1 Samuel 25:14

ABIGAIL LEARNS OF THE DANGEROUS SITUATION

"But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "Behold David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them; they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. Therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is so that one cannot speak to him."

This passage reveals that David and his men indeed had guarded Nabal's flocks of sheep for a long while, giving them marvelous protection. "We know of raids on two walled towns in this south country, one by the Philistines (1 Samuel 23:1-5) and one by the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:1-2). How much more, then, must the shepherds in the open country have been in constant danger from marauders, unless they had someone like David to be a wall of protection to them."[12]

It is also of interest that Nabal's disposition was such that his employees were afraid to talk with him; so they appealed to Abigail.