What is a hero?
Over the last two weeks we have explored stories of ordinary people that undertook extraordinary tasks that ended up having huge impacts on the people of God in their time. (Wesley United Methodist Church, Crookston, MN - Unsung Heroes of the Bible: 9/7/25; 9/14/25)
We have been calling these people unsung heroes.
But what we have not really done as of yet is to define exactly what a hero is.
According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary the main definition of a hero is “a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability.”
As it relates to this definition we could all I’m sure name many heroes from movies and TV shows:
Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, just to name a few.
Looking back on the individuals we have explored so far, I would hardly say that they meet the criteria of hero this definition defines.
While they may seem mythological, being they lived thousands of years ago, they definitely are not legendary
The fact is most of us had never heard of a couple, if not all, these individuals until the last couple weeks.
Or, at the very least, we knew very little about them.
This holds true as well when we consider the individual set before us today.
This morning we meet Abigail.
The wife of a noble–albeit foolish–sheep owner and proprietor.
She doesn’t have supernatural abilities; she doesn’t fly, has no mythical lasso of truth, she wasn’t even given some super serum to make her an illustrious warrior.
She definitely was not a hero by the standards of our original definition.
However, as we have learned the last couple of weeks, Biblical heroes are those whom we would least expect.
Ordinary people who exhibit admirable achievements and noble qualities.
Someone who shows great courage in extreme circumstances.
Imagine being a level-headed person caught between two hot heads that, left to themselves, would destroy each other and everyone around them.
This was Abigail in our scripture lesson this morning.
Here we have her foolish, and oftentimes angry, husband Nabal and soon-to-be king of Israel David, who, as we will eventually find out, also has the tendency to be rash, impulsive, and spiteful.
As a little backstory, this story begins with David being on the run from King Saul while also having just lost his mentor Samuel.
Not too far in the recent past David had been appointed by God, through Samuel, to be the next King of Israel.
This angered the current King, Saul, to the point that Saul tries to kill David to get rid of his competition.
So, David finds himself in the sheep pasture land of Carmel, and, being familiar with that line of work, David and his men take it upon themselves to help protect and care for the sheep and their shepherds that belonged to this Nabal character.
When it came time to shear the sheep, Nabal’s pay day if you will, David seems to think Nabal owes him some compensation for his services.
Nabal, on the other hand, does not agree.
Now, there may have been many reasons behind Nabal’s refusal, but the long and the short of it seems to be this: why should Nabal pay someone he doesn’t know for something he never asked to have done in the first place.
Seems reasonable, right?
I mean, if I walked into a restaurant and just started serving food and pouring drinks, the owner of that establishment isn’t going to be inclined to compensate me.
Afterall, I am not an employee of said establishment, nor was I hired to provide those services I took upon myself to provide.
In David’s rash, impulsive, and spiteful manner, he vows to make Nabal pay for this perceived injustice.
He vows to wipe Nabal’s name and family lineage right off the map.
He intends to go to war with Nabal.
Enter Abigail, the wife of Nabal, our unsung hero.
Upon hearing of this mounting confrontation between her husband and David, level-headed Abigail takes it upon herself to intervene.
She wastes no time in gathering provisions for David and his men, and brings it out to them as a tribute and in gratitude; something her husband was unwilling to provide.
She sees an opportunity to not get on the bad side of the would-be king; seeing that, despite his sometimes rash, impulsive, and spiteful nature, there is something different and special about David.
It is in this moment we see the noble quality, and great courage that makes Abigail an unsung hero.
Behind her husband’s back, face to face with 400 armed men ready for battle, armed with nothing but food and drink, Abigail appeals to David’s faith and God’s promise to bless David.
She implores him to control his anger, rather than have his anger control him.
It is as David’s son Solomon would later record in the book of Proverbs, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Abigail proves herself as invaluable to David, for she reasons with him to not do something he will regret the rest of his life.
Not to mention, possibly derailing his entire reign as king before it even begins.
Abigail truly is an unsung hero–an agent of Grace.
An ordinary person–and not even that as a woman seen as a mere possession–doing the right thing at the right time.
A person of the old covenant, as Pastor Ruth mentioned in a previous sermon, foreshadowing the mercy and grace God would eventually show us all in the new covenant of the cross of Christ.
When we consider this story, especially in light of current events in our own country, there is a lot we can learn from here.
It is easy for us to sit here and make our own judgments on the pride and foolishness of both Nabal and David.
But when we take a look at the world around us we can’t help but find that there are a lot more Nabal’s and David’s than there are Abigail’s.
A lot more people who are quick to lash out at one another for some perceived injustice.
Just look at all the hostility there is between people about the recent assasination of Charlie Kirk.
So many people who are too quick to respond with blame, hatred, and even more violence.
So quick to respond with a harsh word that stirs up anger rather than a soft answer that can turn away wrath.
We as a society need now, more than ever, more unsung heroes like Abigail; more agents of grace.
We need more generosity and humility, rather than rash revenge and prideful stubbornness.
This morning, and in the days and weeks to come, that is the challenge being presented to all of us.
As we go out from this place into the world, let us bring this example of Abigail with us.
Just imagine what conflicts could be averted when we act, or react, with generosity and humility rather than foolishness, pride, anger, and violence.
We too have an opportunity here to be the unsung heroes of our own stories.
We too can be agents of grace.
Ordinary people acting with great courage in extreme circumstances in order to have a huge impact on the people of God in our own time.
