Abigail
1 Samuel 25:1-42
Abigail's story is one of a godly wife of a very difficult man. Her courage in intervening for her household
leads to her being greatly blessed by God.
Abigail's story takes place in 1 Samuel. David has separated from King Saul
and gone down to the wilderness of Paran where a very rich man named Nabal
lives, whose wife's name is Abigail.
Verse 3 tells us that "she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful
countenance, but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the
house of Caleb." The first thing said about her is very important: that
she was a woman of good understanding.
Proverbs 13:15 "Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of
transgressors is hard." We shall
see how true this statement is.
Verses 4 - 8 - David learns that Nabal was shearing his sheep so he
sends ten of his young men to go to Nabal, to greet him in David's name and
offer Nabal peace to him, peace to his house, and peace to all that he had. David has not harmed anything belonging to
Nabal, and desires that Nabal would share of his prosperity with David and his men. In view of later happenings, we speculate
that it is food for himself and his men that he desires.
Verses 10-11 - Nabal denies David his request, using the excuse that
he does not know if it is really David or a pretender and so why should he share of his goods.
Verses 12-13 David learns of Nabal's decision and tells his men to
"gird ye on every man his sword.
And they girded on every man his sword: and David also girded on his
sword:..." 400 men went with David and 200 stayed with their belongings.
And then we have the intervention of the Lord, who is faithful to
provide a way for his own. Verse 14, one
of Nabal's servants tells Abigail of all that has happened and the young man's
words are: Verse 17 "Now therefore
know and consider what you wilt do; for evil is determined against our master,
and against all his household:..." This is very reminiscent of Mordecai's
statement to Queen Esther, Esther 4:14 "For if thou altogether holdest thy
peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the
Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed:;
and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as
this?"
Abigail's decision is immediate, Verse 18 "Then Abigail made
haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep
ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of
raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses." and then
she sends the servants to David, saying she will come after them. Verse 19
"But she told not her husband Nabal" Now it may be assumed that
Abigail was deceptive in gathering the provisions and not telling her husband,
but clearly Abigail was willing to put herself at risk to try and save her
household from certain death. Again we
are reminded of Queen Esther approaching Ahasuerus Esther 4:16"...and so I
will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I
perish."
And so in Verse 21 David and Abigail meet and David explains the
reason for his actions "...surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow
hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto
him: and he hath requited me evil for good."
Abigail's greeting of David is one of true submission, Verse
23-32. She falls before David on her
face, and bows herself to the ground, at his feet, then she asks "Upon me,
my lord, upon me let this iniquity be:; and let thine handmaid, I pray thee,
speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid." Abigail
desires that Nabal's sin be put to her account.
We are reminded of the Lord Jesus, who took upon himself the sins of the
world in His own body on the tree.
And next we learn that Abigail is a true believer in the LORD, Verse
26 "Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth,
seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood...." By
this statement, Abigail professes faith that the LORD lives. and that it is by
His intervention that her household has been saved, that she is only the vessel
used by the LORD.
She offers the provisions she has brought to David and his men, and
pleads with David to "forgive the trespass of thine handmaid" (Verse
28) What an amazing statement!
Abigail obviously knows who David is, she knows that he fights the
battles of the LORD and that the LORD is with him, and she has faith that the
LORD "will certainly make my lord a sure house because my lord fighteth
the battles of the LORD and evil hath not been found in thee all thy
days." (Verse 28) Verse 30-31 tell
us that Abigail believes that David will be king and that it is the LORD who
will bring it about. She asks that David
will remember what she has done "when the LORD shall have dealt well with
my lord."
David then says "Blessed be the LOD God of Israel, which sent
thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from
coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand....(V32-33)
and then after he receives her offerings, he sends her home, "Go up in
peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy
person" Verse 35.
Verse 36-37 When Abigail returns home, she finds that Nabal has held a
great feast and is drunken. The next morning she tells him what she has done,
and "his heart died within him, and he became as stone". Verse 38 "And it came to pass about ten
days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, and he died". As Galatians 6:7 says
"be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that
shall he also reap."
When David hears of Nabal's death, he gives thanks to the LORD for
keeping him from destroying Nabal and his house, and for "...returning the
wickedness of Nabal upon his own hand."
Then "David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to
wife." And so Abigail accompanied
by five damsels of hers, went to David and became his wife. (Verse 42)
What a lesson to be learned here.
Abigail was the wife of an evil man, but she stayed with him until the
LORD in His justice and mercy, delivered her to a better life. She intervened on her husband's and on her
household's behalf and put her own life at risk. What courage! and how she was blessed by God
to become the wife of David.
vcg/July 2015
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