Sunday, May 22, 2022

The First Book Of Samuel. Day 74, Abigail Saves The Day, Part One

The wicked Nabal treated David and his men cruelly in return for their goodness toward his shepherds and sheep. In retaliation, David and his men are about to go and kill Nabal and every man of his family and household. Word of this impending slaughter reaches Abigail, Nabal's wife, and she intervenes. 

"One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, 'David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.'" (1 Samuel 25:14-17) The servant's words sound a bit presumptuous when he says to his master's wife that his master is an evil man, but the truth is the truth and there's no time to waste and no use sugarcoating anything. Abigail, more than anyone, knows her husband is a wicked man. She and the servants have had to endure his verbal abuse and his hot temper for years. They've witnessed his shrewd and cold-hearted business dealings. They've been the victims of his penny-pinching ways and have done without many of the little comforts his stinginess has kept them from enjoying. The servant knows he can speak freely to Abigail and he does so.

David's reaction to Nabal's inhospitable behavior is out of proportion to what has actually taken place. He's enraged because his pride is wounded from having been disrespected in front of the six hundred men who are under his command. He's offended for the sake of the men and their families for whom he is responsible. These men diligently protected Nabal's shepherds and sheep from the invading Philistines and from roving bands of robbers, asking nothing from them and taking nothing from them, and all they wanted in return was some bread and water during sheep-shearing time which is a time when wealthy flock owners are more than generous to everyone around them. But wounded pride and hurt feelings are no reason to kill a man and all his family. Abigail will prevent David from doing something in anger that he would regret for the rest of his life. 

"Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants, 'Go on ahead; I'll follow you.' But she did not tell her husband Nabal. As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. David had just said, 'It's been useless---all my watching over this fellow's property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!'" (1 Samuel 25:18-22) The fact that so much pre-cooked food is readily at hand proves how wealthy Nabal is. It also underscores how inhospitable he is. He could easily have spared the food David asked for without even missing it.

Some scholars find fault with Abigail for packing up these supplies and taking off to meet David without telling her husband. They say she isn't being a godly wife, and isn't respecting her husband as the Scriptures command, because she takes food to David while knowing Nabal doesn't want David and his men to be given any supplies. But I disagree. First of all, it's already been established that it's pointless to try to talk to Nabal. He would have said no to any request she made on behalf of David, almost certainly heaping verbal abuse on her for daring to even ask---and worse yet, maybe physically abusing her as well. Even knowing his life is being threatened would have had no effect on him, in my opinion. His pride would not allow him to apologize and relent; he would instead have ordered all his male relatives and all his servants to arm themselves to fight back. This would be a losing battle because his servants are shepherds, not battle-experienced warriors like David and his men. His male relatives are probably wealthy landowners like he is, men who have grown soft from easy living, and are unlikely to be able to effectively wield swords. Abigail is trying to save the lives of many innocent people and even the life of the hateful Nabal. Because she is trying to save lives, she does what must be done even if it appears deceptive or disobedient to some scholars. As we've discussed before, there are a number of incidents in the Bible in which someone tells a lie or behaves deceptively in order to save their life or someone else's life. Even though Abigail is doing something her husband wouldn't allow her to do if he knew about it, she's doing it to save lives and this justifies her secretive behavior.

She meets up with David just as he's angrily vowing in the name of the Lord to kill every male connected to Nabal in any way. David won't keep this vow and shouldn't keep this vow. An oath made in the name of the Lord is serious business but is breakable when the oath is something that contradicts the word of God. David is proposing to kill a number of innocent people who had no part in what Nabal did. This is murder and murder is sin. The Lord doesn't expect or want him to do such a thing, no matter what kind of vow his lips may have uttered. The same goes for promises you and I may make: if they are not in alignment with the Lord's will, we are not bound by our oaths. We can and must break any promises that are sinful. The main thing to take away from this is not to make rash promises at all. We should think very carefully before vowing to do this thing or that thing. If we want to be considered men and women of our word, our every promise should be thoughtfully considered in the light of God's word and in the right attitude. That way we won't be making foolish vows in times of heightened emotions. David is in the wrong for making a murderous vow in the name of the Lord, and the Lord is displeased with having His name used in this manner, but the Lord doesn't expect or want him to keep the vow and mercifully sends someone to prevent him from keeping it.

"When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: 'Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 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. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.'" (1 Samuel 25:23-27) She says, "If only the men had made their request of me and not of my husband, you would have had all the supplies you needed and more. Please excuse Nabal's abominable behavior. Don't take it personally; this is how he treats everyone, not just you and your men. He's not a nice person and he makes bad choices but don't hold that against the whole family and all the servants. No one is to blame for Nabal's folly but Nabal himself. Please accept these supplies as my apology for how you were treated. I and the other members of the household are not in agreement with how Nabal behaved, so let your wrath be turned away from us."

In tomorrow's passage she will reveal that she understands David is to be the next king of Israel and that, as such, he must set a godly example for the nation. She will help him to see that he doesn't want to gain a reputation as an angry and violent man. Killing a whole family and and its servants is something a man like King Saul would do, not something that fits the character of King David. David will be grateful to her for preventing him from making a mistake he would never have forgiven himself for making.






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