When the Lord isn’t allowed to rule in our lives, then He steps in and overrules. He saw that David was about to act rashly and foolishly, so He arranged for a wise and courageous woman to stop him.
Abigail’s wise plan (vv. 14–19). When this anonymous young man reported his master’s actions to Abigail, he was serving the Lord whether he knew it or not. He knew he couldn’t talk to Nabal about anything (v. 17), so he immediately went to his mistress, a wise and prudent woman. In those days, the parents arranged marriages for their children, so we aren’t surprised to see a wise woman married to a foolish man. (Alas, it often happens today without the help of parents!) No doubt Abigail’s parents considered it fortunate that their daughter could marry such a wealthy man, and she obeyed their wishes, but her life with Nabal must have been tedious. All her husband was interested in was money, food and drink, and having his own way.
The servant reported how David and his men had protected the shepherds and their flocks, and how Nabal had refused to repay them. Did the young man know that David and his men were on their way to confront Nabal, or did he simply surmise it? Perhaps it was the Lord who gave him a special intuition that trouble was coming. Nabal and his servants were defenseless against David’s 400 men. But if David had succeeded in this venture, it would have given Saul the evidence he needed that David was a dangerous renegade who had to be dealt with drastically.
Abigail put together enough food for David’s men but said nothing to her husband. She was the mistress of the house and could dispose of the family provisions as she saw fit, even to the extent of sharing it with others. Nabal would have opposed her even though she was doing it for his own good. She wasn’t stealing from her husband; she was paying a debt that he refused to pay. In order to save a little money, Nabal was foolishly jeopardizing the lives of everybody in his household, especially his own.
Abigail’s humble apology (vv. 20–35). Only a sovereign Lord could have arranged the timing of David’s attack and Abigail’s approach so that the two bands met. Abigail bowed before David and acknowledged him as her lord and king; in fact, she used the word “lord” fourteen times in her speech. Nabal would not have approved of her words or her actions because he was a follower of Saul and considered David a rebel (v. 10). Abigail was a woman of faith who believed that David was God’s king, and she saw King Saul as only “a man” (v. 29). She quickly confessed that her husband was a “worthless fellow” (v. 25, see v. 17) who lived up to his name—fool, and she explained that she had known nothing about David’s request for food. She accepted the blame for “this iniquity” (vv. 24, 28).
In the rest of her speech, Abigail focused on David and the Lord and not on David and Nabal, and her emphasis was on David’s future. By now David was calming down and starting to realize that he was in the presence of a remarkable woman. She pointed out that the Lord had stopped David from avenging himself, and David admitted this was true (vv. 32–34). Abigail admitted that her husband deserved to be judged, but she wanted the Lord to do it, not the king. In fact, she promised that the Lord would judge all the enemies of the king.
Abigail reminded David that the Lord had given him “a sure house” (“lasting dynasty,” niv), so he didn’t have to fear the future. David was safe, bound in “the bundle of life” by the Lord, but his enemies would be hurled out like the stone David used when he defeated Goliath (see Jer. 10:18). No matter what Saul planned to do to David, the Lord would keep His promises and make David ruler over Israel. Then David would be glad he hadn’t shed blood in order to avenge himself or get to the throne. The Lord would treat David well and he had nothing to fear.
Abigail had only one request for herself: that David would remember her when he came into his kingdom (1 Sam. 25:31). Was this a veiled suggestion of marriage, should Nabal die? Or was Abigail merely looking ahead and seeing herself as a widow who could profit from friendship with the king? Perhaps she was cautioning David to remember her and her advice when he became king so he wouldn’t be tempted to take things into his own hands and forget the will of the Lord. As it turned out, David didn’t wait too long after Nabal’s decease but took her as his wife!
David blessed the Lord for providentially stopping him from killing innocent people, and he also blessed Abigail for her wise advice. David was a smart man to listen to reproof wisely given (Prov. 15:5, 10, 31–33); it’s not likely that Saul would have listened to a woman’s counsel. David wrote in Psalm 141:5, “Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness. And let him reprove me; it shall be as excellent oil; let my head not refuse it” (nkjv). How we receive reproof and counsel is a test of our relationship to the Lord and our willingness to live by His Word. David admitted that he was wrong, the Lord forgave him, and the Lord worked out the problem for him.
Abigail’s unexpected marriage (vv. 36–44). Nabal is feasting when judgment is just around the corner! He didn’t stop to thank God for the blessings He had sent to him, or even to consider that these blessings came because of his wife’s faith and in spite of his own meanness. Nabal’s idea of happiness wasn’t to praise God or feed the hungry, but to eat to the full and get drunk. Nabal made no profession of faith in the Lord but was like the people Paul described: “whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things” (Phil. 3: nkjv).
Wisely, Abigail waited to tell her husband what she had done. The news so stunned Nabal that he experienced a stroke and lay helpless for ten days, and then the Lord took his life. What caused the stroke? Was it pride and anger on learning that his wife had dared to help David without his permission? Or was it shock in realizing the danger he had been in and how close he and his household had come to being slain? What if Saul heard that Abigail had befriended David? The king might consider Nabal an enemy and punish him accordingly. Whether one or all of these considerations caused Nabal’s paralysis, it was the Lord who ultimately took his life. Sad to say, he died as he had lived—a fool.
When David heard the news of Nabal’s death, he praised the Lord for avenging him and preventing him from doing it himself. David’s concern was the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. Abigail certainly must have been pleased to be set free from the yoke of such a wicked man, a man she probably married against her will. David had been so impressed with her character and wisdom that he thought she would make a good queen, so he sent messengers to ask for her hand in marriage. It was an opportunity no woman would refuse, and she submitted to her king and even offered to wash his feet! In marrying Abigail, David not only acquired a good wife, but he also got possession of all of Nabal’s wealth and property, which was situated near Hebron where David later established his royal residence (2 Sam. 2:1–4; 5:5). He had already taken Ahinoam as his wife, since she is always named before Abigail (27:3; 30:5; 2 Sam. 2:2). She was the mother of David’s firstborn son, Amnon, and Abigail bore him Kileab, also named Daniel (1 Chron. 3:2).
But what about David’s first wife, Michal, Saul’s daughter, who had helped to save David’s life? After David fled from home, Saul gave her to another man, probably using the alliance as a means to strengthen his own position and to break David’s connection with the throne. There was no legal divorce, so Saul forced Michal into an adulterous relationship. When David was reigning over the tribe of Judah in Hebron, he demanded that Michal be returned to him (2 Sam. 3:13–16). However, Michal didn’t remain a loving wife and probably resented David’s taking her father’s throne. She died childless (6:16–23).