Abigail: A Woman of Wisdom
Note: I teach these scriptures in a talk show format. I have some read scriptures and then I would ask questions and we would discuss the answers.
(1Sa 25:1) Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. 2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. And he was of the house of Caleb.
What was the contrast between the two?
Abigail
1) Good understanding – wise (What does it mean to be wise?)
“Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” Proverbs 8:10-11 KJV
Knowledge
Instruction – understanding
Wisdom - application
2) Beautiful appearance – the way she carried herself
3) My father is joy (a joy to her father when she was born)
Nabal
1) Harsh
2) Evil in his doings
3) Name meaning – fool
4) Man of Belial “worthless, good for nothing, wicked, scoundrel
Nabal’s story
(1Sa 25:4) When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, (1Sa 25:5) David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. (1Sa 25:6) And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: 'Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! (1Sa 25:7) Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. (1Sa 25:8) Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.' " (1Sa 25:9) So when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited. (1Sa 25:10) Then Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. (1Sa 25:11) Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?" (1Sa 25:12) So David's young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words.
David’s response – spontaneous anger
(1Sa 25:13) Then David said to his men, "Every man gird on his sword." So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.
1 Samuel 25:10 Then Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. (1Sa 25:11) Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?"
Nabal’s wife Abigail
(1Sa 25:14) Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife,
Why do you think the young men went to Abigail?
saying, "Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them. (1Sa 25:15) But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. (1Sa 25:16) They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. (1Sa 25:17) Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him." (1Sa 25:18) Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
How important was it for Abigail to act quickly? What does this say about her demeanor?
(1Sa 25:19) And she said to her servants, "Go on before me; see, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
Why did she not tell her husband?
(1Sa 25:20) So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. (1Sa 25:21) Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good. (1Sa 25:22) May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light."
Abigail and David
(1Sa 25:23) Now when Abigail saw David, she hastened to dismount from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground.
(1Sa 25:24) So she fell at his feet and said: "On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. (1Sa 25:25) Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal [49] is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. (1Sa 25:26) Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. (1Sa 25:27) And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
Deeper faith
(1Sa 25:28) Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.
(1Sa 25:29) Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.
What was her view of David
Soon to be King
(1Sa 25:30) And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
(1Sa 25:31) that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant."
What does this say about her faith? Trust in the prophecies of the Lord. Samuel anointed him as king.
She approached David from his conscience.
David’s Repentance
(1Sa 25:32) Then David said to Abigail: "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! (1Sa 25:33) And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.
Who does David give credit for, for Abigail intervening?
Has God ever intervened in your life?
(1Sa 25:34) For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hastened and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!" (1Sa 25:35) So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person."
Abigail Tells Nabal
(1Sa 25:36) Now Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was, holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; therefore she told him nothing, little or much, until morning light.
Why do you think Nabal threw a party after this? Almost throwing this in the face of David and God.
(1Sa 25:37) So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.
What do you think this means? “that his heart died within him”
(1Sa 25:38) Then it came about, after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
(1Sa 25:39) So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head." And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. (1Sa 25:40) When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, "David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife."
(1Sa 25:41) Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, "Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."
(1Sa 25:42) So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.
Abigail is also listed as one of the seven Jewish women prophets, the other six being Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Sarah, Huldah,and Esther.[9] In terms of her moral character, Abraham Kuyper argues that Abigail's conduct indicates "a most appealing character and unwavering faith,"[10] but Alice Bach regards her as subversive
We don’t read much about her after this but I believe that she was a peace maker. David had a few wives. She was the one who brought peace between them
