1 Samuel 25:38

1Sa 25:38 And it came to pass about ten days [after], that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.

Ver. 38. About ten days after.] All which time he lay like a block in his bed, without repentance or confidence in God; but condemned of his own conscience, he went to his place without noise. Let this be a warning to drunkards.

The Lord smote Nabal, that he died.] Deadly diseases are God’s strokes; and especially if they be sudden, and soon make an end of men. Hippocrates calleth the pestilence το θειον, the divine disease; and another is called morbus sacer.

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_25:38

And blessed be thy advice.

Good advice

I. It is well to be ready to take advice. The older we grow the more ready most of us are to be advised regarding our plans and purposes. We know better the wisdom of being so. It is generally the young who scorn advice. They are apt to think they know everything that needs to be known.

II. It is important to go to the best sources for advice. If you were in doubt as to your way in London, the best plan would be to ask a policeman. He is generally an authority on such a matter, and would be sure to give you correct and civil instructions. When people are in ill-health they go to the doctor for medical advice, and in any legal difficulty they naturally apply to the lawyer. It is worse than useless to get advice from the incompetent, that may only land you in deeper difficulty, or more hopeless trouble. With the well advised is Wisdom, says Solomon. It would have been a good thing for his son Rehoboam had he paid attention to that. How much it means to have a good adviser to go to, and especially in the earlier years of life! Everyone thinks with pity of any young girl left motherless, who grows up without that counsel and guidance and sympathy so much needed in her young life, and which none so well as a mother can give. And now, if not then, we can heartily use Davids words, and say, Blessed be thy advice.

III. Above all, in spiritual things, we need advice. We cant devise and scheme and succeed there all by ourselves. It is often said in the story of Davids life, that he inquired of the Lord. (Christian World Pulpit.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(38) The Lord smote Nabal.—That is to say, that after ten days had passed the Lord put an end to the base life by a second apoplectic stroke. Although the death was a sequel to the selfishness, the passion, and the intemperance, it does not appear that anything more than the operation of natural causes occasioned the end here. In the language of these old divinely inspired writers, disease and sickness are often spoken of as the special “shafts” aimed by the Most High, as in fact they are.

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

38. the Lord smote Nabal] His death was a divine judgment none the less that a partly natural cause may be assigned for it in his intemperance and passion. For “smote” comp. the use of the same word in ch. 1Sa_26:10, and 2Ch_13:20 (E. V. struck).

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.

And it came to pass, about ten days after,.... After he had lain in this stupid and senseless manner for ten days:

that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died; with some disease or increased the grief of his heart, and the fears of his mind that he died therewith.

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

God either inflicted some other stroke or disease upon him, or increased his grief and fear to such a height as killed him.

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

38. The Lord smote Nabal — With another stroke, similar in nature to the first, but much more terrible, and which resulted in putting an end to his life. Interpreters have generally, and very naturally, supposed it to have been a stroke of apoplexy.

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

Smote - God either inflicted some other stroke upon him, or increased his grief and fear to such an height, as killed him.

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

After ten days. There were seven days of mourning for Shmuel, so the Holy One, Blessed is He, suspended his sentence so that it should not coincide the mourning for this wicked man with his mourning period. Afterward, he became ill for three days and died, as it is stated, "And Adonoy inflicted Novol," and a Talmudist had stated that if one was ill three days and died, it is a death of a plague. However, our Rabbis stated that these are the Ten Days of Repentance which the Holy One, Blessed is He, waited for him to repent. But, some say that they correspond to the ten meals which Novol gave Dovid's servants, for Dovid had sent him ten youths, and he fed them.

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.