David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead. These messengers told the men in Jabesh: “The Lord bless you, because you have shown kindness to your lord Saul by burying {his ashes}. [9]
It is the same with you. When you do all the things you are told to do, you should say, ‘We are not worthy of any special thanks. We have only done the work we should do.’”
The Pharisee stood alone, away from the tax collector. When the Pharisee prayed, he said, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not as bad as other people. I am not like men that steal, cheat, or do the sin of adultery. {\cf2\super [286]} I thank you that I am better than this tax collector.
Micah said to his mother, “Do you remember that someone stole 28 pounds [124] of silver from you. I heard you say a curse about that. Well, I have the silver. I took it.”
Then Boaz said, “May the Lord bless you, young woman. You have been very kind to me. Your kindness to me is greater than the kindness you showed to Naomi in the beginning. You could have looked for a young man to marry, rich or poor. But you did not.
The Lord said, “Saul has stopped following me. So I am sorry that I made Saul king. He is not doing what I tell him.” Samuel became angry and cried to the Lord all night.
Saul and the Israelite soldiers felt bad about destroying everything. So they let Agag live. They also kept the fat cows, the best sheep, and the lambs. They kept everything that was worth keeping. They didn’t want to destroy those things. They destroyed only the things that were not worth keeping.
One of Nabal’s servants spoke to Nabal’s wife Abigail. The servant said, “David sent messengers from the desert to meet our master (Nabal). But Nabal was mean to David’s messengers.