Divine Defense

Of the several lessons one could take away from this chapter the foremost is the necessity of allowing God to be the arbiter of justice (this is a surprisingly prominent theme in scripture). God alone is capable of perfect judgment and justice and we are not to usurp his place by taking matters into our own hands. On the contrary we are to “never avenge” ourselves. Rather we are to “leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord'” (Romans 12:19).

David had understood this when just prior to this incident he had the opportunity to strike down Saul and he would not do it. Instead, like the “Greater David” whom he foreshadowed, he entrusted “himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23; 1 Samuel 24:15). God be praised that David, in the present circumstance, hot from the injustice perpetrated by foolish Nabal and no longer governed by the knowledge of God's just judgment, was restrained by the actions and words of a courageous woman.