Bible Strands
1 Samuel 25:2
Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator introduces a wealthy pastoralist in Maon at Carmel immediately after David retreats to the Wilderness of Paran following Samuel’s burial.
The words — The Hebrew phrase גָּדוֹל מְאֹד (gadol me'od) literally translates to "great very," directly modifying the man's status to emphasize his extreme livestock holdings.
The thread — The geographic markers Maon and Carmel reappear in Joshua 15:55, while the shearing activity parallels the pastoral practice noted in Genesis 38:13 and the regional movements in 1 Samuel 23:24.
Why it lands — The text establishes a concrete economic and geographical baseline before any narrative development, requiring the reader to track how material abundance will later intersect with human character and covenant boundaries.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 38:13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”
- Joshua 15:55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,
- 1 Samuel 23:24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon,
- Luke 16:19 Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Genesis 13:2 And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.
- Genesis 26:13 and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy.
- 1 Samuel 30:5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken captive.
- 2 Samuel 13:23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.
- 2 Samuel 19:32 Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.
- Job 1:3 and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.