David and Abigail

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

1 Samuel 25:32-35

32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!
34 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.”
35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

At the beginning of the chapter, Samuel had passed from this earth. And David arose. He arose, but not in the manner that placed him in a good light. He appeared vengeful, spiteful and angry over a rebuff from a fool. Yes he deserved some payment for the protection, for his men had provided for Nabal’s servants, but this reaction of strapping on swords and taking 400 men with him to kill everyone in Nabal’s house – well that just seems wrong! So wrong!

And David was going to shed blood! A lot of blood! Until a woman of wealth came to divert him from the path of destruction he was on.

Consider – If he had continued on to massacre the household of Nabal, how could his kingdom be established in righteousness? Also, this act of murder would provide Saul all the more impetus (or at least excuse) to hunt him down as a criminal within the kingdom.

Truly this act, if had come to an end with blood dripping from his sword, would have seriously impacted the future kingdom of Israel. David would have a stain on his person before his inauguration, with this massacre always overshadowing him.

But David met this woman, and he and his army were stopped short. David appears to have taken the time to understand Abigail, abandoned his anger fueled march on Nabal, and began to listen to a woman with some gifts.

And God spoke to David.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel

David immediately understood the error of his ways and praised God, the God of Israel. Of course he would hear the voice of God in her message, for she spoke humbly, accepting blame and elevating God in her argument to restrain him and his forces. She aligned David with the Lord and His battles, implying possibly a question as to this future battle (with Nabal) and how it relates to God’s mission for him and the nation he would rule over.

Blessed be your discretion

David goes on to bless Abigail’s discretion. Now in my mind, when the term discretion comes up in a conversation, I think of carefully handling an embarrassing history someone in the group may have. To show discretion is to show wisdom in revealing a truth. Some truths, when revealed, are only painful, cause division and force an alternate reaction to a situation.

So was Abigail being described as discrete by David in hopes that this story would not be “blabbed about” by her? Is the discretion mentioned by David evident in her communication when they first met?

That is for my reader to consider, but in some of the message she brought to David, her discussion on her husband was not very discrete. Calling your husband a fool, even if true, would not be considered discrete in my mind. She may have revealed a bit of a tendency to speak her mind without discretion previously, and David may be speaking to her in an “advisory” manner.

Blessed be you

David, in the end, knew she saved him from a terrible mistake. She brought not only wisdom, but the food that was needed by his troops.

Eventually, she would be blessed by joining the royal family.

As I close on this passage, I can’t help but refer to the ending of verse 33, where David restates Abigail’s intentions on meeting him

33 …who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!

Back in our last post, in verse 31, Abigail spoke of her intent in coming to David as preventing his personal harm.

Abigail spoke to David, wishing him to “have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself”

Working salvation for himself. When I hear that in this context, as I mentioned in the earlier post, all I hear is revenge! David was seeking revenge on Nabal.

Now of course this may be since I have been considering the topic of revenge in previous posts, yet it fits in this discourse between two saints.

For David to listen to a woman of Israel speaks well of him, for he was willing to listen, to repent and to obey a woman!

Woah Carl – the future king of Israel obeyed a woman? This is going a bit far. Yet if the messenger carries truth, the messenger, though a woman or a man, (or a donkey) is of no consequence. David admitted to the truth, and confessed this to Abigail.

David said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

Truth will be recognized by the saint willing to hear.

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