Nabal

“ Nabal is his name, and churlishness is with him; but I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. 26Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from finding redress for thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. ”

“ The blue sea is visible in its deep chasm, and is backed by the dark precipice of Kerak, “scarred with a hundred wintry watercourses.”
The great hump of rock on which Maon—the home of Nabal—stands, is seen to the south, and rather nearer is the Crusading castle at Carmel, where were Nabal’s possessions; the ruined mound of Ziph is to the west, and Juttah among its olives. Thus the whole scenery of the flight of David, and of Saul’s pursuit, can be viewed from this one hill. ”

“ And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
25:2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. ”

“ Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David. 025:009 When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 025:010 Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants who break away from their masters these days. 025:011 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don't know where they come from? ”

“ And it came to pass, about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died.” One can imagine the picture for oneself. The rich churl sitting there in the midst of all his slaves and his wealth as one thunderstruck, helpless and speechless, till one of those mysterious attacks, which we still rightly call a stroke, and a visitation of God, ends him miserably. And when he is dead, Abigail becomes the wife of David, and shares his fortunes and his dangers in the wilderness. ”

“ He was always on the lookout for queer cases, and when he discovered one that piqued his curiosity, he never rested until he found out all about it. The Red Indian follows the trail of his enemy by noting the most trivial signs, which to others with a less highly cultivated instinct would appear worthless. And Naball was a social Red Indian, following up the trail of a mystery by a constant attention to surrounding events. ”

“ Here they were pleased to find Nawab Khan and the servant, whom he dismissed on their arrival, and himself guided them to an old tomb simpler in form than the rest, but more tenderly and beautifully clothed in moss and wild flowers than any. They sat down while the Nawab related the story of the maiden whose goodness it commemorated.
"Sangita," said he, "was a princess of incomparable beauty and surpassing gentleness. Her spirit was humble; and as the heavenly streams of wisdom and virtue seek lowly places, her nature shone every day with a purer lustre. ”

“ When Nabíl discovered that the flame which had once been kindled and tended there was almost out, that the believers were few, that Yaḥyá16 had crawled into a secret hole where he lay torpid and inert, and that a wintry cold had taken over—he found himself obliged to leave, bitterly grieving, for Karbilá. There he stayed until the Blessed Beauty returned from Kurdistán, making His way to Baghdád. At that time there was boundless joy; every believer in the country sprang to life; among them was Nabíl, who hastened to the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, and became the recipient of great bestowals. ”

“ Note from Daian-bêl-uṣur to Shirḳu, my lord: Every day I pray to Bêl and Nabû for the health of my lord's life. Concerning the lambs, which my lord sent, Bêl and Nabû know that there is a lamb from before thee. I have set the crop and fixed the stable. I have seen thy servant with the sheep; send thy servant with the lambs, and direct that one lamb from among them be offered as a gift to Nabû. I have not turned so much as one sheep into money. On the twentieth I worked [or sacrificed] for Shamash. ”

“ The new Nawab came from Beejapoor, and has taken possession, and the old Nawab is a prisoner—that's all."
"And who is the new Nawab?"
"Nay, mother, we know not yet, for we have not seen him. But they say he is a God-fearing man; and so he appears to be, for when the Azàn was proclaimed, he spread his waistband, and knelt down and said his prayers in the little pavilion on the rock before the palace. And his men love him, and declare he is a true, kind man and a brave soldier, and that is the reason he was sent here."
"It is a lonely place to come to," returned the old dame ”

“ Only as they are brought into some manner of relationship with him do they secure a position in the pantheon during this second period of Babylonian history. Since Nabu's position in the pantheon, once established, incurs but little change, it will be proper, in treating of him, to include the testimony furnished by the historical records of the Assyrian kings. The most prominent attribute of Nabu, at least in the later phases of the Babylonian religion, is that of wisdom. He is the wise, the all-knowing. He embodies in his person all the wisdom of the gods. ”

“ Children are never too happy nor too excited to eat, but between each mouthful they talked their prospects over and over again, and were only sorry to think that their father was not here, too, to hear the good news. Nabul's father, Mahomet Ben Hassan, was the captain of a dahabeah, an Egyptian sailing boat, which carried merchandise and native passengers up and down the river Nile. He was away now on a trip and would not be home again for a week or more. An Egyptian [14] household is very industrious, and every one of a suitable age and state of health is always very much occupied. ”

“ Later, Nabíl-i-Akbar left for Persia and went on to Khurásán. The Amír of Qá’in—Mír Álam Khán—showed him every courtesy at first, and greatly valued his company. So marked was this that people felt the Amír was captivated by him, and indeed he was spellbound at the scholar’s eloquence, knowledge, and accomplishments. One can judge, from this, what honors were accorded to Nabíl by the rest, for “men follow the faith of their kings.”
Nabíl spent some time thus esteemed and in high favor, but the love he had for God was past all concealing. ”

“ Above all a great white sun which scintillated in every direction—on the copper of a tambourine, on the point of a trident, on the fringe of a banner; and in the midst the great proud Rhone carrying to the sea the moving picture of this royal feast. Before these marvels, where shone all the gold of his coffers, the Nabob had a sudden feeling of admiration and of pride.
“This is beautiful,” he said, paling; and behind him his mother murmured, “It is too beautiful for man. It is as if God were coming.” ”

“ The English had on their side in the Durbar the terror
of their arms, the faults of Siraj-ud-daula, the ruling influence
and the refined policy of the Seths, who, to conceal their game
more completely, and knowing that it pleased the Nawab,
often spoke all the ill they could think of about the English,
so as to excite him against them and at the same time gain
his confidence. The Nawab fell readily into the snare, and
said everything that came into his mind, thus enabling his
enemies to guard against all the evil which otherwise he
might have managed to do them. ”

“ Everything is streaming and dripping. A sound of water, a deafening sound of water. Alone in his magnificently furnished chamber with its seignorial bed and its curtains of Chinese silk with purple stripes, the Nabob is still stirring, striding back and forth, revolving bitter thoughts. His mind is no longer intent upon the affront to himself, the public affront in the presence of thirty thousand persons, nor upon the murderous insult that the Bey addressed to him in presence of his mortal enemies. ”

“ I make no doubt but the troubles will begin again in the North. The Nabob will be here in a few days, and I shall advise him to take the field, the instant the weather will permit. He will have a party of our troops with him, and, if it should be necessary, I will accompany him myself. 'Venienti occurrite morbo,' is the advice given by all physicians; and if the Nabob settles the Purneah country, and then marches to the pass of Terriagully, the evil-minded will be overawed, and probably your province of Bahar may remain quiet and in peace. ”

“ Then a steeper incline, where the burros crept upward warily, led to a level ledge heading to the left.
Mescal halted on a promontory. She, with her windblown hair, the gleam of white band about her head, and a dash of red along the fringed leggings, gave inexpressible life and beauty to that wild, jagged point of rock, sharp against the glaring sky.
“This is Lookout Point,” said Naab. “I keep an Indian here all the time during daylight. He's a peon, a Navajo slave. He can't talk, as he was born without a tongue, or it was cut out, but he has the best eyes of any Indian I know. ”

“ Siyyid Muḥammad and his wretched accomplice immediately hurried to the Governorate and informed against the traveler. “He is a Persian,” they reported. “He is not, as he seems, a man of Bukhárá. He has come here to seek for news of Bahá’u’lláh.” The authorities expelled him at once.
Nabíl, despairing, withdrew to the town of Safád. Later he came on to Haifa, where he made his home in a cave on Mount Carmel. He lived apart from friend and stranger alike, lamenting night and day, moaning and chanting prayers. There he remained as a recluse, and waited for the doors to open. ”

“ Nabu, the wise, all-knowing god, sacred in Borsippa, was also popular in literature and learning. In addition to being patron of intelligence and wisdom, he was also patron of agriculture. When his favor was given, storehouses were heaped high with grain; when his favor was withdrawn, famine afflicted the land. From the twelfth century B.C. onwards his name appears in royal names such as Nabo-polasar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nabo-nidus, and in the ninth century B.C. the worship of this god only was preached: "Put thy trust in Nebo; trust not in another God." ”

“ I had an idea that he might write to me in a quite
different style, unknown to the English. I knew the new
Nawab, whom I met at the time I was soliciting reinforcements
to raise the siege of Chandernagore. He had not then
taken up the idea of making himself Nawab. He appeared
to me a very intelligent man, and much inclined to do us
service, pitying us greatly for having to work with a man so
cowardly and undecided as Siraj-ud-daula. ”

“ I discovered, during my stay at Cabool, that the Nawab assumes no false character, but expresses himself, as he feels, with sincerity. Never was a man more modest, and more beloved: he will permit but a single attendant to follow him; and the people on the high and [135] by ways stop to bless him; the politicians assail him at home to enter into intrigues, and yet he possesses the respect of the whole community, and has, at the present moment, a greater moral influence than any of the Barukzye family in Afghanistan. ”

“ The many thousands of Mohammedans, however, who dwelt in the crowded streets and lanes of Chepauk, and who had looked upon the Nawab as their religious chief, would have been afflicted at the cessation of the Carnatic line; and after the Indian Mutiny the Government of India, respecting Mohammedan sentiment, recognized the succession of the nearest relative of the late Nawab and obtained for him from the King of England the hereditary title of Amir-i-Arcot, or 'Prince of Arcot'—an honorary title but higher than that of Nawab. ”

“ Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. 9 She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 10 Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king!' Then carry him out, and stone him to death." ”

“ To establish his reputation as a just and enlightened ruler, the Nawab has had to study carefully the important changes in public opinion, and to found his judgment on public affairs on a minute and elaborate consideration of the arguments for and against. He is sincerely religious-minded and God-fearing, and in matters, great or small, he never allows any prejudices to warp his judgment, and in all circumstances keeps his temper equable and unruffled. ”

“ They were indeed passive instruments in the hands of a more experienced and powerful person who long before had taken a just measure of the Nawab's violent and treacherous character, and most especially dreaded his designs against the orphan girl who, as all knew, had no friends among her own people, except the poor inhabitants of the village in which she had lived all her life, and they were helpless to protect her. ”