Abigail
“Father of joy or source of joy”
Summary
The wise and beautiful wife of Nabal who averted David's wrath and later became his wife, and also the name of David's sister.
☩Wife of Nabal
Abigail was the wife of Nabal, a wealthy but churlish sheep-master in the district of Carmel near the Dead Sea. When David's messengers requested provisions in return for the protection David's men had given Nabal's flocks, Nabal insulted them and sent them away empty-handed. David, enraged, set out with four hundred men to destroy Nabal and all his household. Abigail, learning of the danger, quickly gathered provisions—bread, wine, sheep, grain, raisins, and fig cakes—and rode out to meet David without telling her husband.
☩Averting David's Wrath
When Abigail met David, she dismounted and bowed before him, taking the blame upon herself and pleading for mercy. Her speech demonstrated remarkable faith: she acknowledged David as one whom the Lord would establish, spoke of his life as 'bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God,' and urged him not to stain his hands with blood or take vengeance into his own hands. David blessed her for her good judgment, acknowledging that she had kept him from bloodguilt. When Nabal learned what had happened, he suffered what appears to have been a stroke and died ten days later.
☩Marriage to David
After Nabal's death, David sent messengers proposing marriage, and Abigail humbly accepted, saying she would be a servant to wash the feet of David's servants. She accompanied David in all his wanderings, including his exile in Philistine territory, and was captured by the Amalekites at Ziklag but rescued by David. She bore David a son named Chileab (also called Daniel).
Related Verses19 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Abigail," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Abigail; Abigal," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Abigail," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).