When Abigail came to meet David to prevent him doing evil to Nabal and all his house (1 Samuel 25), she fell at his feet and bowed to the ground before David and took on herself the guilt or trespass that belonged to Nabal her husband. In verses 28-29 R.S.V. she said, “For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be ‘bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the LORD your God; and the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.” The phrase “bound in the bundle of the living” is only used in this place. In looking up the meanings of the words in this verse, it was discovered that bundle is the same word translated stone in 2 Sam. 17:1.3. I wonder if Peter connected the stone (bundle) of the living and turned it to the phrase we are so familiar with in I Peter 2:5 where he exhorts us to be “living stones, built into a spiritual house.” The word bundle is also translated as grain in Amos 9:9; as a bag in Hag. 1:6 and Job 14:17 and Pros’. 7:20. In Gen. 42:35 it is a bundle (of money) and in Song. Sol. 1:13 it is a bundle of myrrh. It has the meaning of a thing compressed; and as a stone probably applies to sand compressed into rock, as in sandstone. Adam became a living stone when God took of the dust of the ground and compressed it into the form of a man in the image of God and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.
Abigail prays that David be a living stone in the care of the LORD his God. David takes up this idea in the Psalms e.g. 18:35 “Thy (God’s) right hand supported me” or held me up. Psalm 31:5 “Into thy hand commit my spirit;” and verse 15 “My times are in thy hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.” Again in Ps. 63:8 “My soul clings to thee; thy right hand upholds me.” In Jeremiah 18:6 Israel is represented as being in the hand of the Lord as the clay in the potter’s hand.
While God keeps the life of his David’s (beloved’s) in His Hand in security, He slings out as from the hollow of a sling the lives of David’s enemies. Jeremiah 10:18 reads “For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it.” Picture a gold miner, holding tight in one hand the precious bits of gold and slinging out with his left hand the common, ordinary stones that are without value. In the day when God, through Jesus Christ His appointed judge, sorts the dead stones and reserves the gold and the good grain to Himself as hid treasure, where will we be?
Remember the brief mention in Judges 20:16 of the 700 Benjaminites (Son of my right hand) who were left-handed sling shooters and could sling a stone at a hair and not miss, all picked men. Jesus is the much superior Son of God’s right hand, who will sling the wicked gathered on his left hand out of his presence. In Job 41:28 we find the sling-stones of the wicked are turned to stubble and we are reminded of the parable in which the wicked like chaff are burned with unquenchable fire when the good grain is gathered into the barn.
The word bound in the phrase “bound in the bundle of the living” has the meaning of “Kept separate,” or “shut up” as David separated his wives (who had been defiled by his son Absalom) until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood (2 Sam. 20:3). Are we keeping our lives separate from defilement? Are we separated stones, in the care of the Lord? The LORD is building our Lord Jesus His beloved a sure house of living stones. Are we part of that house or has the breath gone out of us and we return to the dust of the dead stones of the world that lies in sin and wickedness? The reason David’s life was bound in the bundle of the living was because he was fighting the LORD’s battles. At our baptism we usually exhort the new candidate in the hymn 279 “There is a battle to be fought. An onward race to run, A crown of glory to be sought, A victory to be won.” Are we fighting the Lord’s battles or our own? We do not need to fight for ourselves for God has promised “Vengeance is Mine.” What are the LORD’s battles that we should be fighting today?
The enemy is sin, it dwells in flesh. In Romans 6:11, this time from the Living Bible, we read “So look upon your old sin nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to Him. through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Unfortunately sin has a way of popping out of the coffin we nailed it in at our baptism and rearing its ugly head for which we are assured forgiveness is there for the asking, if we ask in faith. One battle therefore, is to keep the old lid on sin in ourselves. Another battle is that of combating sin due to ignorance of what God requires in those of the world. In both cases the battle is fought with the sword of the Word of God. We conclude with the exhortation in hymn 276 “Ho! reapers of life’s harvest, why stand with rusted blade, Until the night draws round you and day begins to fade? Why stand ye idle, waiting for reapers more to come? The golden morn is passing; Why sit ye idle, dumb? Thrust in your sharpened sickle and gather in the grain: The night is fast approaching and soon will come again. Thy Master calls for reapers, and shall he call in vain? Shall sheaves lie there ungathered and waste upon the plain?”
A warrior does not sharpen his sword and forget it when he sees the size of the battle. We sharpen our swords at Bible schools, classes and in Sunday School. Don’t hide your sword—join the battle.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One