person

Nabal

נָבָל

Nabal, a wealthy man from Carmel, was known for his foolishness and mistreatment of David, which nearly led to his demise.

verses
18
first named
1 Samuel 25:3
last named
2 Samuel 3:3
period
United Monarchy
role
Man

Description

Who was Nabal?

In the words of STEPBible TIPNR:

Nabal was a wealthy man from Carmel who lived during the time of King David. He is described as a Calebite, indicating his descent from the tribe of Judah. Nabal was married to Abigail, a beautiful and intelligent woman (1Sa.25.3).

Despite his wealth, Nabal was known for his harsh and foolish behavior. When David and his men, who had been protecting Nabal's shepherds and flocks, requested provisions, Nabal rudely refused, insulting David and his men (1Sa.25.4-11). This foolish act provoked David to seek revenge, threatening to kill Nabal and all the males in his household.

Abigail, upon learning of her husband's foolishness, quickly intervened. She gathered a generous supply of food and went out to meet David, apologizing for Nabal's behavior and pleading for mercy (1Sa.25.18-31). Her wise actions and words appeased David, who relented from his plan to attack Nabal's household.

When Abigail informed Nabal of how close he had come to disaster, his heart failed him, and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died (1Sa.25.36-38). After Nabal's death, David sent for Abigail and married her (1Sa.25.39-42).

Nabal's story serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of foolishness, selfishness, and mistreating others. It also highlights the wisdom and courage of Abigail, who acted decisively to protect her household and make peace with David.

Relations

Direct connections

Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.

How the graph connects Nabal8 of 8 entities the graph connects to Nabal, in 3 groups: kinship 1, company 2, events 5. Kinship, company and ground are stated relations; events counts the acts two entities stand in together and is not a relation. Each mark is sized by how many verses name that entity and labelled with the link and the count, so the grouping and the size are both readable without colour. Distance from the centre carries nothing.AbigailSpouse of · 4 events · 14 versesKinshipMan and Nabal’s shearing of Goat and SheepTook part in · 3 versesMale and David’s survival of Nabal and MaleTook part in · 2 versesCompanyDavid9 events · 964 versesSheep1 event · 84 versesGoat1 event · 31 versesCarmel2 events · 24 versesYoung Men6 events · 8 versesEventsNabal

Places

Where this happens

The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.

Where the story of Nabal happensThe one place the claims about Nabal reach, on a map of the world the text moves through, framed to them: Carmel. Each dot is a coordinate from the gazetteer, sized by how many rows put Nabal there. The coastline is a modern one, simplified; no border, road or settlement of any period is drawn, and no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.Carmel
United MonarchyThe one place the claims about Nabal reach

Read it

Where to read it

Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 18, across 2 books. The name is written 22 times in them.

  1. 1 Samuel16 verses

    25:325:425:525:925:1025:1425:1925:2525:2625:3425:3625:3725:3825:3927:330:5

  2. 2 Samuel2 verses

    2:23:3

Onward

Where this page goes

Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.

Where they appear

Chapter by chapter

Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.

Sources

What this rests on