Abigail – Responding with Grace and Faith

We continue in the story of David, Nabal and Abigail found in 1 Samuel 25. As I had mentioned in my last post, we will be looking at this story and glean from each of the three people involved. We looked at Nabal and David in my previous posts and this week we will look at Abigail and conclude this mini-series.

A brief overview of the story can be found here.

We are introduced to Abigail in verse 3, she is the wife of a wealthy but mean man called Nabal. She is described as intelligent and beautiful. Some translations describe her as discerning and beautiful. Whichever the translation, it is clear that not only was she beautiful on the outside but was also wise and discerning.

When Nabal insults David and stirs him to react impulsively in anger, God uses Abigail to step in.

Abigail approached

1 Samuel 25:14-17 “One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

David and his men marching towards Nabal’s household to kill all the men would have surely incited fear among them. David was a warrior who was known for killing Goliath and had songs sung about his prowess as a warrior. A servant in Nabal’s household filled with worry knew he could not approach Nabal as he is unreasonable and therefore goes to Abigail.

From the servant’s actions we gather that he has great regard for her wisdom. In addition, we also glean more about Abigail than her being discerning and beautiful.  That she was courageous. It took courage to act in defiance to Nabal’s decision at that time in a patriarchal society and to go and meet David. It also reveals her care towards everyone who belonged to her household, she was decisive and would act on their behalf. And she was not selfish, we gather from how Nabal was that she did not have her heart set on her husband but found herself married to such a man, she could have thought that this was an opportunity to be free of Nabal from her life. Abigail chose others before her own plight.

A Courageous, Wise and Generous Spirit

Abigail acts with urgency, she gathers generous portions of food for David and his men, sends the gifts of food with servants ahead of her and follows. I have always marvelled at the amount of food they sorted out so quickly (200 loaves of bread, 100 raisin cakes, 100 pressed figs and more). One it could just speak of the wealth of Nabal, or it could have been part of the preparation of the banquet that Nabal was having when Abigail gets back after meeting David (verse 36).

Abigail meets David and in contrast to how Nabal responds, she is humble and gracious.

1 Samuel 25:23 “When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.”

We see Abigail exhibit the wisdom of Proverbs 11:2 “With Humility comes wisdom.” and Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

She encourages David to do right. She encourages him not to commit bloodshed by avenging himself with his own hands. She says to David, “Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live.”

1 Samuel 25: 28-31 “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, ^my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.” (emphasis mine)

She reminds David of God’s promises and as she speaks, she uses imagery of a sling when she talks about his life and his enemies, this would have probably served as a reminder to David of the sling he used in defeating Goliath, a feat accomplished because of the Lord. 

David relents and praises God for sending Abigail his way.

Self-Reflection: Abigail responds with grace and faith to a scary situation. She did what she could but honoured God’s control of the situation here. There was no guarantee that David would relent when she met him but she trusted God to intervene. She did not sit idle while she hoped God worked in David’s heart. As she took charge with wisdom and did what she could, she handed everything to God.

She depicted such wisdom and discernment here, walking in discernment as Abigail did is something we grow in as we walk in diligence with God.

Abigail lived with a harsh and mean man. That was her reality every single day and yet she did not allow the bitterness of her experience to become a part of her nature. We see a similar response with Hannah (1 Samuel 1). Hannah was barren and her husband had another wife Peninnah who would continuously taunt her about not having children. Penninah’s words deeply hurt Hannah, but she does not resort to responding to Peninnah as she did to her.

What a lesson in grace for us. Neither Abigail or Hannah would have been able to respond in grace and faith without the Lord enabling them to do so. We can too easily lean into being able to take only so much or being imperfect, but like Abigail may we choose to cling to God, walk in wisdom and discernment, be courageous and do what we can while we completely trust him with being in control.

God Bless.