followers might ask, without presumption, for a small share of the good things of which the guests were to participate. For he had lately rendered Nabal a service of no small account. The flocks of the latter were led by the shepherds, in quest of pasture, into the very region. where David and his men had their temporary abode; and had not only received from them no molestation, but found a cordial welcome, together with that protection which was so much needed against the hordes of Arabs who were often prowling in the neighborhood for plunder.

If David had actually demanded something in the way of compensation for this protection, it would have been only what was justly due to himself and his men; but he chose rather to rely on the generosity of Nabal. He was much in need of provisions, and at such a season of prosperity on the part of the owner of the flocks, he thought he might safely ask to partake of the very abundance for which Nabal was not a little indebted to him and his followers. His request was made in the most modest and delicaté manner. He chose ten of his young men to bear the message, and said to them;

Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou

hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missing unto them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will show thee,"-leaving it for the shepherds of Nabal to inform him more particularly of the important protection which the flocks had received. Wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David."

The reply of Nabal was what might have been expected from one of so mean and selfish a character. "Who is David ?" said he to the young men, "and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?"

When the messengers of David, on their return, told him what Nabal had said, his indignation was roused, and he threatened to take the most exemplary vengeance upon one who had treated him so shamefully after the signal services which he had rendered him; declaring that not a male in the employment of Nabal should be spared to behold the light of the ensuing morning. He immediately ordered four hundred of his men to gird on their swords, and accompany

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him on the expedition, two hundred remaining to guard the women and children and what was left behind. His orders were obeyed, and the whole party were soon on their way to Carmel.

In the meanwhile, one of Nabal's young men had told his wife how he had treated the message sent to him by David; adding that David and his followers had been very kind to them. We were not hurt," said he, "neither missed we any thing, so long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall unto us by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; for he is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him."

Abigail saw, at once, the impending danger, and that no time was to be lost in averting it. She knew her husband too well to cause any delay by making known to him her fears, and conferring with him about what was to be done. Indeed, she doubted whether he would be disposed to say or do any thing to appease the resentment of David. She resolved to take the whole matter into her own hands, and act as well as she could in so trying an emergency.

She prepared a generous present for David with all possible despatch,-two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, (made probably of goat

skins, and holding a large quantity,) and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. These were placed on asses, under the care of servants whom she directed to proceed immediately on their way, while she followed them, riding on an animal of the same kind. It was not long before they met David, approaching at the head of his armed band. As soon as Abigail saw him, "she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and fell at his feet."

He stopped, with his men, in their course, to know the object of this unexpected salutation, and was accosted by Abigail in the following eloquent and pathetic address.

"Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now

this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid."

David was struck with the beauty and dignified aspect of the female who thus addressed him. He could not but admire the ingenuity, and feel deeply the touching eloquence of her appeal. She spoke, too, to his conscience, and convinced. him of the folly and the guilt of seeking to gratify his resentment for the insult he had received. His reply shows that he had acted under the sudden impulse of passion, and that his sense of