1 Samuel 25:18

Contextual Overview

¹⁸Abigail hurried, taking two hundred loaves of bread, two clay jars of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁸ Then Avigayil made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. ¹⁸ Then Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put them on the donkeys. ¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁸ Abigail hurried. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two leather bags full of wine, five cooked sheep, a bushel of cooked grain, a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs and put all these on donkeys. ¹⁸ So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys ¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two jugs of wine, five sheep already prepared [for roasting], five measures of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine, and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain, and a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she loaded them on donkeys.¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste, & tooke two hundreth cakes, & two bottels of wine, & fiue sheepe ready dressed, & fiue measures of parched corne, and an hundreth frailes of raisins, & two hundreth of figs, and laded them on asses.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

made haste: 1 Samuel 25:34, Numbers 16:46-48, Proverbs 6:4, Proverbs 6:5, Matthew 5:25

took two: The Eastern bread is generally both thin and small; and answers to our cakes. Genesis 32:13-20, Genesis 43:11-14, 2 Samuel 17:28, 2 Samuel 17:29, Proverbs 18:16, Proverbs 21:14

two bottles: That is, two goatskins' full.

five sheep: Not one sheep to one hundred men.

clusters: Heb. lumps, Raisins dried in the sun, 2 Samuel 16:1

cakes of figs: Figs cured and then pressed together. Now all this provision was a matter of little worth; and had it been granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured his good offices.

Reciprocal: Judges 1:15 - a blessing Judges 8:5 - loaves Ruth 2:14 - parched 1 Samuel 16:20 - an ass laden 1 Samuel 17:17 - parched corn 1 Samuel 27:3 - with his two 1 Chronicles 12:40 - cakes of figs Proverbs 31:12 - General Luke 12:58 - give

Cross-References

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is the Pishon. It went around all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11
The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11
The first [river] is named Pishon; it flows around the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11
The name of one is Pishon: the same compasseth the whole land of Hauilah, where is golde.

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11
The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Abigail made haste,.... As the case required, her family being in imminent danger:

and took two hundred loaves; of bread; of what size or weight they were is not said; though it may be reasonably concluded they were pretty large, since they are not called cakes, but loaves, and since they were to be a present to David and his men, who were numerous:

and two bottles of wine; not such as ours are, which would have borne no proportion to the rest of the provision; but these were leathern bags which held a large quantity, in which they put and carried wine in those times and countries; the Septuagint version is, two vessels or casks of wine:

and five sheep ready dressed; killed and dressed by the butcher, or made ready by the cook, boiled or roasted; the word which the Targum uses, according to the interpretation of Jarchi, from one of their Rabbins, signifies such as were stuffed with small pieces of meat, and eggs in them, or, as it should seem, made into pastries:

and five measures of parched [corn]; or five seahs, a measure which held, according to Bishop Cumberland b, two wine gallons, four bottles, and a little more; of this parched corn, :-; where mention is made of an ephah of it; and the Septuagint version has the same measure here, and calls them five ephahs of flour:

and an hundred clusters of raisins; or dried grapes, as the Targum; the Septuagint is, one omer of them, which was the tenth part of an ephah:

and two hundred cakes of figs; which were dried, and pressed, and made into lumps, and she took two hundred of these; or, as the Targum, two hundred pound weight of them:

and laid [them] on asses; one not being sufficient to carry all this provision.

b Of Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Two bottles - Rather, “two skins,” each of which would contain many gallons. These leather vessels varied in size according to the skin they were made of, and the use they were to be put to. The smaller and more portable kind, which may not improperly be called bottles, were made of the skin of a kid: larger ones of the skin of a he-goat. The Arabs invariably to this day carry their milk, water, etc., in such leather vessels. One skin of wine was a handsome present from Ziba, sufficient for David’s household 2 Samuel 16:1. The provisions were all ready to Abigail’s hand, having been provided for the sheep-shearing feast.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 25:18. Took two hundred loaves — The Eastern bread is ordinarily both thin and small; and answers to our cakes.

Two bottles of wine — That is, two goat-skins full. The hide is pulled off the animal without ripping up; the places where the legs, c., were are sewed up, and then the skin appears one large bag. This is properly the Scripture and Eastern bottle. There is one such before me.

Five sheep — Not one sheep to one hundred men.

Clusters of raisins — Raisins dried in the sun.

Cakes of figs — Figs cured, and then pressed together. We receive the former in jars, and the latter in small barrels and both articles answer the description here given.

Now all this provision was a matter of little worth, and, had it been granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured the good offices of him and his men. Abigail showed both her wisdom and prudence in making this provision. Out of three thousand sheep Nabal could not have missed five; and as this claim was made only in the time of sheep-shearing, it could not have been made more than once in the year: and it certainly was a small price for such important services.