The Berean Pursuit
When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.
Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So David sent ten young men and instructed them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name and say to him, 'Long life to you, and peace to you and your house and to all that belongs to you. Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.'"
When David's young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.
But Nabal asked them, "Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?"
So David's men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.
And David said to his men, "Strap on your swords!" So David and all his men put on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
Meanwhile, one of Nabal's young men informed Nabal's wife Abigail, "Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he scolded them. Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them. They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!"
Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys and said to her young men, "Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.
Now David had just finished saying, "In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal's men survive until morning."
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him. She fell at his feet and said, "My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord's young men whom you sent.
Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. Please forgive your servant's offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD's battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.
And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant."
Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light."
Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, "Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request."
When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.
In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.
On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head."
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking for her in marriage. When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, "David has sent us to take you as his wife."
She arose, then bowed facedown and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord's servants."
So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David's messengers and became his wife.
David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives. But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
The sons of Issachar:
Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron-four in all.
The sons of Tola:
Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, the heads of their families. In the days of David, 22,600 descendants of Tola were numbered in their genealogies as mighty men of valor.
The son of Uzzi:
Izrahiah.
The sons of Izrahiah:
Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All five of them were chiefs. In addition to them, according to their genealogy, they had 36,000 troops for battle, for they had many wives and children.
Their kinsmen belonging to all the families of Issachar who were mighty men of valor totaled 87,000, as listed in their genealogies.
The three sons of Benjamin:
Bela, Becher, and Jediael.
The sons of Bela:
Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, heads of their families-five in all. There were 22,034 mighty men of valor listed in their genealogies.
The sons of Becher:
Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth; all these were Becher's sons. Their genealogies were recorded according to the heads of their families-20,200 mighty men of valor.
The son of Jediael:
Bilhan.
The sons of Bilhan:
Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. All these sons of Jediael were heads of their families, mighty men of valor; there were 17,200 fit for battle. The Shuppites and Huppites were descendants of Ir, and the Hushites were descendants of Aher.
The sons of Naphtali:
Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum-the descendants of Bilhah.
The descendants of Manasseh:
Through his Aramean concubine, Asriel, as well as Machir the father of Gilead.
Machir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. The name of his sister was Maacah.
Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters.
Machir's wife Maacah gave birth to a son, and she named him Peresh. His brother was named Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rekem.
The son of Ulam:
Bedan.
These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. His sister Hammolecheth gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.
And these were the sons of Shemida:
Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.
The descendants of Ephraim:
Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son.
Ezer and Elead were killed by the natives of Gath, because they went down to steal their livestock.
Their father Ephraim mourned for many days, and his relatives came to comfort him. And again he slept with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. So he named him Beriah, because tragedy had come upon his house. His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth-horon, as well as Uzzen-sheerah.
Additionally, Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, Nun his son, and Joshua his son.
Their holdings and settlements included Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages. And along the borders of Manasseh were Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, together with their villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.
The children of Asher:
Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah.
The sons of Beriah:
Heber, as well as Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith.
Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham, and of their sister Shua.
The sons of Japhlet:
Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were Japhlet's sons.
The sons of Shemer:
Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.
The sons of his brother Helem:
Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.
The sons of Zophah:
Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.
The sons of Jether:
Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara.
The sons of Ulla:
Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.
All these were the descendants of Asher-heads of their families, choice and mighty men of valor, and chiefs among the leaders. The number of men fit for battle, recorded in their genealogies, was 26,000.
When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he declared. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.
The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people. But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!"
On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed. And they collected bond from Jason and the others, and then released them.
As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.
But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds. The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.
Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.
So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean."
Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.
Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.' Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man's skill and imagination.
Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this topic." At that, Paul left the Areopagus. But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.