Abigail, the brave lady?

According to the Talmud, Abigail was one of the three most beautiful women in ancient times. The other two were both winners of national and internationally organised beauty competitions as recorded in the Bible. Esther of course was one. The other was Abishag who we may think about next year. Abigail was the wife of a very rich farmer when Saul was king over Israel in name but not in control. So much out of control that most Israeli farmers lost much of their stock and harvests to raiders. Saul seems to have spent more time chasing David than protecting the country borders and applying law and order. Some years before this incident, the young David had tricked Goliath into losing his head. This gave rise to a popular pop song “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands”. The song went viral and was very popular. This made Saul really jealous. and he set himself out to kill David especially as David had been secretly anointed by Samuel to be the next king. Hence, Saul’s jealousy and his desire to get rid of David permanently without recognising the good David was doing for the country. The population was divided. We read that David went into hiding in the desert and his brothers joined him together with any who were “in distress or in debt or discontented” and together they made up a band of outlaws about four hundred strong. They lived off the land and protected Israeli farmers from attacks by neighbouring tribes and kingdoms whenever they could. They were outlaws in effect.

First confrontation

Now there was an Israeli farmer called Nabal who was doing very well. Not only did he have a thousand goats but three thousand sheep. It was springtime so shearing had been done, and all the stock would have been brought in. It was the time for feasting and celebrations. David’s men had survived the winter on short rations, so he sent a message to Nabal suggesting that, in return for protecting Nabal’s staff and the flocks all winter, he might spare some food for him and his Merry Men. Protection money in other words. Nabal, whose name means “fool”, gave a very curt reply to the messengers, showing pride and ignorance. David is incensed so much that he musters his four hundred outlaws to go and teach Nabal a lesson. That lesson would be severe as David says he will not leave even “one male alive of Nabal’s family and staff by morning”. This is a crisis as Nabal and all his staff are too busy with their party celebrating the shearing being done, money in the bank and seem not to be aware of the very painful threat approaching.

Second confrontation

Nabal’s pretty wife, Abigail, recognises the foolishness of her husband and goes into logical overdrive. Abigail was also a wise lady. She accepted the inevitable and then sets out to change it, even though she was in a privileged position. She gets the kitchen staff to produce two hundred loaves of bread (when had David’s men had proper bread recently?), five roast sheep, lots of wine and sent it all to the approaching David without saying anything to her husband. Abigail follows after tidying herself up and makes one of the longest speeches by a woman recorded in the Bible. Now, although she was the wife of the biggest farmer in the area and David is really trespassing on their land, she starts by calling him “My lord”. Then she admits that her husband was not only foolish but also wrong not to have shared the shearing feast with David’s men. Without David’s protection there would probably have been no flock to shear. Then she assumes she has won the discussion as she says, “the Lord has kept you, my master from bloodshed”. She pleads for forgiveness and forecasts that David will become the leader of the Israeli nations and it would not be right to have the “staggering burden of needless bloodshed just for vengeance on his conscience”. Finally, she asks David to remember her when the Lord has given her master success. What a romantic proposal. It worked too. David who thanks God for her prompt action. Without it, he says he would have carried out his severe lesson on Nabal and his staff. David accepts the gift of food she offered him and goes back to his camp.

Result of fairness

Meanwhile Nabal is having a “banquet like that of a king”. The next morning, when she tells Nabal what she has done he seems to have had a heart attack and is incapable of speech before dying ten days later. Guilty conscience? As soon as David heard about this he sent messengers to Abigail asking her to be his wife. She immediately accepts and sets off on her donkey with her five maids to become (another) Mrs David.

Responses

The first question is to ask why is this incident recorded in so much detail? The second question we must ask is why was David who has a strong armed force and widespread praise, honour and acclaim in the country, doing hiding in the wilds? Was Saul just jealous? David could easily have set up an estate or commune like Nabal’s and lived happily. He already had some wives. But he chose to support Saul and tradition with law and order. He is loyal. He could have killed Saul several times. Remember the toilet incident in 1 Samuel 24 or the spear and water jug in chapter 26? Instead David volunteers to police the country with his Merry Men as protection from foreign attacks.

Third question, was David right in asking for protection money from Nabal in the form of food? Nabal would probably have lost much of his stock if David had not, in the words of Nabal’s staff “been a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them” and not a thing went missing.

We are given the whole of Abigail’s initial speech in 1 Samuel 24 to the invading David and then his response in detail. She does not plead extenuating circumstances but starts straight off by calling David “my lord”. In other words, accepting him as boss. It must have taken her some courage to confront all those bloodthirsty brigands by herself, probably in the evening. Each sentence has a wealth of wisdom.

What are the messages for us today? Should we use force to claim our rights or even to punish injustice? Is it just that a soft answer turns away wrath? Is there ever a case for vengeance? Was what happened to Nabal pure chance? Answers to all questions appreciated. God is the final and ultimate judge, not us. Read the whole story in 1 Samuel 26, preferably in the Message version.