1 Samuel 25:37

1Sa 25:37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became [as] a stone.

Ver. 37. When the wine was gone out of Nabal.] That is, The perturbation of his brain, the alienation of his mind, - when sleep had cooled his head, and restored him to himself.

And his wife had told him these things.] In a pathetical manner no doubt, as she could well do it. That tongue of hers had oft advised him well and prevailed not. Now it occasioneth his death, whose reformation it could not effect. She meant nothing but his amendment. God meant to make that loving instrument the means of his revenge. Wonderful, saith one, {a} was the force of this woman’s speech, that as it before allayed David’s rage, so now it pierceth Nabal to the heart. This power was not in her human eloquence, but proceeded from the Spirit of God.

That his heart died within him.] Through fear, which hath a deadly force upon feeble spirits; for some have died for fear they should die: as a gentleman at the siege of St Paul, in France, fell down stark dead in the breach, without any stroke or touch, save what his heart gave him by a fearful apprehension of danger near at hand. {b} And at the massacre of Paris, where Peter Ramus was slain in his study, Lambinus, a learned man, but a Papist - through fear of his adversary, Carpenter, a Sorbonnist, who had slain Ramus - was so frightened, that he died shortly after. {c}

And he became as a stone.] A sot he had been in his life, and as senseless he lay at his death, though he had the benefit of ten days’ sickness. {d} Who then would defer to do the great work?

“ Non aliter stupuit quam qui Iovis ignibus ictus

Vivit, at est vitae nescius ipse sum. ”

- Ovid. Trist., lib. i. eleg. iii.

{a} Dr Willet.

{b} Dr Hall, of Christ. Moder., lib. i. sect. 14.

{c} Epit. Hist. Gallic., p. 148.

{d} Praeclusis sensibus rigebat. - Jun.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 25:37-38. His heart died — He fainted away through the fear and horror of so great a mischief, though it was past. As one, who, having in the night galloped over a narrow plank, laid upon a broken bridge over a deep river, when in the morning he came to review it, was struck dead with the horror of the danger he had been in. The Lord smote Nabal — God either inflicted some other stroke upon him, or increased his grief and fear to such a height as killed him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:37 Nabal was so stunned by the revelation that he had a stroke or a heart attack.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For fear of the great danger.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

in the morning . . . his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him--He probably fainted from horror at the perilous situation in which he had unconsciously placed himself; and such a shock had been given him by the fright to his whole system, that he rapidly pined and died.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 37. His heart died within him, and he became as a stone.] He was thunderstruck, and was so terrified at the apprehension of what he had escaped, that the fear overcame his mind, he became insensible to all things around him, probably refused all kinds of nourishment, and died in ten days.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(37) When the wine was gone out.—Simply, when the brutish, selfish reveller had become sober by lapse of time.

His heart died within him.—These words are generally understood as signifying that an attack of apoplexy had seized the intemperate man. Commentators are a little divided as to the immediate cause of the stroke. (a) It was brought on by fear, hearing to what a terrible danger he had been, through his reckless, unguarded language and churlish conduct, exposed. In that drunken sleep, out of which he was then scarcely awakened, he and all his family would have perished miserably had it not been for his wife’s forethought. In his enfeebled state, feverish and excited still with the strong drink, terror and horror seized him, and the “stroke” followed. (b) A furious burst of anger at his wife’s intelligence swept over him: that she should have humiliated herself before one whom he evidently hated, like David, was to him unbearable; and the wild burst of anger acting on the ruined, drink-shattered frame completed the mischief, and the result was the stroke of apoplexy. The first is, however, the more probable.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37. and his wife, &c.] Better, that his wife told him … and his heart died, &c. An outburst of passion on hearing that his will had been thwarted brought on a fit of apoplexy, in which he lingered on insensible for ten days, until

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal,.... When he had slept, and was become sober, and so capable of attending to and understanding what might be related to him:

and his wife had told him these things; recorded in this chapter, before observed:

that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone; he swooned away, became as cold as a stone, and remained as senseless, spoke not a word, but lay in a stupor; the Jewish writers generally say this was occasioned by the distress and uneasiness the present his wife carried to David gave him; but it is more likely the sense of the danger that was impressed upon his mind, which he had been exposed to through his carriage to David and his men; who, he feared, notwithstanding all his wife said would return and take vengeance on him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He became as a stone - Probably his violent anger at hearing it brought on a fit of apoplexy to which he was disposed by the drunken revel of the night before. After lying senseless for ten days he died.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Stone. Stupified at the thought of the imminent danger to which he had foolishly exposed himself. So the poets represent Niobe as metamorphosed into a stone, at the hearing of her children’s death. (Tirinus) --- Josephus intimates that Nabal was killed by the malignant influence of the stars, sideratus. (Antiquities, vi. 14.) Thus, says he, David "learnt that no wicked person can escape the vengeance of God, and that Providence does not neglect human affairs, and abandon them to chance."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He was oppressed with grief, and fainted away through the fear and horror of so great a mischief, though it was past. As one who, having in the night galloped over a narrow plank, laid upon a broken bridge, over a deep river, when in the morning he came to review it, was struck dead with. the horror of the danger he was in.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. His heart died within him — Through vexation, as some suppose, that his wife had so far complied with the desires of David; but more likely through excessive terror at learning the danger from which he had so narrowly escaped.

He became as a stone — Utterly paralyzed with horror and fear.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His heart died - He fainted away through the fear and horror of so great a mischief though it was past. As one, who having in the night galloped over a narrow plank, laid upon a broken bridge, over a deep river; when in the morning he came to review it, was struck dead with the horror of the danger he had been in.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh's judgment on Nabal

the wine had gone out of Nabal

Nabal was no longer drunk and so was no longer feeling happy.

his heart died within him

Nabal was unable to move because was so afraid that he was no longer physically healthy, probably because he had suffered a stroke.

translationWords

wine

heart

die

stone

Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

When Novol had sobered up. When the wine's effect had left Novol.

And his heart sank within him. He was extremely upset over the gift presented to Dovid.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.