says, " I have played the fool." David tells Saul he refused to kill him, and so Saul should value David's life the same. Saul blesses him, and David goes on his way, and Saul returns to his.
David says in his heart that Saul will surely kill him someday, so he decides to go to the land of the Philistines so that Saul cannot reach him. He goes to the king of Gad and dwells there with his 600 men and their households and his two wives. Saul hears, and he "[seeks] him no more." David asks the king for a place in the country, so he gives him Ziklag. He dwells there one year and four months. David and his men raid some nations, and whenever he attacks the land, he kills everyone, taking only the livestock. Each time, he returns to the king and tells him what he has done. He is sure not to let anyone live so that they cannot spread word of what he has done. The king thinks Israel hates David and that David will be his servant forever.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Twice in this passage, David learns the lesson not to avenge himself but to leave vengeance to the Lord. He is confident that God will right the wrongs he has suffered.