John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. Now the name of the man [was] Nabal , etc.] Which signifies a “fool”; one would think his parents should not give him this name, though it is a name proper enough to men in common; and Kimchi thinks this was a nickname, which men gave him agreeably to his genius and conduct, and which is not improbable: and the name of his wife Abigail ; which signifies “my father’s joy”, he delighting in her for her wit and beauty, as follows: and [she was] a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance ; she was not only of a good understanding in things natural, civil, and domestic, but in things spiritual, as her speech to David shows, and which, with her external form, completed her character, and greatly recommended her; which is the character Aelianus gives of Aspasia, wise and fair: but the man [was] churlish and evil in his doings ; morose and ill natured in the temper and disposition of his mind, and wicked in his conversation, and fraudulent and oppressive in his dealings with men: and he [was] of the house of Caleb ; or he was a Calebite f497 , a descendant of that great and good man Caleb the son of Jephunneh; which was an aggravation of his wickedness, that he should be the degenerate plant of such a noble vine: some interpret it, he was as his heart, as his heart was bad, so was he; some men, their outside is better than their inside; but this man was no hypocrite, he was as bad outwardly as he was inwardly: the word “Caleb” sometimes signifies a dog; hence the Septuagint version renders it, a doggish man, a cynic; and to the same purpose are the Syriac and Arabic versions; and so some Jewish writers interpret it; but the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, supply it as we do, that he was of the house or family of Caleb, and so of the tribe of Judah, as David was.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 2-11 - We should not have heard of Nabal, if nothing had passed between his and David. Observe his name, Nabal, "A fool;" so it signifies. Riche make men look great in the eye of the world; but to one that take right views, Nabal looked very mean. He had no honour or honesty; he was churlish, cross, and ill-humoured; evil in his doings, hard an oppressive; a man that cared not what fraud and violence he used it getting and saving. What little reason have we to value the wealth of this world, when so great a churl as Nabal abounds, and so good a ma as David suffers want!, David pleaded the kindness Nabal's shepherd had received. Considering that David's men were in distress and debt and discontented, and the scarcity of provisions, it was by goo management that they were kept from plundering. Nabal went into passion, as covetous men are apt to do, when asked for any thing thinking thus to cover one sin with another; and, by abusing the poor to excuse themselves from relieving them. But God will not thus be mocked. Let this help us to bear reproaches and misrepresentations with patience and cheerfulness, and make us easy under them; it has ofte been the lot of the excellent ones of the earth. Nabal insists much of the property he had in the provisions of his table. May he not do what he will with his own? We mistake, if we think we are absolute lords of what we have, and may do what we please with it. No; we are but stewards, and must use it as we are directed, remembering it is not ou own, but His who intrusted us with it.
Original Hebrew ושׁם8034 האישׁ376 נבל5037 ושׁם8034 אשׁתו802 אבגיל26 והאשׁה802 טובת2896 שׂכל7922 ויפת3303 תאר8389 והאישׁ376 קשׁה7186 ורע7451 מעללים4611 והוא1931 כלבו׃3820
