The  sinner,  however  sagacious  in  his  own  estimate,  because
of  his  worldly  wisdom,  and  however  gilded  over  with  success,
is  in  God's  esteem  "  a  fool."  The  name  of  Nabal  {fool),
answering  to  his  nature,  which  was  selfish,  unbelieving,  folly,
could  not  fail  to  make  a  deep  impression  on  David. Often
must  he  have  remembered  his  wife  Abigail's  speech,  which


STUDIES  IN  THE  CL. PSALMS. 83

was  the  means  of  keeping  him  from  an  act  of  violent  vengeance  :
"  Let  not  my  lord  regard  this  man  of  Belial,  Nabal;  for  as  his
name  is,  so  is  he  :  Nabal  is  his  name,  and  folly  is  with  him  "
(i  Sam. XXV. 25). How  suddenly  did  "great  fear"  come
upon  Iiim  in  the  midst  of  hi?  feasting,  "where  no  fear  was"
(Ps. liii. 5);  for  "in  the  morning,  when  the  wine  was  gone  out
of  Nabal,  and  his  wife  had  told  him  "  of  his  imminent  danger,
"  his  heart  died  within  him,  and  he  became  as  a  stone," — that
same  "heart"  that  had  been  just  before  so  "merry  within
him,"  as  if  he  had  "  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God  ; "  like
the  rich  man  who,  in  the  midst  of  his  plans  of  self-aggrandise-
ment and  self-indulgence,  received  the  awful  summons,  "  Thou
fool,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee"  (i  Sam,
XXV. 36,  T,J ;  Ps. xiv. I  ;  Luke  xii. 16 — 20). The  same  pecu-
liar phrase  recurs  from  David's  lips  again,  in  his  lament
over  Abner  :  "Died  Abner  as  o. fool  ditthV  (2  Sam. iii. ^iZ-)
Also  Saul  calls  himself  so  (i  Sam. xxvi,  21)  in  confessing
David's  magnanimity :  "  Behold,  I  have  played  the  fool,  and
have  erred  exceedingly."  Nabal,  in  refusing  his  bread  to
David,  was  virtually  betraying  him  to  Saul. Thus  the
language  of  the  Psalms  (xiv. 4,  liii. 4)  is  accurately  in
accordance  with  the  historical  facts:  "  Have  all  the  workers
of  iniquity  no  knowledge,  who  eat  up  my  people  as  they  eat
bread,  and  call  not  upon  the  Lord  .'' "  Heartless  conduct  to
man,  and  disregard  of  God,  are  just  the  traits  which  the  history
brings  out  in  Nabal's  and  Saul's  characters. Can  we  think
'the  coincidence  of  phrase  between  the  Psalm  and  the  history
fortuitous }  In  the  title  of  Ps. 