Abigail, A Woman of Good Understanding

''Abigail" one of David's eight wives.

       Because of her good understanding, Abigail might be called the earliest woman pacifist on record. Certainly of all the famous women in the Old Testament she was the wisest.
       Though she was to become David's wife after the death of her husband, Nabal, a drunkard, it is as the wife of the latter that her fine character comes into the sharpest focus. In this first picture of Abigail we come to know why David later was to have such faith in her wise counsel. From his first meeting with her David's life seems to have taken on a higher meaning and a stronger purpose. He is no longer a fugitive and outlaw but destined to become the great king of Judah and of all Israel.
       Abigail was one of David's eight wives. The others were Michal (I Sam. 18:27), Bath-sheba (II Sam. 12:24), Ahinoam, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah (II Sam. 3:2, 3, 4, 5), but Abigail was the greatest influence for good and helped David to remember that he was God's anointed into whose keeping the kingdom of Israel had been entrusted.
       When David and Abigail chanced to meet, he was a shepherd  hiding from Saul in the wilderness of Paran, an extended tract along the southern border of Canaan adjoining the Sinaitic desert. He had gathered around him about six hundred followers, who constituted a bodyguard and voluntarily protected the flocks of many a herdsman from prowling thieves.
       In the sheep and goat country west of the Dead Sea, and not far from where David was, lay the town of Maon. Near by was the larger town of Carmel standing in mountainous country. One of the richest men in this area was Abigails' husband, Nabal, who had some three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. Their home probably was a pretentious place on a plateau that one came upon suddenly after leaving desolate brown limestone hills, bare valleys, and dry watercourses.
       It was sheep-shearing season at the home of Abigail and Nabal. Many guests had gathered, and there was much feasting. Abigail had provided abundantly for her guests, for she was a woman who had a reputation for gracious hospitality. We can imagine that her hospitable house, run efficiently and well, was a place where the stranger liked to tarry.
       On such feasting occasions let us picture Abigail in a dress of fine linen, probably a vivid blue, with a softly draped headdress of shell pink forming a flattering outline for her brown hair and her delicate features. The headdress probably fell into a sash around her slender waist.
       We have the Biblical record that Abigail was of a beautiful countenance as well as a woman of good understanding (I Sam. 25:3). But in the next phrase her husband, Nabal, is described as "churlish and evil in his doings‚'' (I Sam. 25:3). His most niggardly act was directed at David, who had sent ten of his men up to the hills to ask for a little food during feasting time. David's own provisions were running low. His request was polite and just, for ten men could not carry away much food.
       David and his men had helped Nabal's shepherds to protect their master's large herds of sheep and goats. It was quite natural that David's shepherds, who had befriended Nabal's man, would be welcome at feasting time. But Nabal, drinking too heavily, cried out contemptuously when he heard of David's request, "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master'' (I Sam. 25:10).
       When word reached Abigail, through one of the workers on the place, that her husband had railed at David's messengers, she listened attentively. This worker, who evidently had confidence in his mistress' sagacity, reminded her that David and his herdsmen had been like a wall of protection to Nabal's herdsmen. And he added that they had come to the house in peace, asking for that to which they were justly entitled. We can be assured that Abigail possessed an innate dignity and had won the respect and faithfulness of the workers in her household.
       Wise woman, too, that she was, she lost no time, for she knew what happened when strong-minded men like David were angered. He was not one to let such an affront go unpunished. She also knew how rashly her husband acted when he was drunk. She wasted no time in lamenting the threatened danger or in making aspersions on her husband's character. Certainly she did not pause to discuss David's anger with her drunken husband.
       Instead she hastily made ready to prepare special foods for David's six hundred men. She asked no advice of anyone but went to work as judiciously and quietly as if she had had months to think over her actions and make preparations for the food. She supervised the baking and packing of two hundred loaves of bread. Also, she had five sheep dressed and five measures of grain parched, and she packed two skins of wine, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs (I Sam. 25:18). Then she had everything loaded on asses and mounted an ass herself. Let us imagine it was a white one, and as she mounted it, she beckoned to her helpers to ride before her with the food. 
       Only a capable and affluent woman could have made ready so much food in such haste. Only a woman of good understanding could have left so quietly, without informing her husband of her actions. If she had, she knew he would demand that she not give away his food to strangers. She knew, too, that the safety of their entire household was at stake.
       As Abigail came down under the cover of the mountain, David and his men rode toward her, and she heard David telling them of her husband's ingratitude and of how he had returned to him evil for good. She overheard David say that by morning all that Nabal possessed and all in his household would be destroyed.
       Abigail, unafraid, hastened toward David and alighted from her ass. In all humility she began to intercede for her husband and apologize for his bad actions. She admitted to David that Nabal was a base fellow and a fool. She then begged David to receive the food she had brought and to forgive her trespasses. She praised David, telling him that evil would not be found in him so long as he lived.
       She also predicted that he would be prince over Israel and that his soul would be "bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God.'' She confirmed that God's word was sure and that God would exalt him. Abigail's supplication to David runs through I Samuel 25:24-31. In not one word do we find her forgetting her own dignity. All of the greatness which she predicted would come to David she attributed to the only source of good, God Himself. And she helped David to know he was the object of God's love and care.      
      What but the unquestioning faith in God could have dictated such a humble petition? In it Abigail typifies woman in her noblest, purest character. Her actions reveal that she was a diplomat of the highest order and that she understood men and had tolerance for their bad behavior.
       When she had finished her mission, she did not loiter. She quickly mounted her ass and wended her way back over the hills. We can imagine that David watched her until she was lost in the distance. He probably had been impressed with her good countenance, and he was not to forget this woman who had brought all of this excellent food to his hungry men. His admiration for her one day would take on a deeper, richer meaning.
       When Abigail arrived home, she found her husband still feasting and drinking. But, wisely, she did not tell him of her journey until morning. When the sober Nabal learned from Abigail how near he had come to being slain by David and his men and what she had done to avoid such an attack, he became violently ill. Ten days later he died. He probably died of apoplexy when he realized the perilous situation in which he had placed himself.
       David, later to learn of Nabal's death, would affectionately remember the woman of good understanding who had come over the mountain on the ass, bringing food to appease his hunger. He was
now free to wed Abigail, and so he sent his servants, telling her that he wanted her to be his wife.
       She was now the petitioned and not the petitioner. She accepted David's invitation for marriage, but it was in humility and self-abasement. To his messengers she said, "Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord'' (I Sam. 25:41). Though Abigail brought to David a rich estate and a new social position, she felt unworthy to become the wife of one whom God had singled out for His work.
       Abigail was just the wife that David needed, for he was willful and tempestuous, while she was humble and gentle. Probably she helped him to learn patience and forbearance and to put aside temptation. She also helped to inspire confidence in him.
       She dwelt with David at Gath and also went with him to Hebron, and there she gave birth to their son, Chileab, also called Daniel. Though little is recorded about Abigail after her marriage to David, we can be sure she was continually exposed to danger from the enmity of Saul and his followers and to captivity from neighboring nations. When the Amalekites captured Ziklag, she was taken captive but was rescued by David after he had defeated the enemy.
       In their years together, David probably said to Abigail many times, as he had said to her when she first rode up to him on the ass, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice‚.'' (I Sam. 25: 32-33).