Abigail — The Woman Who Combined Beauty and Tact

And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which hath sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood (I Sam. 25:32, 33).

   Abigail is described as "a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance" (I Sam. 25:3). This is an unbeatable combination. Often beauty is combined with foolishness, or lightness, while wisdom proverbially is found in the homely, such as Socrates or Lincoln. But for both beauty and wisdom to be combined in one person is an unusual circumstance.

   Our attention is called to Abigail in the midst of the story of David's wanderings as an outlaw. David was anointed to be king of Israel when God rejected Saul because of his disobedience in regard to the Amalekites. God commanded Saul to exterminate this people because of the way in which they had harassed the Israelites in their journeys from Egypt to Canaan and had smitten or captured the stragglers of the people. The Amalekites had openly fought against Israel and had been defeated. They also were composed of a degenerate and corrupt people. It is difficult for us, in the light of the New Testament and of modern humanitarianism, to understand how God could command the destruction of a whole people. Nevertheless, this is the direct teaching of the Old Testament and we are to accept it at its face value. It is a revelation of an attribute

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of God which has been overlooked in modern theology and in modern Christian thinking.

   Saul, instead of fulfilling God's commandment, spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen and the fatlings of the lambs in order that he might sacrifice them unto the Lord, and he destroyed everything which was vile and refuse. He also took alive Agag of the Amalekites. Because of this, Samuel, the judge of Israel, said, "Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? ... Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king" (I Sam. 15:19, 22, 23). After this, Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, but he mourned for Saul.

   Then it was that the Lord sent Samuel to anoint David, the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite whom he had chosen to be king. As Jesse caused his sons to pass before Samuel, God said unto Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (I Sam. 16:7). After seven of Jesse's sons had passed by and had been rejected, Samuel said, "Are here all thy children?" And Jesse said, "There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep." Samuel commanded that he be sent for and when he came he was of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look upon, so Samuel arose and anointed him to be king of Israel. From that day, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David and the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.

   Henceforth, David was marked to be king. In the providential circumstances, he was chosen to be the harpist at Saul's court where he soothed the spirit of Saul when he became disturbed internally and mentally over the prophecy of his loss of

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the kingdom. In due time, David had his contest with Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, and defeated him, thus gaining the attention of all Israel and having songs sung of him which praised him more than Saul. Immediately, David won the friendship of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and made with him a life covenant. He also won the love of Saul's daughter Michal and in due season became her husband. All these things raised the jealousy of Saul and stirred his antagonism. Because of his mental derangement, Saul attempted to kill David out of jealousy and David had to flee for his life. Though no evil could be found in him, he became an outlaw.

   David's experiences as an outlaw reveal many trials to his faith. He was always but a step from death. Saul's men were pursuing him wherever he went and often the local people betrayed his whereabouts when he was hiding from Saul's army. Once in unbelief he departed from Israel and lived with the Philistines only to be compelled to lie in order to protect his own life and the lives of those who followed him. In all this, David's attitude toward God was revealed in the fact that he refused to kill Saul when Saul fell into his grasp on two occasions and he referred his cause unto the Lord as the God of vengeance and as the disposer of all events.

THE CONDITIONS CALLING FOR PRUDENCE

   In the midst of David's wanderings, as he kept himself hidden from Saul and Saul's army, he and his 600 men abode in the wilderness of Paran. This was located in the rugged and forbidding mountains near unto Sinai in the southern peninsula east of the Sea of Akaba. To find David here would be like hunting for a partridge in the mountains. All Israel, including Abigail and Nabal, a wealthy sheep owner, knew of the situation between Saul and David. They also knew that David was not an outlaw in the common meaning of that term namely, a violator of a nation's laws and a predator upon the property and possessions of peaceful citizens; rather, he was a protector of the poor and the exploited and the tyrannized. In fact, whenever an individual suffered injustice in the nation,

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as was common under the kingship of Saul, he fled and joined up with the band of men around David. David had to move his father and mother to Mizpah of Moab and committed them to the keeping of the king of Moab until he should see how conditions went with him (I Sam. 22:3, 4). Then, with his band of men, he dwelt in the wilderness of Engedi for a season, in the wilderness of Paran for a season, with the Philistines for a season, but always he attempted to protect and to defend the people of Israel and especially the poor. There is a very real parallel here between the actions of David during his years as an outlaw and the legendary actions of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest of England. During the absence of Richard, king of England, the rulership of the realm was turned over to Prince John who attempted to establish himself as the permanent king of England and to exterminate the friends and supporters of his brother Richard. According to the legend, Robin Hood was one of these lords who was faithful to Richard but took to the forest where there gathered to him the exploited, the tyrannized and the victims of injustice of Prince John. He, too, protected the poor and attempted to rally sentiment for the true king of the land. By interpreting the acts of David during this season in the light of the legend of Robin Hood, we might understand it better.

   In this background we are to recognize that the man Nabal, who had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats that grazed in this southern section of the Negeb near unto the wilderness of Paran, was in constant peril of loss of his possessions. He was in no peril from David and his men, but he was from beasts of the wilderness and also from robbers. His own servants testified of David and his men, saying, "The men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: they were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep" (I Sam. 25:1, 16). David himself testified in sending greetings to Nabal, "Now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the

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while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee." Here was a dual testimony to the beneficent actions of David and his men in reference to any Israelite who had possessions in the area in which he took refuge from the armies of Saul.

   It was necessary, however, for David and his men to live and the time came when Nabal was to shear his three thousand sheep and his thousand goats, which was the source of his income and which had made him wealthy. At this time, Nabal had held a feast for his friends and his servants which was like the feast of a king (I Sam. 25:36). Quite properly, David, for the service which he had performed, sent an embassage of ten young men to Nabal to request whatever good thing Nabal should desire to give unto him and to his men for their sustenance. The principle involved here was that stated by Paul in I Corinthians and quoted from the Old Testament when he said, "Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn" (I Cor. 9:9). The meaning is that if one serves, he should participate in the fruit of his service. If he labors, he should participate in the fruit of his labors. It was quite a legitimate thing for David to expect a gift from Nabal in recognition of his services and also of his need. The contrast here between asking and taking, or thieving, is definite. David had attempted to serve and now expected his reward.

   Our text tells us that Nabal was churlish and evil in his doings. This is a rather strange comment because he was of the "house of Caleb" and the house of Caleb was noted for its perfect obedience of the Lord, for its leadership of the tribes of Israel during the period of the judges, and for its righteousness. But here, of the tribe of Caleb, was a man who was a fool. He was churlish in his spirit and he gave an insulting reply unto David. He answered David's men by saying, "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. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men; whom I know not whence they be?" (I Sam. 25:10, 11). With this answer

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David's ten young men went their way and carried their message to David.

   What a case of folly this was! As Nabal's name, so his action. Nabal means folly and he was foolish in what he did. What man who is exposed to the depredations of a band of 600 hard-pressed and hungry outlaws would reject a moderate request for food in the light of service which had been performed for the man? David was in a position to do harm to Nabal at that time just as he could have done harm unto his flocks and herds all the time that he watched over them in the wilderness. Any man of normal judgment and sense of values would recognize that the prudent thing would have been to have made a gift unto David and his men and thanked them for their services. When the report of the embassage came to David, his indignation was stirred and he was full of wrath. He gave the command, "Gird ye on every man his sword," and, at the head of a band of 400, leaving 200 to abide by the stuff, David started to take vengeance upon Nabal and his household. His intention was stated unto Abigail when she met him. He said, "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. So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light."

   There are certain ethical questions that arise in the Old Testament which do not seem to be reconcilable with the New Testament way of life for a believer. We find occasions when individuals like David, who for the sake of preserving their own lives, lie. Such were David's words unto Ahimelech, the priest, when he fled from Saul (I Sam. 21:2). Another illustration is that of making a foray against one's enemies and killing them and taking their stuff as a spoil. Such was David's activity when he raided the Geshurites and then lied about it to Achish the king of Gath (I Sam. 27:8 - 12). Another illustration is that of the violation of the creation ordinance of monogamy. Men of the Old Testament often had more than one wife.

   The best we can do in explaining these Old Testament

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ethical problems is to evaluate and judge them in the light of the times in which they occurred and of the practices of those times. The Old Testament saints who transgressed the permanent and ultimate standard of morality of the Bible did so because of the limitation of revelation and because of the age in which they lived.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PRUDENCE

   Prudence is a gift of understanding in a situation and acting in accordance with it. Abigail, the wife of Nabal, was informed of Nabal's action to the embassage of David by one of the young shepherds who worked for Nabal. When he concluded his report he said, "For [Nabal] is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him." He warned Abigail that harm was impending to not only Nabal but his whole household from David because of Nabal's action. In a moment Abigail grasped the situation. She evaluated it correctly and determined to act to avert disaster to her household. With haste, she prepared a magnificent offering to David and to his men of bread, of wine, of sheep, of corn, of clusters of raisins, of cakes of figs, so that David and his men could also have a bounty fit for a king. With this laded upon donkeys, she made her way speedily toward the direction from which David and his men should come and she told not her husband. Abigail's understanding of the obligation of Nabal, of the peril in which the household lay, and of the way in which this peril could be averted, was most commendatory.

   Prudence is conciliatory action. Abigail not only took her offering to demonstrate the attitude of her mind toward David, but she also went herself and determined she would conciliate David by an apology for Nabal, by a correct assessment of Nabal's character, and by a plea unto him to commit his way unto the Lord and not take it into his own hands. Had Abigail not taken action and had waited for David and his men to come unto Nabal's household, it would have been too late.

    Prudence is also a humility of attitude. When Abigail saw David, she got down from the donkey, fell on the ground on

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her face before David, did obeisance to him and then made her plea. There was no claiming of position, there was no castigation of David as an outlaw, there was no folly on her part. She recognized that she was a suppliant, that her life and the existence of her household depended upon the mercy which David would display. But she did say that she knew nothing of the coming of the messengers nor of their departure without goods and she offered the offering which she had brought as a magnificent evidence for her good will toward David.

   Prudence is also wisdom of counsel. In Abigail's plea she pointed out unto David that God had restrained him from avenging himself and shedding blood, thus from corrupting his record in Israel. He was known as the great protector of the poor and had he exterminated Nabal's household, he would have lost this position among the people. She also reminded him that the believer should commit his way unto God, that God is the great avenger. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Therefore, she told David that he should praise the Lord that He had kept him from avenging himself with his own hands and she pointed out that the Lord will certainly care for him because his life was as a bundle of life bound up with the life of God and that God would take care of his enemies. Abigail actually expressed David's own convictions and described the way David had lived up until that point and her counsel was recognized by David as coming from the Lord.

   In this we may get a glimpse of what a woman may do for a man in being a wise counselor or being a prudent wife. Many a man has found that a woman has expressed his own convictions, restrained him from violating them and confirmed them in his determination to do the will of God.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF PRUDENCE

David accepted the counsel of Abigail. He said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast

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kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand." David recognized the wisdom, the understanding and the righteousness of Abigail's counsel. Here was a woman who spoke as a prophetess of the Lord.

   Abigail's person was also admired. Incidentally, as David recognized what Abigail had done and the wisdom which had motivated her action, his eyes were not closed to her beauty and the comeliness of her person. This was evidenced from the fact that as soon as Nabal had been smitten by the Lord with a disease which took his life and the word came to David, he remembered Abigail and sent to take her as his wife. The fact that at the meeting David received of her hand that which she brought him and sent her away in peace and said, "I... have accepted thy person" was an assurance unto Abigail.

   Abigail's life then was identified with the life of David. When he sent to take her as his wife, he was still an outlaw. They which sought his life would seek her life. Her situation would depend entirely upon the situation of David, thus she was in safeguard with him. As a result, she and the other members of David's party of 600 who were not armed men were captured at Ziklag and taken into captivity only to be rescued by David and his four hundred. Later, when David was accepted as the king of Judah at Hebron, Abigail became the queen and later yet she became the mother of Chileab, his second born son. Her life was the fruit of truth.

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