1 Samuel 25:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 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.
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
hundred
מָאתַ֨יִםma.Ta.yim
H3967
a hundred · noun, common feminine dual absolute
loaves
לֶ֜חֶםLe.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
two
וּשְׁנַ֣יִםu.she.Na.yim
H8147
two · conjunction + noun, common both genders dual absolute
bottles
נִבְלֵיniv.lei-
H5035
a skin-bag for liquids (from collapsing when empty) · noun, common masculine plural construct
wine
יַ֗יִןYa.yin
H3196
wine (as fermented) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
five
וְחָמֵ֨שׁve.cha.Mesh
H2568
five · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
sheep
צֹ֤אןtzon
H6629
a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
dressed
עֲשׂוּיֹת֙a.sa.Vot
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal passive participle, feminine plural absolute
five
וְחָמֵ֤שׁve.cha.Mesh
H2568
five · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
measures
סְאִים֙se.'Im
H5429
a seah · noun, common masculine plural absolute
parched
קָלִ֔יka.Li
H7039
roasted ears of grain · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hundred
וּמֵאָ֥הu.me.'Ah
H3967
a hundred · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
raisins
צִמֻּקִ֖יםtzi.mu.Kim
H6778
a cake of dried grapes · noun, common masculine plural absolute
hundred
וּמָאתַ֣יִםu.ma.Ta.yim
H3967
a hundred · conjunction + noun, common feminine dual absolute
cakes
דְּבֵלִ֑יםde.ve.Lim
H1690
a cake of pressed figs · noun, common masculine plural absolute
laid
וַתָּ֖שֶׂםva.Ta.sem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
asses
הַחֲמֹרִֽיםha.cha.mo.Rim
H2543
a male ass (from its dun red) · definite article + noun, common both genders plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 16:1 And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and…
Proverbs 6:4-5 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Proverbs 18:16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.
Matthew 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the j…
Genesis 32:13-20 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
Genesis 43:11-14 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down t…
Numbers 16:46-48 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation,…
1 Samuel 25:34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 25:18-31
We have here an account of Abigail's prudent management for the preserving of her husband and family from the destruction that was just coming upon them; and we find that she did her part admirably well and fully answered her character. The passion of fools often makes those breaches in a little time which the wise, with all their wisdom, have much ado to make up again. It is hard to say whether Abigail was more miserable in such a husband or Nabal happy in such a wife. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, to protect as well as adorn, and will do him good and not evil. Wisdom in such a case as this was better than weapons of war. 1. It was her wisdom that what she did she did quickly,…
ABIGAIL PACIFIES HIM. (1Sa. 25:14-35)
Then Abigail made haste--The prudence and address of Nabal's wife were the means of saving him and family from utter destruction. She acknowledged the demand of her formidable neighbors; but justly considering, that to atone for the insolence of her husband, a greater degree of liberality had become necessary, she collected a large amount of food, accompanying it with the most valued products of the country.
bottles--goatskins, capable of holding a great quantity.
parched corn--It was customary to eat parched corn when it was fully grown, but not ripe.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 25:18
Took two hundred loaves - The Eastern bread is ordinarily both thin and small; and answers to our cakes.
Two bottles of wine - That is, two goat-skins full. The hide is pulled off the animal without ripping up; the places where the legs, etc., were are sewed up, and then the skin appears one large bag. This is properly the Scripture and Eastern bottle. There is one such before me.
Five sheep - Not one sheep to one hundred men.
Clusters of raisins - Raisins dried in the sun.
Cakes of figs - Figs cured, and then pressed together. We receive the former in jars, and the latter in small barrels; and both articles answer the description here given.
Now all this provision was a matter of little wor…
Abigail then hurried and took two hundred loaves, etc. Motivated by the preaching of the apostles, the Synagogue hastened to be reconciled to Christ, whom she recognized had been offended by her leaders, and brought her listeners, who had already been instructed in the letter of the law; and she placed them upon the humble and simple dispensers of the word of the gospel, by whose ministry or intercession they were brought to Christ: upon those, namely, who could say, We have become like a beast before you on earth, and we are always with you (Psalm LXXII); and: We are fools for Christ's sake (I Cor. IV). For the two hundred loaves are those who, through the fellowship of the same faith and action, are so mutually connected by a bond, so strengthened by the fire of supreme devotion, that they can in no way be separated from each other. The two skins of wine, who, intoxicated with the virtue of twin love, desire to mortify the flesh, but be quickened by the Spirit, and be inwardly renewed day by day, to receive and contain the must of spiritual grace. The five roasted rams, whatever in their senses is proud, and found to be like ill-horned against weaker neighbors, they are accustomed to cook entirely with the flame of devout mortification devoted to God. The five measures of parched corn, who know how to subjugate the aforementioned senses of the body to the spirit, and to tame the necessary humility as a mill; which in fact the humiliation or contrition of the flesh, because it must be done moderately, neither less nor more than just, this parched corn is well described by the measure of five, which among the Hebrews is a definite measure, one and a half modium. The hundred clusters of raisins signify those who rejoice in virginal continence, and moreover are bound to each other with the bonds of indivisible charity, and even in the flesh relish the most perfect beauty of angelic chastity. For the dried grape, cut off from the vine that bore it full of its own wine, is usually kept uncrushed for the gift of greater grace; and the virgin flesh, separated from the common fellowship of the Church by the iron of stricter continence, embraces within itself the sweetness of mature chastity, beloved by the Lord for the grace of the whole Church. Indeed, one hundred, because it signifies the mystery of heavenly and angelic perfection, is widely known to all. The…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Abigail — Father (i.e., “leader”) of the dance, or “of joy.” (1.) The sister of David, and wife of Jether an Ishmaelite (1 Chr. 2:16, 17). She was the mother of Amasa (2 Sam. 17:25). (2.) The wife of the…
Booty — Captives or cattle or objects of value taken in war. In Canaan all that breathed were to be destroyed (Deut. 20: 16). The “pictures and images” of the Canaanites were to be destroyed also (Num.…
Cake — Cakes made of wheat or barley were offered in the temple. They were salted, but unleavened (Ex. 29:2; Lev. 2:4). In idolatrous worship thin cakes or wafers were offered “to the queen of heaven” (Jer.…
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Flagon — Heb. ashishah, (2 Sam. 6:19; 1 Chr. 16:3; Cant. 2:5; Hos. 3:1), meaning properly “a cake of pressed raisins.” “Flagons of wine” of the Authorized Version should be, as in the Revised Version, “cakes…
Measure — Several words are so rendered in the Authorized Version. (1.) Those which are indefinite. (a) Hok, Isa. 5:14, elsewhere “statute.” (b) Mad, Job 11:9; Jer. 13:25, elsewhere “garment.” (c) Middah, the…
Nabal — Foolish, a descendant of Caleb who dwelt at Maon (1 Sam. 25), the modern Main, 7 miles south-east of Hebron. He was “very great, and he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats...but the man was churlish and…
Sheep — Are of different varieties. Probably the flocks of Abraham and Isaac were of the wild species found still in the mountain regions of Persia and Kurdistan. After the Exodus, and as a result of…
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
John Gill on 1 Samuel 25:18
Then Abigail made haste,.... As the case required, her family being in imminent danger:
and took two hundred loaves; of bread; of what size or weight they were is not said; though it may be reasonably concluded they were pretty large, since they are not called cakes, but loaves, and since they were to be a present to David and his men, who were numerous:
and two bottles of wine; not such as ours are, which would have borne no proportion to the rest of the provision; but these were leathern bags which held a large quantity, in which they put and carried wine in those times and countries; the Septuagint version is, two vessels or casks of wine:
and five sheep ready dressed; killed and dress…
The following history of Nabal's folly, and of the wise and generous behaviour of his pious and intelligent wife Abigail towards David, shows how Jehovah watched over His servant David, and not only preserved him from an act of passionate excitement, which might have endangered his calling to be king of Israel, but turned the trouble into which he had been brought into a source of prosperity and salvation.
Sa1 25:2-3
At Maon, i.e., Main or the mountains of Judah (see at Jos 15:55), there lived a rich man (גּדול, great through property and riches), who had his establishment at Carmel. מעשׂה, work, occupation, then establishment, possessions (vid., Exo 23:15). Carmel is not the promontory of t…
son of Jesse: Like Saul (20:27, 31; 22:7), Nabal used this designation disrespectfully.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 25:18
Prepared. Targum Yonoson renders תַּכְבְּרָא, filled with finely cut meat and eggs; farcides in O.F., as we learned in [Maseches] Pesachim:14 And he places the feet and its intestines inside [the Paschal lamb]; Rabbi Tarfon calls it תַּכְבְּרָא. That which is inside, is placed outside,15I.e., תַּכְבְּרָא is a combination of two words תּוֹךְ [=inside] and בְּרָא [=outside]. according to Rabbi Akiva, who says that the intestines are hung outside of it. Thus is stated in the Tosefta, and Rabbi Klonimos of sainted memory, from Rome, thus explained it to us.
Raisins. Dried grapes.
Cakes of pressed figs. Round cakes of dried figs, trodden and pressed in a vessel.
Ass, The Domestic · Was used: For bearing burdens — Was used: For bearing burdens
Bottles · Made of skins: Sometimes probably of large dimensions — Made of skins: Sometimes probably of large dimensions
Bread · .Ma — .Ma
Corn · Parched — Parched
Diet Of The Jews, The · Articles used for: Dried fruit — Articles used for: Dried fruit
Fig · General references — General references
Fig Tree, The · Fruit of: Sent as presents — Fruit of: Sent as presents
Food · .Dried fruit — .Dried fruit
Measure · 8. A seah, about a peck and a half — 8. A seah, about a peck and a half
Nabal · History of — History of
Presents · Things given as: Food — Things given as: Food
Prudence · .Abigail, in averting David’ s anger — .Abigail, in averting David’ s anger
Raisins · Given by Abigail to David — Given by Abigail to David
Sheep · Flesh of, extensively used as food — Flesh of, extensively used as food
Tact · Nabal’ s wife — Nabal’ s wife
Vine, The · The fruit of: Eaten dried — The fruit of: Eaten dried
Wife · Tactful Abigail — Tactful Abigail
Wine · Custom of presenting to travellers — Custom of presenting to travellers
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
