Check Mate!

Reflections on 1 Sam. 25:1b-13

I was playing a game of chess with a young lawyer and thought I was doing quite well. In fact, he apparently thought so too. After studying the board for a long time, he said, “I resign.” A grad student who was watching asked me, “Do you mind if I finish the game?” This grad student hadn’t lost a game in several years, and he was often seen playing several games at once in the student union. I felt quite secure in my position, so I thought to myself, “Here’s a chance to brag that I beat Tommy J.” I should have known better. Solomon said, “Fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence” (Prov. 14:16 NLT), but in the end, they die “for lack of sense” (Prov. 10:21). Tommy saw a move both the young lawyer and I had overlooked. I knew I was in trouble as soon as he moved. Three plays later, he announced, “Check mate!” Like me, Nabal felt secure in his position, but he would die suddenly.

RICH AND CONNECTED. Nabal was a very rich Calebite (1 Sam. 25:2-3). Like neighboring Calebites in Ziph, he was probably allied with Saul (see 1 Sam. 23:19), and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel, a village in Judah (see Josh. 15:55) where Saul had erected a monument to himself celebrating his defeat of the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:12). As a rich man, he found it easy to despise a poor outcast like David, who had broken away from his master (1 Sam. 25:10).

ARROGANT AND HARSH. Nabal was also a harsh man who behaved badly (1 Sam. 25:3). He asked rhetorically, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?” The questions implied that David and his father Jesse were nobodies, unknowns. Then he insinuated that David was no more than one of the many slaves who were breaking away from their masters (1 Sam. 25:10) and that David’s messengers were nobodies from “I do not know where” (1 Sam. 25:11). In one sentence, he even emphasized his arrogance using “I” or “my” seven times (Youngblood, 1992, p. 756).

FOOL. Nabal was a fool just as his name implied (1 Sam. 25:25). He considered himself a self-made man, a man who by his own ingenuity and effort had accumulated great riches. He refused to recognize the protection provided by David’s men (1 Sam. 25:15), or listen to his own servants who labored for him (1 Sam. 25:17). Like the rich fool in the parable told by Jesus, he did not consider that his wealth would pass from him to another if he were to die (see Luke 12:16-21). Indeed, he did die (1 Sam. 25:38), and his wealth was passed to another.

May we not be like arrogant Nabal in laying up treasures for ourselves on earth. Instead, may we lay up treasures in heaven with God.