Abigail

1 Samuel 25:23-39New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and alighted from the donkey, and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

“Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; he became like a stone. About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has judged the case of Nabal’s insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head.” Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife.

David seems to have a thing for other men's wives.

Before Bathsheba was Abigail.  Now, conveniently for David, Abigail was married to a man who was, according scriptures, "surly and mean" so it doesn't seem that too many were unhappy when he dropped dead.

Nabal had made the mistake of insulting David, but was fortunate enough to have a smart (as well as beautiful wife) who seemed to know which way the wind was blowing and knew that her husband's ill temper, lack of gratitude, and breaking of all rules of hospitality was bound to get them all killed.  In fact, David was just getting ready for some serious blood letting when Abigail herself rode to provide the restitution for the hospitality her husband failed to show.

Abigail is known for her beauty, but also more importantly and tellingly, for her intelligence.  And in her speech to David to inspire him not to shed the blood of Nabal and his men, she is something else.  A prophet.

She knows the Lord will make of David a "sure house" and that "evil will not be found in him" as long as he lives (that part, will be debatable by some...)

She isn't often spoken of when we talk of David.  Bathsheba will come to surpass her in fame, yet here is a woman of intelligence, humility, courage, and discernment who went boldly beyond the normal script for women of her time.

It will be interesting to see how Abigail compares with Bathsheba.  Both wives of other men first, but their influence on David and their ways of becoming his wife, so very different.

It's harder perhaps to make a modern connection with Abigail other than to note her courage and humility and ability to see God's work in front of her.

Gracious God, help me, like Abigail, to be hospitable to the stranger, aware always of your awesome work in the world, and brave enough to stand up for what I know to be right.  Amen.