Abigail
Abigail was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible who married Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel 25). Abigail was David's second wife after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to Palti, son of Laish when David went into hiding.
The name Abigail has a variety of possible meanings, including "my father's joy" and "source of joy."
In 1 Samuel 25, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, the son of Jesse (from the tribe of Judah), and Abigail attempts to placate (appease) David to stop the future King from taking revenge. She gives him food and speaks to him, urging him not to "have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed" (verse 31, NIV) and reminding him that God will make him a "lasting dynasty" (verse 28). Jon Levenson calls this an "undeniable *adumbration" of Nathan's prophecy in 2 Samuel 7. The commentator notes that Abigail pronounces a "crucial prophecy," and the Talmud regards her as one of the Tanakh's seven female prophets. Levenson, however, suggests that she "senses the drift of history" from intelligence rather than from special revelation.
*adumbration - a sketchy or incomplete representation of something
Abigail is described as intelligent and beautiful. After Abigail reveals to Nabal what she has done, "God struck Nabal, and he died" (v. 38), after which David married her. The Talmud amplifies this idea, mentioning her as one of the "four women of surpassing beauty in the world" (the other three being Rahab, Sarah, and Esther). Being married to the wealthy Nabal, she is also a woman of high socioeconomic status. Whether David married her because he was attracted to her, as an astute political move, or both is unclear. Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel, is the only woman in the Hebrew Bible who is described as both intelligent and beautiful. After detailing Nabal's enormous wealth in flocks (1 Sam 25:2), the narrative introduces her in contrast to him. She is "of good sense and beautiful in looks." At the same time, he is "hard and evil in his deeds" (v. 3). As Abigail later asserts (v. 25), his character befits his name, Nabal, meaning "fool" or "boor" (see Prov 17:7, 21, and Isa 32:6). He is also identified as a Calebite, perhaps a rival clan for the Judean monarchy. (David has not yet been publicly anointed, King). Alternatively, the written text states he is "like his heart." Later, the narrative recounts that "his heart died within him and he became like a stone" (v. 38). Mean and inhospitable, he meets his fate, measure-for-measure, in the hardening of his heart. This characterization explains why Nabal responds so rudely to David's request for sustenance, likening him to a runaway servant (Vv. 10–11), and why one of his young men turns to Abigail to save them all, explaining: "he is such a nasty fellow that no one can speak to him" (v. 17). Further, it accounts for Abigail's motivation: why she intervenes secretly to provide a feast for David and his men without consulting her husband. In a subtle twist, she simultaneously saves her household and allies herself with David, eventually in matrimony when she is fortuitously widowed
Abigail and David's second wife, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, accompany David and his war band as they seek refuge in Philistine territory. While David and his men are encamped near Jezreel, the women are captured by Amalekites, who raided the town of Ziklag and carried off the women and children. David led the pursuit, and they were subsequently rescued. Both wives settle with David in Hebron, where Abigail gives birth to David's second son, Chileab (also called Daniel).
Abigail is also listed as one of the seven Jewish women prophets, the other six being Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Sarah, Huldah, and Esther. In terms of her moral character, Abigail's conduct indicates "a most appealing character and unwavering faith," with a tendency to sometimes being rebellious.
The story of Abigail contrasts with that of Bathsheba. In one, the wife prevents David from murdering her foolish and greedy husband. In the second, David orders the death of a good man because he desires his wife. "In the Abigail story, David, the potential king, is seen as increasingly strong and virtuous, whereas in the Bathsheba story, the reigning monarch shows his flaws more overtly and begins to lose control of his family."
A commentator suggests that Abigail may, in fact, also be the same person as Abigail, mother of Amasa. However, he points out, "based on the final form of Old Testament canon, references to Abigail in the biblical accounts indicate two different individuals."
Abigail became the mother of one of David's sons, who is listed in the Book of Chronicles under the name Daniel in the *Masoretic Text of the Books of Samuel as Chileab. In the Septuagint text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as ?a????a, Dalouia Her name is spelled Abigal in 2 Samuel 17:25 in the American Standard Version.
*Masoretic text (from Hebrew masoreth, "tradition"), traditional Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible,
Abigail, the intelligent and beautiful wife of the wealthy but loutish Nabal, eventually marries David, the future King of Israel, after Nabal's death. While running a "protection racket" in the area of Carmel, David asks for provisions for himself and his men, but Nabal refuses, so the young warrior prepares for slaughter. Abigail quickly intervenes, sending a feast ahead and greeting David on the way. In an eloquent speech, she persuades him to shed no blood and prophesies that he will be King. Upon hearing what she has done, Nabal dies. David then sends for Abigail to become his wife as she intimated. She bears David, a son, who never becomes a contender for the throne, and though a prophet and wise woman, she plays no further role in court history.
The chapter is set during the sheep-shearing festival, a time renowned for feasting and revelry. David requests food for himself and his band of six hundred men who, while in flight from the mad King Saul, have been operating a kind of "protection racket" against marauders for the shepherds and flocks in the area (vv. 5–8, corroborated by the report of Nabal's servant in Vv. 15–16). When Nabal refuses, insulting David and his band as riffraff (Vv. 10–11), the young warrior and four hundred of his men gird themselves for bloodshed. Enraged, David swears on oath: "May God do thus and more to David if by morning, I leave a single pisser against the wall!" (v. 22). In this crude expression, we are privy to the first glimpse of evil in David's character.
Overhearing the dialogue, one of the servants runs to Abigail, begging her to intervene. She quickly assembles an elaborate feast, which is loaded up on donkeys and sent in advance. She then intercepts David to persuade him against fulfilling his violent oath (which the reader only hears retroactively, after she is seen approaching, v. 20). Before the full force of the oath strikes us, we anticipate its undoing.
Abigail's Eloquent Speech
Abigail alights from her donkey and prostrates herself before David. In her long, eloquent speech (Vv. 24–31)—repeatedly addressing David as "lord" and herself as "maidservant"—she appeals to him to shed no blood. She promises that if he restrains himself from blood guilt, God will dispatch David's enemies (v. 29), alluding to the death of Nabal and perhaps Saul's as well. She further foretells that God will establish a "sure house" for David (v. 28), foreshadowing Nathan's prophecy of an everlasting dynasty for the King (2 Samuel 7). She ends her speech with a hint: "when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid" (2 Sam 25:31). David then praises her excellent sense and expresses gratitude that she restrained him from bloodshed, uttering an oath to counter the prior violent one (v. 34). As in the encounters with King Saul that frame this story (ch. 24 and 26), David's restraint from slaying his rival demonstrates his worthiness of kingship. However, it also anticipates his darker side when David does not restrain himself from adultery and murder in the story of Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 11–12). His folly there does become the "cause of grief and pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause" (v. 31).
Based on her foresight, the Talmud identifies Abigail as one of the seven female prophets in the Hebrew Bible. More likely, she is keenly perceptive about the shifting tides of history.
Nabal's Death and Abigail's Marriage to David
When Abigail returns home, she finds her husband drunk from feasting "like a king" and waits until the morning to tell him what she has done (v. 36). His heart then strangely turns to stone, and he dies ten days later, struck by "the Lord" (God) (v. 38). David, hearing that she has been widowed, sends for her. She courteously prostrates herself, calling David "lord" and herself "maidservant prepared to wash [his] servants' feet"; though, ironically, she follows the messenger with five maids on donkeys in tow (Vv. 41-42). She then becomes his wife. Because of the hint to David (v. 34), the mysterious cause of Nabal's death, and no record of mourning her boorish husband, some scholars and modern creative renditions have read Abigail as conniving. However, there is no hint of illicit behavior on her part. Instead, the story starkly contrasts the Bathsheba episode, when the King takes a woman married to another man (Uriah) while he is serving the King, fighting "the Lord's battles."
Moreover, David has him killed by placing him on the front line of the battle to cover for his adultery. In the Abigail story, on the other hand, the woman is married to an evil husband and prevents him from murdering Nabal (and all the males of the household), as David acknowledges (Vv. 33–34). Adele Berlin points out: "The Abigail story contains no illicit sex, though the opportunity was present; the Bathsheba story revolves around an illicit relationship. In the Abigail story, David, the potential King, is seen as increasingly strong and virtuous. In contrast, in the Bathsheba story, the reigning monarch shows his flaws more overtly and begins to lose control of his family."
Epilogue
Abigail becomes David's third wife, after Ahinoam of Jezreel (1 Sam 25:43) and Michal, daughter of Saul (1 Sam 18:27). Unlike Michal, whom David leaves behind when fleeing from King Saul (19:11–17), Abigail and Ahinoam accompany him to Gath (1 Sam 27:3). When David is away, the Amalekites attack Ziklag and carry off the wives, David's people, and his possessions, but David can rescue them (1 Sam 30:1–5, 18).
Abigail is present with David in Hebron when he is publically inaugurated King, and she bears him a son called Chileab, meaning "according to the father" (2 Sam 3:3; Daniel in 1 Chr 3:1)—perhaps to assert David's paternity as unmistakable. Her name then takes on new significance, meaning "my father's joy" or "my father rejoices." Nevertheless, the son, Chileab, never becomes a contender for the throne, and beyond this episode, Abigail plays no role in the court history.
In 1 Samuel 25, a beautiful story emerges, one of submission and deliverance. Abigail is a lesser-known heroine in the Bible, a humble woman married to a wealthy scoundrel. Abigail combined her wisdom with her wealth to appear before an approaching enemy to plead for the safety of her husband's household.
David and 400 of his men were on their way to seek vengeance for Nabal's foolish response. But one of Nabal's servants informed Abigail of her husband's lack of social graces and what David's intentions were upon his arrival. Abigail's response was in stark contrast to that of her husband. She knew who David was and the one that he served. Without hesitation and without telling her husband, Abigail gathered together food supplies and loaded them on donkeys. Then she headed out to meet the future King of Israel.
When Abigail saw David, without a word, she fell on her face before him, bowing herself to the ground. Falling at his feet, Abigail delivered the most humble, heartfelt plea for David to spare her husband's household. However, her request was not made from a heart of fear, nor was it from a heart of anger toward her husband. Instead, while she admitted that her husband was a man of bad character, she reminded David that his life was in the hands of God. His enemies would be destroyed because of God's justice, and his own house would endure. She only asked that David remember her when God had fulfilled everything He had promised.
Abigail's humble response turned David's heart. He saw the error he was about to make. He had recently spared King Saul's life, who sought to kill David. Nevertheless, David had been quick to exterminate the household of a man who had merely insulted him. His life of exile had angered him, and this anger had nearly driven him to seek vengeance against a man who was not the real enemy.
David heeded Abigail's wise words. Despite his flawed character, he respected her for the great respect she showed her husband's household. He sent her away with a blessing, promising her a safe return home and the preservation of the men of Nabal. Abigail's name is mentioned in Scripture only one more time as the mother of David's second-born son. However, her story echoes in the hearts of all women as an example of accurate submission and courage, even in the face of danger. Abigail truly is one of the unsung heroes of the Bible.
The Hebrew name Abigail belongs to two women in the Bible, and both are associated with David; one is his sister (1 Chronicles 2:16), and the other becomes his wife after the death of her husband Nabal (1 Samuel 25:42). Sister Abigail becomes the mother of Amasa, the commander of the army of Judah.
