Nabal

Nabal (meaning fool; senseless) was a wealthy Calebite of Maon who owned 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats and was "churlish and evil in his doings" (1 Sam. 25:2–3). When David's men requested provisions as recompense for protecting Nabal's flocks in the wilderness, Nabal contemptuously refused and insulted David. David set out to destroy Nabal's household, but Nabal's wife Abigail interceded with a generous gift and wise words that stayed David's hand. When Abigail later told Nabal what had happened, "his heart died within him and he became as a stone" — he was struck with a fatal illness and died about ten days later (1 Sam. 25:37–38). David then took Abigail as his wife. The episode illustrates the principle that vengeance belongs to God and that the wise, not the powerful, avert disaster.