Abigail: Beautiful, Intelligent, Wise, Prudent … and Honored by God … Lesson 2

Abigail:  Beautiful, Intelligent, Wise, Prudent … and Honored by God … Lesson 2

By Patsy Norwood © 2025  All Rights Reserved!  Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited!

I Samuel 25: 1 – 42; 27:3; 30: 1-18; II Samuel 2: 2-3; 3:3; 17:25; I Chronicles 2:16-17; 3:1

Did you enjoy the first lesson in our study on Abigail, it was a lot to get fixed in our minds wasn’t it?  Last week’s lesson gets us ready for some really big developments this week, so if you haven’t read it, please go back and do so.  Things will make so much more sense if you do.

We’re going to pick up with verses 4 - 8 in I Samuel 25 …  (Get ready, there’s a lot to unpack in these verses as well.)

4 When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6 And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! 7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. 8 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 comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.”

As mentioned in last week’s lesson, David had a band of men that rode with/followed him (David’s Mighty Men), and he chose 10 of them to go to Carmel to Nabal, greet him in his name and request provisions for he and his men.

It seems probable that David on the run from Saul had difficulty providing food for his men.  Hence, it makes sense that David would ask for provisions from Nabal as the result of the protection of his flocks that had been given by David and his men … even if Nabal had not asked for the protection. 

On the surface it’s easy to think that David was being a bit presumptuous, but let’s dig deeper, this is where understanding the culture of the time is helpful …

Here’s what Coffman’s commentary has to say on these verses …

“To some people of our generation, it might appear that David’s method of supporting his small army was an illegal ‘protection racket.’  But the situation mentioned here was not that at all. David’s expectations of supplies from Nabal were fully justified according to the customs and standards of that time and circumstance.  …. Nabal’s vast flocks of sheep and goats would doubtless have been confiscated by roving bands of outlaws had it not been for David’s protection.  After all, we learned in chapter 23 that such marauders even attacked walled towns (Keilah); and without David’s wall of protection around Nabal’s flocks, there can be little doubt that Nabal’s flocks would have been taken away from him.

Hmmm …

Sounds like Nabal should have been more than eager and willing to help David and his men, but instead, we find Nabal’s true colors showing in I Samuel 25: 9-13 …

9 So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.  10 Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?”  12 So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. 13 Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.

Well, well, well … it looks like Nabal has met his match!

Let’s outline these verses:

Verse 9:  David’s men relay David’s message to Nabal and wait for his reply.

Verses 10 - 11:  Nabal degrades and insults David’s men … along with refusing to give them any provisions.  He all but calls them riffraff and even likens David to a run-away servant and then the final straw is strown, he lets them know unequivocally that they will get nothing from him … not even a drink of water!

Verse 12: David’s men report back to him all that Nabal had said.  The humiliation and anger these men felt must have been sensed by David and his own anger formed and grew.

Verse 13:  David prepares himself and 400 of his men for battle … in David’s mind this insult and degradation must be answered.  David is ANGRY!  He wants to strike back at Nabal and sets into motion steps to do just that.  How many times do we let our feelings and emotions cause us to strike back.  We have no record of David consulting God, he just sprang into action, he acted on his anger … on what he was feeling.  This is a dangerous state of mind for David and his men to be in especially with their intended purpose before them.

What was their purpose?  It was to kill and wipe out Nabal and every male in his household!

Are you hanging on by a thread?  Does the anticipation have you on the edge of your seat?  I hope so …

Next week we’re going to see Abigail spring into action … can she keep this slaughter from taking place?  Meet me back here next week and we’ll find out!

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Several trusted and biblically sound online sources

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley 

Abigail: Beautiful, Intelligent, Wise, Prudent … and Honored by God … Lesson 1

By Patsy Norwood © 2025  All Rights Reserved!  Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited!

I Samuel 25: 1 – 42; 27:3; 30: 1-18; II Samuel 2: 2-3; 3:3; 17:25; I Chronicles 2:16-17; 3:1

We could also add hospitable, risk-taker, wife, mother, brave, courageous, faithful, generous, humble, discerning and submissive to Abigail’s virtues.  That’s quite a description isn’t it and I can’t wait to share with you all the things I’ve learned about this woman of God.

But … I hate it when there’s a ‘but’ don’t you … but she was married to a man who was foolish, evil, wealthy, stubborn, selfish, full of himself, prideful and greedy.  In short, her husband was a scoundrel!

Have I piqued your interest, I hope so because the more I studied this woman, the more I wanted to learn.  God’s word is that way, isn’t it?  The more we study it the more we want to study it and oh, the strengthening of our faith and relationship with God that comes with spending time in His word, it is such a blessing!

Are you ready?  Let’s drop in on Abigail and the circumstances surrounding this glimpse of her life starting in I Samuel 25: 1 with a bit of background information …

Verse 1: Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. 

Samuel: faithful, performer of priestly duties, God-honoring, prophet, and the last of the judges, dies.  Israel was heart-broken and gathered publicly to mourn him.  They ‘lamented’ for him.  I went to a Greek Lexicon to get a better meaning and explanation of the word ‘lament’ and this is what I found.  Lament: to tear the hair and beat the breasts; to wail; mourn.  It seems that the Israelites as a whole, loved Samuel and mourned his death deeply.

Josephus, a Jewish historian, said, “They wept for him a very great number of days, not looking on it as a sorrow for the death of another man, but as that in which they were all concerned He was a righteous man, and gentle in his nature, and on that account, his was very dear to God.

After Samuel’s death David thought it wise to move further southwest in fear that the death of Samuel might give King Saul renewed vigor to get rid of him.  A little background research on Saul and David gives us the reason David was on the run from Saul.  God had removed the kingship of His people from Saul because of his sin and appointed David as the next king.  However, Saul was still on the throne and so full of envy and jealously toward David that he tried to kill him.   In fact, Saul spent the rest of his life seeking a way to kill David.  You can read about the ongoing conflict between King Saul and David in I Samuel, chapters 18-31.

It’s here in his new location that David encounters a scoundrel and his lovely wife … the woman of whom our study is centered.

Verses 2 and 3:  Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.  The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.

Let’s see what these verses tell us about Nabal (the scoundrel) and Abigail (his lovely wife):

We’ll start with Nabal …

His name means “obstinate fool”…

He was rich and had 3000 sheep and 1000 goats …

He was shearing sheep in Carmel …

His home was in Carmel, his sheep and goats were located in the Wilderness of Maon where David had come after Samuel’s burial (the Wilderness of Maon was located next to the Wilderness of Paran) …

He was married to Abigail …

He was harsh and evil in his doings (overbearing, surly, mean, selfish, a drunkard, unmanageable, stubborn, ill-tempered, inhospitable) …

He was of the house of Caleb (This Caleb is the same Caleb associated with Joshua and the conquering of the Promised Land.  When the Promised Land was divided among the tribes of Israel, Caleb was given the city of Hebron as his land inheritance.  Caleb was an honorable and godly man, but this ancestor of his, Nabal, was not.)

Now, let’s look at Abigail:

Her name means ‘father of joy’ or ‘cause of joy.’

She was married to Nabal …

She had good understanding (clever and intelligent) …

She was beautiful.

One has to wonder how Abigail wound up married to such a man as Nabal.  Perhaps it was an arranged marriage.  On the outside looking in, a wealthy and settled man might be considered a good match for someone’s daughter during this time in history.  We don’t know, but it sure makes one wonder!

The stage is now set, and the characters are in place.

Nabal is in Carmel and its sheep shearing season, presumably spring.  It was a time of celebration and feasting; a major social event and it seems that Nabal was hosting a feast …

Abigail is presumably at their home likely busy with all the feast preparations and activities …

David with his band of mighty men/followers is in the area on the run from Saul.

We’re going to stop here and give us time to get all this fixed in our minds.  In our next lesson an issue arrives that’s going to change everyone’s lives.  Meet me back here next week as we’ll see Nabal display a sample of all his unpleasant ‘attributes!’

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Several trusted and biblically sound online sources

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley 

 

Brokenness

Brokenness

By Patsy Norwood © 2025  All Rights Reserved!  Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited!

… the kind of brokenness that you experience when your world lays crumbled at your feet …

when the pain is so profound it’s hard to breathe …

when you’re just numb …

when questions run through your mind … why me or why didn’t I see this coming? …

When you find yourself wondering and even asking … God, why did you allow this to happen?

The first two why’s, in reality, don’t have concrete answers, but the third one, ‘why did God allow this to happen,’ in my mind, has a clear and easy answer. It’s not because God is uncaring or distant, it’s because God gave mankind freewill to choose Him and His goodness and in so doing, He gave us freewill to choose to do evil as well.  It’s that simple, mankind as a whole and individually, gets to choose and when evil is chosen, people are hurt … sometimes devastatingly so.

One of many beautiful things about God though, is that when mankind does choose evil over good, He is still willing and ready to help us overcome.

Let’s look at what He tells us in His word about brokenness beginning in Psalm 34:18. Can we just let this beautiful passage soak in … 

Psalm 34:18 … The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  (ESV)

This verse in context, is referring to those who are broken and crushed by the realization of sin in their lives; it’s written to those who are ready to obey God’s teachings, allowing Him to rescue and save them.  However, I don’t think it takes anything away from or adds to the image of God we see in this verse to apply it in the way we are using it.  God’s compassion shines through.  He is near, He cares and He rescues.  Does knowing this take the pain away from devastating brokenness, no, but it is comforting to know that God is aware and there and that makes the brokenness more bearable.

Let’s look at some more scriptures …

Psalm 147:3 … He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (NASB)

What a tender and caring image of our Father this brings to mind.  He is willing to take His broken children and bind up their wounds.  How comforting is that!

Psalm 121: 1 – 3 … I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.  He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. (NKJV)

What’s our role in healing from devastating brokenness?  We must look to God; we must acknowledge and know that He can and will help us through the brokenness.  We rest in the assurance that He watches over us 24/7 every day and night, and that He will not get tired of dealing with us/our pain and abandon us after a few days.

Do we always know what that care will look like, I can tell you that we will absolutely not always know, in fact, we very seldom know beforehand.  His care comes in small and big acts from others.  It comes from those who choose to walk this journey by our side, shoring us up when we feel like we can’t go on and it comes from faithful prayer warriors on our behalf.  (Sidenote:  this is one of many reasons we need to focus on being the hands and feet of Jesus while on this earth, God may be using us to help others through, sometimes silent, unbearable pain.)

Proverbs 3:5-6 … Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (NKJV)

This is the hard part, trusting … not leaning on our own understanding.  The head may be willing, but the heart may have deep devastating wounds that are yet to heal.  We need to trust anyway with whatever amount of trust we can produce.  God knows and He understands. 

It helps to acknowledge God’s goodness as we travel this journey, in fact we are told to.  In our brokenness, sharing what God has done and or is doing for us might help someone else who hears our testimony.  It also serves as a reminder to us that God is working in the situation.

Isaiah 41:10 … Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ (NASB)

This is another hard part … not fearing … remembering that God is with us.  We need to take scriptures such as we are looking at today and commit them to memory, ‘write them on the door posts of our homes’ and hearts, always having them ready and before us to remind us that God is there, that He has not left us nor will He.

James 1:5 … But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (NASB)

When we are so broken that we don’t know what to do, God wants us to ask Him for wisdom.  He wants us to ask Him for guidance and discernment to make the right and best decisions for the current scenario.  He assures us when we do, that He will liberally and without reproach give it to us.

Isaiah 58:11 …  And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.  (NASB)

Make no mistake, this is a long and most difficult journey to travel, it is also a faith building journey and as we can see God is more than willing to travel it with us, if we’ll let Him.  Do you see what else this verse tells us; it tells us we can survive and even thrive again … you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

I have marked these scriptures in my Bible, and I would urge you to do the same.  If you have never experienced devastating brokenness and don’t feel this is relevant to your life right now, I would say, mark them in your Bible anyway.

Someday, somewhere God may place someone in your life that needs these promises to hold on to and in my humble opinion that’s reason enough to be ready to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Here’s how I label and mark these scriptures in my Bible that makes them readily accessible for use when needed …

On a blank page in the front of my Bible, I write:

Brokenness:  Psalm 34:18 (B)  (The “B” is an identifier.  Each topic will have a different identifying letter.)

I then turn to Psalm 34:18 and at the end of the verse write the next verse:   Psalm 147:3 (B)

Before I leave Psalm 34:18 though I highlight, or you may prefer to underline the words “The Lord is near” "saves" and “broken hearted” and “crushed in spirit.”

I use the same format for the rest of the verses chaining them all together.

In addition, for Psalm 147:3, I highlight or underline the words, “He heals” and “brokenhearted” and “binds up their wounds.”  I want the things God does to jump off the page at me as soon as I see it!  In the margin next to the verse, I write “heals and binds up.”

For Psalm 121: 1-3, I highlight or underline “my help comes from the Lord” and “He who keeps you will not slumber.”  I want to be reminded as soon as my eyes are drawn to the words that God is not slack in His looking out for me.

Proverbs 3:5-6, I highlight or underline “Trust in the Lord” and “acknowledge His path” and “He will make straight your paths.”  Another assurance that God can make something from the chaos and pain.

Isaiah 41:10, I highlight or underline the entire verse.  In the margin next to the verse, I write “God’s Assurance.”

James 1:5, I highlight or underline “ask of God” and “gives to all generously and without reproach” and “it will be given to him.”  In the margin next to the verse, I write ‘there are no silly or insignificant questions or requests to/for God.”

Isaiah 58:11, I highlight or underline “the Lord will continually guide you.”  In the margin next to the verse, I write “God stays on the job 24/7!”  I also write in the margin next to the verse ‘hope.’  That’s what God is giving us, hope that we will survive and that life will be good again someday.

I hope this topic helps you or equips you to help someone else.

May God be glorified in all that we do!*

(Note:  the versions of the Bible used in this article are word for word translations.  Paraphrased editions of God’s word are man’s version, not God’s.  There is a difference so please choose the version of the Bible you use carefully.)

Until the next time!

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~