1 Corinthians 13:6,7 - It always protects

13:6

NIV has “Love does not delight in evil”, ESV has “it does not rejoice at wrongdoing”. Sin can have a superficial attractiveness, offering some instant reward (which will soon turn to poison). Love certainly does not delight in evil. However, going back to unregenerate human nature and the desire to prove oneself better than others, this can lead to delighting when others do wrong or fall, for it proves we are better than them (or so we think). Love does not do this. Instead love delights in the truth. The truth is that we are all sinners, and all who believe are freely forgiven by God. So instead of looking down on others, seeing all their faults, we delight in the truth of the gospel, in seeing people receive forgiveness, and their growing in Christ.

13:7

We now get positive attributes of love, all prefaced with “always”. Love protects. Instead of fault finding and criticising, it guards people as they grow and overcome. Love sees hope for people, trusting in the working of God’s grace in their lives. This is not a “love is blind” or naive approach. Love is utterly realistic, but love perseveres because of our hope in Christ.

1 Samuel 25:12-14 - David's men turned round

25:12,13

David’s men went and reported the response from Nabal. David was infuriated. So David gathered his men, they were armed and ready to attack Nabal. He had four hundred men ready to fight, and two hundred stayed to guard the supplies. So even in his anger he was thinking carefully.

25:14

However, God was intervening, and He did so through a woman. God Ps 56:13 says that God prevents our feet from stumbling. We have an example of that here, and I guess that all of us can think of times in our lives when God stops us from making stupid decisions. When I know that I am under stress one of my prayers is “God, protect me from my own stupidity”. God intervened here through a woman. The Bible is often accused of being misogynistic. This is a groundless charge. On a general level the Bible offers more protection and value for women than the pagan world ever did or does. More specifically there are many examples of women being portrayed  as better than men, as we have here. In the book of Judges we saw that the women were better than men.

1 Corinthians 13:5 - It is not self-seeking

13:5

NIV and ESV translate this verse differently, NIV has “It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs”. ESV has “or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”. The sinful nature seeks to do others down, even delights in doing so. Love does not do this. Human nature seeks its own interests above all others, love does not do this. Because we can not always get our own way, human nature is easily angered. Human nature does keep a record of wrongs, so that these can be used as ammunition at a later date. Love does not do this. If we are honest, we will find some of these negatives surfacing in our own lives from time to time (or perhaps even more frequently!). When we do detect them we should snuff them out with all haste.

1 Samuel 25:4-11 - David was in the wilderness

25:4-8

David and his men were in the wilderness and he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep, so he sent ten of his men to greet Nabal and to bless him. Apparently earlier David and his men had encountered Nabal’s shepherds. They had not mistreated them, indeed they had protected the sheep, so none were missing. The shepherds could confirm the veracity of David’s words. In light of this David asked Nabal to give some provisions to his men.

25:9-11

David’s men gave Nabal the message and waited for the reply. Nabal was very dismissive, asking “who is David?”. David and his exploits were well known throughout Israel. Nabal even said David might be a runaway slave. Nabal simply refused to give anything to David or his men. Some rich men can be very proud and arrogant.

1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient

13:4

We now get a list of things that love is not.  This will be followed by a list of the positive attributes of love. “Love” was the necessary antidote to the many problems the Corinthians were encountering. It is the change of heart that we all need. And “love” as used in the Bible, and especially here, is not sentimental mush. First, love is patient and kind. In Col 3:13 Paul urges them to bear with one another. We are to give one another time to grow, rather than being impatient with each other. We are also to be kind. Love does not envy. When someone else has something good, be it possessions or characteristics, or whatever, we rejoice in their blessing, rather than wishing we had it instead of them. “It does not boast”. It is not proud (NIV) or arrogant (ESV). There is little practical difference. Love is not all about exalting oneself, but is actually more concerned with exalting the other person.

1 Samuel 25:1-3 - Now Samuel died

25:1

Samuel the prophet died, and so, with the exception of Saul’s dream, he is out of the picture. All Israel mourned for him. They recognised how significant he had been, yet we should also note that Israel was not very good at following his words. Most importantly they had insisted on having a king. David moved to the Desert of Paran. He had met with Samuel (1 Sam 19:18), now that Samuel had died David perhaps considered himself to be even more at risk. Remember that Samuel had anointed David as king.

25:2,3

We are now introduced to Nabal and Abigail. Nabal actually means “fool”. Presumably this was a nickname given to him, rather than the name his parents gave him! He was also very wealthy. Even today there are a number of fools who are rich. Nabal here is called “surly and mean”. His wife, on the other hand, is described as “intelligent and beautiful”.  Nabal was a descendant of Caleb. Sadly he had not inherited Caleb’s character.

1 Corinthians 13:2,3 - If I have the gift of prophecy

13:2

Next Paul names prophecy. Paul clearly is using hyperbole, for later he will say that we prophesy in part and know in part. But even if we could “fathom all mysteries” and had “all knowledge”, without love this is all nothing. Paul will expand on how prophecy should be used in the next chapter.  Then he talks about faith that moves mountains. Elsewhere Jesus spoke about faith moving mountains (Matt 17:20), but there Jesus’ purpose was to emphasise that even a little faith can be very effective. Here Paul is saying that even if you have faith that achieves amazing results, without love it is actually nothing at all.

13:3

Just in case anyone thinks that Paul is somehow denigrating spiritual gifts, he now gives examples that can be understood as more “normal”. Someone can give all his possessions to the poor, or suffer greatly, without love that person gains nothing. 13:3 can be translated as “give over my body to hardship that I may boast” (NIV and others) or “if I deliver up my body to be burned” (ESV and others). Again, within the context of Paul’s argument it matters little. People can do all sorts of things that look really good, but if the underlying motive is not love, then the actions do not benefit the person at all.