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Refreshment in Refuge

    by Gina Burgess

Abigail
Date Posted: April 27, 2014

The Spring breeze was cool and crisp. The sky was crystal clear, and all was right with the world on sheep shearing day, a festival to rival the king’s. Even when the rest of Judah was mourning the death of Samuel, Nabal had a feast spread full of plenty of food and alcohol. Nabal, means foolish or wicked. Why would a parent name his child Foolish? He was certainly foolish with wine that day when David sent his young men to ask for provisions for their winter’s labor protecting Nabal’s huge flocks. The normal, manageable flock was 25, but Nabal’s was 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. Not only was he very rich, he was also arrogant, brash, and nearsighted about how his own actions would affect his family and his holdings.

Nabal refused David’s reasonable request. One of Nabal’s shepherd’s testified that David and his men were a wall for shepherds and the flocks keeping them safe. But Nabal foolishly never asked for the testimony. Instead, he reviled David and his young men.

David was furious. He had 600 men, and took 400 of them to destroy Nabal and all he had. The fact that Nabal had left his shepherds to fend for themselves is clear because David and his men had protected them with no mention of Nabal having a protecting force. One has to wonder how the man could not know who was The Wall protecting all his riches.

Enter Abigail. One of the wisest females since Deborah, I’m thinking. Abigail was gorgeous and had a great mind. Acting quickly, she averted a slaughter.

She immediately recognized the validity of David’s claim through the testimony of one of the shepherds. She “took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.” (1 Samuel 25:18) This is a testament to the opulence of Nabal’s feast. He, nor his guests, didn’t even notice this much was gone, yet he begrudged honest pay for honest work.

She gave due respect to David. She was mistress of a huge household that was equal in richness and power to King Saul. Yet, she bowed low before David, a man on the run from the king. Abigail knew who actually wielded the power in this confrontation. Her household was stupid with drink. David and his men would have flattened them all in just a few minutes. A lot of innocent people would be in the way and be killed. She offered David the respect due him for the work that he had done. She called herself “his maidservant.” The Hebrew is 'âmâh which means bondslave or slave. Why would she demean herself so? She knew who David was (1 Samuel 25:31).

She was wise to the goings on in Israel while her husband remained ignorant. However, she wisely never rebuked her husband. She waited until he was sober to tell him what she had done.

She was penitent and a petitioner. She made no bones about how foolish her husband was to revile David. She agreed with David’s right to be angry.

If you want to deflate ire, agree with the person’s right to be angry. Understand from their point of view. Every time I’m angry with some happenstance such as the cable going out or a mix up with a car payment or some other thing, what fuels my anger is some clerk arguing that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Someone at the bank actually told me that my social security number was wrong! I’ve had that number for forty something years, I ought to know my own number! The conversation deteriorated rapidly from there. While my anger at receiving a ticket from New Orleans after Katrina when I and my car had not been in New Orleans for months was nipped in the bud when the guy said, “I hear you, ma’am. I understand why you are angry.” A soft word may turn away wrath, but nothing works on soothing wrath like knowing someone understands your anger rather than justifying what caused the anger. Wise woman, Abigail.

Abigail called David’s attention to God’s purposes. When you are a godly person dealing with a godly person, pointing out God’s purposes (after allowing for that initial steam pressure to escape) usually sets the tone for the rest of the conversation.

David is humbled. David is incredibly honest with Abigail. He acknowledges everything that Abigail’s gift and her sweet words had done not only for him and his men, but also for her household. Abigail was a godsend to David. Actual murder was in David’s heart and killing all the males in Nabal’s household was definitely going to happen except for Abigail’s intervention. Abigail’s sweetness turned David’s wrath, but for how many years had she suffered Nabal’s wickedness? The Bible doesn’t say. But we know that God does take care of His own. God provides for His children. In this case, He provided a beautiful, wise woman to assuage the wrath of a wronged man.

Women have much influence over men and situations. Let us beware we use it gently and godly.

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Biography Information:

Gina Burgess has taught Sunday School and Discipleship Training for almost three decades. (Don't tell her that makes her old.) She earned her Master's in Communication in 2013.

She is the author of several books including: When Christians Hurt Christians, The Crowns of the Believers and others available in online bookstores. She authors several columns, using her God-given talent to shine a light in a dark world. You can browse her blog at Refreshment In Refuge.

If you'd like to take a look at some Christian fiction and Christian non-fiction book reviews check out Gina's book reviews at Upon

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