1 Samuel 25:3

NABAL AND ABIGAIL ARE IDENTIFIED

"Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was of good understanding and beautiful, but the man was churlish and he was a Calebite."

"Nabal" means "obstinate fool,"[6] and Abigail means, "the joy of her father."[7] It seems most unlikely that any parent would have named a son "Nabal," and the name may therefore be explained as an epithet assigned to him by his contemporaries who so judged his character.

"He was a Calebite" The Calebites were attached to the tribe of Judah; and since Judah would be the tribe most loyal to David, it was extremely important that David should have been rescued in this chapter from his temptation to slaughter Nabal and all his house. If David had indeed done such a thing, it could have alienated the whole tribe of Judah. The big thing in this chapter is the manner in which God saved David from that terrible mistake.

Nabal had evidently inherited the great estate of his ancestor Caleb, but he did not inherit the type of character that belonged to his distinguished ancestor.