Interwoven into the story of David’s checkered life, there are many fine characters, but there is not one, perhaps, that wears a more beautiful character than Abigail, the Carmelitess. Her name means “cause of delight,” and surely her story proves that she was a source of delight to the heart of David.
At the moment that she comes upon the scene, David, though the anointed of the Lord, is a hunted man, hiding in the caves of the earth, although surrounded by a band of faithful followers (1 Sam. 22:1-21David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 22:1‑2)). In the course of his wanderings, he and his followers went about doing good, for the shepherds of Nabal, Abigail’s husband, have to own that David and his men “were very good to us.” They protected his shepherds and their flocks night and day, so that, as long as David and his men were in their neighborhood, they lost nothing.
Nabal
This Nabal was a man of substance and high social position. He was, in the eyes of the world, a “very great” man — one who could entertain in royal style (1 Sam. 25:2-3,362And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. (1 Samuel 25:2‑3)
36And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. (1 Samuel 25:36)). In God’s sight, however, he was a churlish man and “evil in his doings” — one that would brook no interference from others. He professes to have no knowledge of David, for he asks, “Who is David and who is the son of Jesse?” Doubtless he knew of David’s great victory over Goliath and how the women had sung his praises, but it seems that he looked upon David as one whose head has been turned by his great deeds and the songs of women and, aspiring to the throne, had become a rebellious servant who had broken away from his master, King Saul. If any report of Samuel’s anointing of David had reached his ears, he evidently treated it with complete indifference. To Nabal, David was only a runaway servant.
Good Understanding
When David appeals to Nabal, in a day of plenty, to make some recompense for benefits received, David’s young men are driven away with insults. David, incensed by such treatment, prepares to take vengeance. This brings Abigail to the front. She is described as a woman of a beautiful countenance and “of good understanding.” She had evidently considered the people and events of her day, and the Lord had given her understanding. She hears of her husband’s folly from one of the young men of her household, and she immediately acts in faith, without consulting her husband. Nature could see in David only a runaway servant; faith sees, in the hunted and needy David, the coming king. Thus she takes her place as a subject of the king and acts with becoming deference in his presence. She prepares her present, and, having met David, she fell at his feet, bowed herself to the ground, and owned David as her lord. She takes sides with David against both her husband and King Saul. She owns that Nabal, though her husband and a great man in the world, is acting in an impious and foolish way, and that Saul, though the reigning king, is but “a man” that is opposing God’s anointed. She sees that David, though hunted and in poverty, is “bound up in the bundle of the living” and coming into a glorious inheritance.
The Day of Rejection
Like Jonathan, she had a high position in this world as the wife of a “very great” man, but in contrast to Jonathan she was not hindered, by her social position, from identifying herself with David in the day of his rejection. In view of that glory and in confidence in the king, she can say, “When the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid.” These words recall that far greater scene, when a dying thief, looking beyond the awful circumstances of the moment to the coming glory, with confidence in the King, could say, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom” (Luke 23:4242And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. (Luke 23:42)). Thus the high-born Abigail and the low-born thief, with the same faith, look beyond the present and act and speak in the light of the future. The future justifies their faith. David, though in wilderness circumstances, acts with royal dignity, as a king with a subject. He dismisses Abigail with his blessing after having accepted her present, hearkened to her requests, and accepted her person.
Nabal’s End
Returning to her husband, Abigail finds him debasing himself at a drunken feast. When sober, he is informed of what has taken place, and at once “his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.” About ten days after the Lord smote him. Having obtained her freedom by death, Abigail becomes the wife of David. She leaves her high position, with its ease and comfort, to associate herself with David in his sufferings and wanderings. In this new path she will indeed know suffering and privation, even to being taken captive by David’s enemies at Ziklag. But she will also share his throne in the day of his reign at Hebron (1 Sam. 30:5; 25And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. (1 Samuel 30:5)
5They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. (1 Samuel 2:5) Sam. 2:2).
David’s Greater Son
In this touching story, we see a foreshadowing of David’s greater Son — the One who was despised and rejected of men. Granted, there is much in David that betrays a man of like passions with ourselves; he may, in a rash moment, gird on his sword to take vengeance upon Nabal. Peter, in like spirit, will draw his sword to defend his Master. But Christ Himself, in the presence of His enemies, will say, “Put up again thy sword into his place.” In every type there are these contrasts, only serving to show that no type can fully set forth the perfection of Jesus. Christ is the substance, and He alone is perfect.
If in David we can see a type of Christ, we see in Nabal a picture of the world’s attitude towards Christ, whether in the days of His flesh or during His present session at the right hand of God. It is a world bent upon present gain, feasting and pleasure. By such a world Christ is a despised and rejected Man — One in whom it sees no beauty and for whom it feels no need. It may indeed put on a Christian profession, yet though it puts on the name of Christ, it puts Christ Himself outside its doors. Yet such is the long-suffering grace of Christ that, as David appealed to Nabal, even so He stands at the door of the professing church and knocks.
Fellowship with Christ’s Sufferings
If, however, in the midst of this Christ-rejecting Christendom, there are any that hear His voice and open the door to Christ, how rich will be their blessing! In the present, such will know sweet communion with Him in the day of His rejection, for the Lord can say to the one that opens the door to Him, “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)). In the future, those that have supped with Christ in the day of His rejection will reign with Him in the day of His glory, for the Lord can say, “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne” (Rev. 3:2121To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21)).
Of all this Abigail was a bright example. When the world of her day slammed the door in David’s face, she opened her door and put her bounty at his disposal. She had her bright reward, for she enjoyed sweet communion with David as his wife, in the day of his reproach; she sat with him on his throne, in the day of his glory.
Happy Is the Overcomer
Happy for us if we take warning by Nabal and follow the example of Abigail. Happy indeed if we wholeheartedly separate from the corruptions of the Christian profession in order to gather to Christ in the outside place of His reproach. Christendom is putting forth vast efforts to bring about an unholy unity, in which Christ Himself will be outside. They will have united to be eventually spued out of Christ’s mouth. It is well for the true saints to be awakened to the solemnity of the day in which we live and hear the voice of the Lord as He says, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:44And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4)).
Those that obey the words of the Lord will find, even as Abigail in her day, that the ties of nature, social position and worldly religious authorities will have to be overcome. If, however, like Abigail we are overcomers, we shall find the outside place with Christ one of deepest, present blessing and highest, future glory.
H. Smith (adapted)