For the first “episode” I wrote about, see Soap Opera in the Bible. In this one today, we’re in 1 Samuel 25.
In context, David had been running away from Saul, who had been trying to kill David out of fear and jealousy. While traveling around in hiding, some men ended up following David and he became their leader. They all traveled around as sort of a militia, sometimes helping people as they went. In chapter 24 we see that David and Saul finally ended up confronting each other and finding some peace, but they still didn’t trust each other. As we get to chapter 25, we meet a man named Nabal, whose name literally means “stupid, wicked, dolt, and fool.” Throughout this chapter we find out that – surprise! – this man is an absolute displeasure to be around. He has a wife who is the complete opposite, a true joy to be around, and her name is Abigail, which means “source of joy.” David and his men have been around the shepherds of Nabal for a while, keeping them safe as they kept Nabal’s sheep in the surrounding land.
The time has come for sheep-shearing, and David sends a few men to Nabal to politely let him know how David and his men have been with the shepherds, and what they’ve been doing the whole time. David has the men tell Nabal that he can ask the shepherds himself what’s been going on, and then has them ask if Nabal might have a little something he can offer in return, since it does take a lot out of you to be traveling around as a band of men who haven’t been home in a while, and he had been doing Nabal a favor.
Nabal sarcastically pretends not to know who David is, if I’m reading correctly. He then implies David is merely a servant who has broken away from his master. Nabal makes it very clear he has no intentions of taking his food for his servants to give to David and his men, especially since he “doesn’t know” where they’re from.
Nabal is so harsh about it that when the men come back to notify David, David becomes incredibly angry. He put all this work into helping someone, and now not only does he not even get a “thank you,” he is also being harshly turned away as if he was nothing. David figures he’ll just get his sword ready, and marches off to “fix” that problem. Four hundred of his men go with him, and two hundred men stay behind to watch the camp and baggage.
Meanwhile, one of the young men goes to let Abigail know how Nabal had badly told off David and his men. As the KJV puts it, Nabal had “railed on them.” The young man tells Abigail how very helpful David and his men had been, and that bad things are about to happen if something isn’t done. The way the young man spoke, maybe either someone had tried to talk to Nabal about it, or no one was going to bother trying since Nabal was such a horrible person. Maybe he was just highlighting how badly Nabal had told off David and his men so Abigail would know just how bad the situation was.
Abigail knows exactly what to do, and she doesn’t tell her husband, which seems like a good idea given the circumstances. She tells the servants to help her get some food together, and she goes personally with those servants to deliver the food to David while he is on his way. Here we read a little more about how angry David has been: David has every intention to kill.
Upon seeing David, Abigail hurries to meet him. She gets off her donkey and drops to the ground on her face in a deep bow to him, apologizing for the harsh treatment he and his men had received. She asks David not to regard Nabal, who is as bad as his name implies, and says she hadn’t known about the men David had sent. She tells David that God has kept him from coming to shed blood and avenging himself with his own hand, asks him to accept the gift of food she has brought, and then begs forgiveness as if she herself had committed the offense to David. As Abigail speaks, she talks about David’s past and uses words familiar to him. She also gives some advice, saying that when David becomes king, it would be best that he not have the stain of this causeless vengeance on his reputation.
David listens to Abigail, and his rage is appeased. He blesses God for sending Abigail to stop him, and blesses Abigail for her advice. He knows she is right; he shouldn’t be coming out here to avenge himself like this. He accepts the food gift, and tells her to go back home in peace.
After Abigail gets home and goes to talk with Nabal, she finds he is having a big party. He is very drunk, so she decides not to tell him anything until the morning. Once morning comes and the wine has worn off, Abigail tells Nabal what had happened. Upon hearing it, Nabal’s heart dies in him, and he becomes like a stone. Depending on the translation, it seems Nabal had a stroke and was paralyzed. About 10 days later, Nabal dies of a smite from God.
When David hears about Nabal’s death, he blesses God for taking vengeance on his behalf instead of letting him make a bad decision about it himself. He then reaches out to Abigail and arranges for her to be his wife. Whether that was out of love, pity, or something else, I’m not sure, but it was certainly a much better arrangement for her than what she’d just had. When Abigail hears the request, she bows on the ground again and humbly speaks about washing David’s servants’ feet. She takes five of her young ladies with her when she goes with the messengers to meet David again, soon becoming his wife.
There could be a love story between David and Abigail, or it could just be an arrangement for her benefit in a culture where women needed the shelter and safety net of a father, brother, or husband. Either way, don’t ever let anyone tell you the Bible is boring. There is so much drama throughout it! All the drama really highlights the love and patience God has when working with people.