1 Samuel 25:17

New Living Translation

You need to know this and figure out what to do, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family. He’s so ill-tempered that no one can even talk to him!”

For Meditation

Think about this. 

The woman was suffering from a terrible marriage. No one knows how an intelligent and beautiful woman like Abigail got hooked up with a horrible man like Nabal. But there she was, buried under the authority of an unfriendly and mean husband, whose name means foolish. 

Maybe the wealth of Nabal had something to do with the marital arrangement, which usually was the responsibility of parents in that culture and time. Whatever the circumstance of their wedding, Abigail endured the unequal yoking.   

To know the extent of her suffering in her marriage, listen to how Abigail described Nabal to David.

“Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him.”

Then, like Joseph to the chief Cupbearer of Pharaoh, Abigail added: “When [God] has done these great things for you, [David], please remember me, your servant! (1 Sam. 25:25-31).

Can you sense her pain and desire for an escape in her plea? What woman in that condition will not take any opportunity to free herself from it?  

I am amazed then why Abigail did not just sit back and allow David to do what he had planned to do—kill all the males in their home. That would have removed Nabal and freed her as a bird escaping from its entrapment. 

Her reaction to the report by the servant is classic Abigail. She lost no time strategizing to block the impending carnage from David. Every piece of her plan testified to her intelligence and beauty—both outer and inner. 

First were the male servants in her service. They were innocent of her Nabal’s uncaring and nasty response to the messengers from David. Abigail cared too much for others to allow that to happen.

Second, though she wanted an escape hatch from the marriage, that was not the way she wanted it to be. Nabal was a human being whose life was as important as any other human being. After all, he was still her husband. 

Finally, knowing the story of David with King Saul, Abigail may have reasoned that God would take care of her situation and free her from the marriage. Her patience and beautiful heart paid off. God took care of Nabal in His time and placed Abigail in the bosom of the future king of Israel.

What a woman!

The story of Abigail reinforces one great truth in life. Inner beauty always trumps adversity and brings the desired goal. 

Do you have it?