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Abigail the Wise and Faithful Woman
Part 1   We find the main story of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25:3-42. Due to the length of the passage
I will cover the highlights and ask you to read the verses for yourselves. By doing so you will get the full impact of how her
wisdom and faithfulness brought about the story of how a strong woman affected the life of David who was to become the greatest
king of Israel and a man after God's own heart. 1 Samuel 25:2-3
2And 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. 3Now 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. We first get to meet Nabal, a very rich man who lived in Maon and had his business in Carmel. At this time he was shearing
his sheep; this was his harvest season and feast time. Then we meet Abigail, his wife (most likely a prearranged marriage),
who was an intelligent and beautiful woman unlike Nabal who was churlish and evil. Later on in the passage we find he was
also a drunkard. Nabal means "fool" whether it was given to him at birth or he earned it we are not told. We do know he was
of the house of Caleb. 1 Samuel 25:5-12
5And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal,
and greet him in my name: 6And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to
thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. 7And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which
were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them; all the while they were in Carmel. 8Ask thy young
men and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray
thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. 9And when David's young men came,
they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 10And Nabal answered David's servants, and said who
is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. 11Shall
I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not
whence they be? 12So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.  David and his followers had been camping out
near Carmel. Instead of just taking what they needed they were
protecting Nabal's flocks from those who would have stolen what they
wanted. They were also making friends with Nabal's sheepherders so
when shearing (harvest) time came David sent ten young men from his
camp to ask Nabal to give whatever he felt it was worth for the
protection his men had given to his herds. The drunken Nabal, in his
greed, insults David and calls him a runaway slave then refuses to
remunerate him for their services saying he did not know any
David.Now we know that David was one of the better known figures of his time. There are stories about David killing a lion and a
bear when just a lad and also about his victory over Goliath. 1 Samuel 18:5-7 backs up just how well David was known in
Israel not with- standing the stories of how King Saul was trying to kill him because Samuel had told how God had anointed
David the next King of Israel. Nabal's words show us just how churlish and evil he was.
Nabal's sheepherders heard Nabal's words and insults to David's men and were wise enough to go straight to Abigail, Nabal's
wife, knowing she would know what to do. They knew David would not put up with Nabal's insults thus they were essentially in
fear of their lives. 1 Samuel 25:18
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. Abigail knew how evil Nabal was and also knew that David was God's chosen as we shall see later in her conversation with
David. Being the wise woman she was, she made haste to right the terrible wrong Nabal had done sparing nothing all the while
making plans in her head. Bob Goulding © October 2006
1 Samuel 25:23-31
23And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and
bowed herself to the ground, 24And fell at his feet, and said, upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine
handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. 25Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard
this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine 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 coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine
enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my
lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid:
for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not
been found in thee all thy days. 29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be
bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the
middle of a sling. 30And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he
hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; 31That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor
offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when
the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. With the provisions she had gathered and some of the household servants, Abigail rides out to meet David before he can
arrive at Nabal's house. As soon as she gets close to where David is she gets off the donkey and falls to her face at
David's feet. She humbles herself at David's feet to assuage his anger at Nabal. She immediately takes upon herself the
responsibility for Nabal's actions, telling David he should not regard Nabal as he is as his name depicts - a fool and an
evil man! Through this passage of scripture Abigail shows her wisdom and close walk with the Lord by reminding David that he
is God's chosen. She applauds David for the good services he has done against the enemies of Israel and tells him he should
not stain the Lord's glory by taking personal revenge. She reminds David that evil has not been found in him all his days
and if he did this thing Saul would use it to justify his persecution of him as an outlaw. She then reminds David that he
will become King of Israel and will receive all the blessings of God; he does not want to remember this affront to God but
to show his character by forgiving Nabal's foolish insults. Abigail then asks David to remember her as the one who kept him from doing that which would have disgraced his honor and made
a blot in his history. I believe in "Divine Appointments" from God and believe God brought these two together, David and Abigail, for a blessing to
both of them. David needed a strong intelligent woman to balance his unruly passion and Abigail needed David to fulfill her
unrealized dreams of being married to a man far from her equal (unequally yoked). I can only imagine the heartache Abigail
suffered from being married to an evil, churlish man yet remaining faithful as Jewish law required. Bob Goulding © October 2006  Abigail the Wise and Faithful Woman
Part 3 Does God honor the faithfulness of his children? Lets look at the next few verses.
1 Samuel 25:32-34 32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
33And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and
from avenging myself with mine own hand. 34For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me
back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the
morning light any that pisseth against the wall.I believe when Abigail heard David speak these words, looked into his eyes and saw his face light up with his beautiful smile,
her heart became his as we often find when God brings two people together to do His will. 1 Samuel 25;37-38 37But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told
him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.38And it came to pass about ten days
after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died. As I have seen so many times in God's word, when we fight on God's side, and allow him to be God, He re-dresses all our
wrongs. "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord!" 1 Samuel 25:39-42 39And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of
my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal
upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.40And when the servants of David
were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. 41And she
arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the
servants of my lord.42And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her;
and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife I find the last few verses a fitting wrap of God's plans coming together perfectly. David is given exactly what he needs, an
intelligent Godly woman, and Abigail is given exactly what she needs, her faithfulness is honored and she is given a husband
worthy of her gifts. She is so delighted with her situation she is willing to wash the feet of David's men. Would that all of us be faithful to God's plan for our lives, for there are few gifts from the Father more worthy than a
strong intelligent and faithful spouse to keep us from the iniquity we so often fall into. If God has given you one count
your blessings and sing His praises for a strong faithful woman is more precious than gold and jewels. I praise God each day
for the one He gave me. Abigail's Song Return To:   |