In the rugged hills of Maon, where the wilderness stretched vast and untamed, there lived a wealthy man named Nabal. His name, fittingly, meant “fool,” for his actions often reflected a heart hardened by pride and greed. Nabal was a man of great possessions—three thousand sheep and a thousand goats grazed on the fertile slopes of Carmel. His wealth was matched only by his surly and mean-spirited nature. His wife, Abigail, however, was a woman of remarkable intelligence and beauty, a stark contrast to her husband’s folly. She was wise, discerning, and kind, a beacon of grace in a household darkened by Nabal’s arrogance.
During this time, David, the anointed future king of Israel, was on the run from King Saul, who sought to kill him out of jealousy and fear. David and his band of six hundred men had taken refuge in the wilderness, living off the land and protecting the shepherds and flocks of the region from marauders and thieves. They had become like a shield to the shepherds of Nabal, ensuring that none of his flocks were stolen or harmed. David and his men had shown kindness and integrity, asking nothing in return.
As the season of shearing approached, a time of celebration and feasting for shepherds and flock owners, David decided to send messengers to Nabal. He instructed ten young men to go to Carmel and greet Nabal in his name. They were to remind Nabal of the protection David’s men had provided and to request provisions for the feast. David’s request was humble and reasonable: “Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.”
The messengers delivered David’s words faithfully, but Nabal’s response was as harsh and foolish as his name. He sneered at the young men and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” Nabal’s words were not only dismissive but also insulting, as if David and his men were nothing more than runaway slaves.
When the young men returned to David and reported Nabal’s response, David’s anger burned within him. He said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And they did so. David himself strapped on his sword, and about four hundred men went up with him, while two hundred remained with the supplies. David’s heart was set on vengeance. He vowed, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”
Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young servants, seeing the danger that was about to descend upon the household, ran to Abigail. The servant said to her, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”
Abigail, wise and quick to act, did not delay. She gathered two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already prepared, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys and said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
As Abigail rode down the mountain path, she met David and his men descending with swords drawn, their faces set like flint. David was muttering to himself, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good.”
When Abigail saw David, she hurriedly dismounted from her donkey and fell on her face before him, bowing to the ground. She pleaded, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking vengeance himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
David’s heart was moved by Abigail’s words. He said to her, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
Abigail returned to her home, where she found Nabal holding a feast fit for a king. He was drunk and merry, oblivious to the danger that had been averted by his wife’s wisdom. Abigail waited until the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, and then she told him all that had happened. When Nabal heard the news, his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. When Abigail heard this, she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” And she hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. But Saul had given Michal, David’s first wife and Saul’s daughter, to another man, Palti the son of Laish.
Thus, the story of Nabal and Abigail serves as a testament to the wisdom of God, who uses the discerning and the humble to avert disaster and fulfill His purposes. Abigail’s quick thinking and faithfulness not only saved her household but also positioned her to become the wife of the future king of Israel. And David, though tempted to take vengeance into his own hands, was restrained by the Lord’s intervention, a reminder that the battles of the Lord are not won by human strength but by divine wisdom and grace.
