Abigail, Godly Wife

The story of Abigail and David is often told as an Old Testament romance. God does reward them with a happy marriage at the end of the story, but there is much more about the life of Abigail that is remarkable.

At the time our story takes place, (which you can read about in ISamuel, chapter 25), Saul is the king of Israel. You may remember that the Israelites were at war with the Philistines during these times. When David was a lad, he fought the champion of the Philistines, the giant Goliath. After that he went to work at the palace for Saul. As Saul grew older, he became jealous of David. He even threatened to kill him, so David had to go away and hide from Saul. He was on the run. He had a large following of men who stayed with him, living in the wilderness of Paran. There he was not only safe from Saul, but he was able to be of real service to his countrymen by protecting the large flocks which pastured far and wide from the predatory raids of the wild tribes of the desert.

One of the people that David protected was Nabal, a wealthy land owner. Nabal had many flocks of sheep. A special time for sheep farmers was when they did the shearing. It was a time of rejoicing, for when the fleeces were sold, there would be much money and a big celebration. Nabal had sold his wool and was throwing a huge party. Because David and his men had protected Nabal’s sheep, they felt that they should be invited to the celebration. David sent a delegation of ten men to greet Nabal and ask for something in return for his service.

Nabal answered David’s men roughly and sent them away empty handed. He had insulted them by acting as if he didn’t even know who they were. They went back to tell David about Nabal’s rejection, and when David heard this, he was very angry. He had four hundred men put on their swords and follow him back to Nabal’s place.

In the meantime, one of Nabal’s servants had heard how he mistreated David’s emissaries. This servant ran and told Abigail, Nabal’s wife. He told her all about how David and his men had protected them all those months that they tended the sheep. Abigail immediately resolved to take action.

The Bible tells us that Abigail was not only beautiful, but intelligent. She knew what needed to be done, and that it had to be done quickly. She had the servants load up some food and beverages and put them on donkeys. She told them to go on ahead of her to meet David. She herself followed on her donkey as soon as she could.

Imagine what courage she must have had. She had heard that David and four hundred armed soldiers were coming after her husband. She had no way of knowing what the outcome would be. She did not know if he was so angry that he would punish everyone before she had a chance to talk to him. She may have been trembling when she saw David, but she met him bravely. She got down off of her donkey and bowed to the ground and begged him to listen to her.

She asked him to put all of the blame on her. She told him to treat her as his maidservant. She apologized for not knowing sooner about the young men that David had sent to see Nabal.  She begged him to accept the gift of food that she had brought.

Now, the Bible tells us that Nabal was a worthless and foolish man. He was harsh and evil in all his doings. In spite of this, Abigail was a loyal wife. Some have criticized her because she took the very large quantity of food to David without telling her husband. She did not try to tell Nabal until the next morning. Some have said that she is not a good example of a submissive wife. But, consider:
–  The midwives lied to Pharoah. (to save the baby boys.)
–  Rahab lied to her king. (to preserve the Israelite spies.)
–  Jonathan lied to Saul about David’s whereabouts.
–  Peter and John disobeyed the religious rulers. They said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

We are not advocating rebellion here, only a closer look at what the Bible actually says about people’s actions. They knew something that we do not always know – what was in God’s will. We know that it was in God’s providence that Nabal’s servant overheard what was happening and ran to tell Abigail. We know that God used Abigail to prevent David from taking vengeance, because the Scriptures record her actions and her words to David.  We know that God’s Spirit put those wise words in Abigail’s mouth and that the Spirit caused David to listen. Abigail reminded David that when he became king, he would regret his actions. She did not want David to have, “grief or a troubled heart,…both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself.” After all, it is up to God to punish evildoers.

David listened to the words of this very wise woman. Then he gave thanks to God for her, and he thanked her.

“Then David said to Abigail, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who has kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.’” (ISamuel 25:32,33).

Later, God would punish Nabal. In only a few days time, God struck Nabal and he died, probably from some kind of stroke. Abigail was now a widow.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he was thankful that God had kept him from committing the serious crime of murder. He had also been impressed with the wisdom and courage of Abigail. What a fitting wife she would make for a king. She would be a companion and advisor to him.

So David sent a proposal to Abigail. When his servants arrived at her home, she quickly accepted. She rode on her donkey again to meet him, this time to become his wife.