Abigail made a courageous choice in a moment of time and her story echoes throughout the decades of history. She influenced the life of a great man but she was a great woman herself.
Here is some background
“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.”
I Samuel 25:1 NKJV
At this point in time David had been carrying the promise of God that he would be king and warring over that promise for a very long season. He was weary from it and understandably cross. He had just lost his mentor, Samuel, the prophet who guided him and spoke into his life. He is still anointed and a man after God’s own heart but he is in a difficult place. He is about to cross paths with a mercy bearer.
“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.”
I Samuel 25:2-3 NKJV
Sometimes the suffering we endure teaches us to obey the Lord and while we learn to persist He forms great riches of Kingdom value inside of us that are essential for the next steps of our lives. This phase of her life was formative.
“When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 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. 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! 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. 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.’ ” So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited. 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. 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?” So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words. 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.”
I Samuel 25:4-13 NKJV
David made a harsh and impulsive decision with no one overseeing his life to give him divine direction. Abigail faced a horrible threat. Her oppressive leadership had threatened the Lord’s anointed. If she had not been close to the Lord she would’ve believed the lies of the enemy and not seen the situation clearly.
“Then Abigail made haste and 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. And she said to her servants, “Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.”
I Samuel 25:18-19 NKJV
Abigail didn’t go with the flow, she moved against it. Here we see a bold leader emerge from this great woman. She could have easily believed the lies of the enemy but instead she believed God. She knew David was anointed by God, she could clearly see the truth and acted in great courage to intercede.
“This is how the Lord responds: “If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!” Jeremiah 15:19 NLT
The Lord told Jeremiah “you must influence them and do not let them influence you”. This is a verse I’ve prayed over my children their entire lives. I pray that they will have the vision to be influencers of their peers and not be influenced by their peers. This woman was an influencer for the Kingdom of God because she knew His heart, His ways and His will.
“So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good. May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light.” Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my Lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. Please, let not my Lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my Lord whom you sent. Now therefore, my Lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my Lord be as Nabal. And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my Lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my Lord. Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the Lord will certainly make for my Lord an enduring house, because my Lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.”
I Samuel 25:20-28 NKJV
David almost shed blood, which would have stood against him in the spirit and may have kept him from entering his destiny. Abigail is used by God as a mercy bearer and a prophetic voice speaking into David’s life. She was given a very unique opportunity to intercede for one of the greatest men in Bible history. She presented the word of the Lord with humility, which is always the appropriate protocol for one representing the King.
“Then David said to Abigail: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.”
I Samuel 25:32-33 NKJV
Her entire estate, business, and family was redeemed, saved, and spared by this great gesture inspired by the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is a woman I will one day be eager to meet in Heaven. She made a courageous decision in a moment of time and her actions are still spoken of and taught all over the world today.
Daniel chapter 3 tells of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and the fiery furnace. They entered the fire that was designed to take them out, bound but instead of killing them it freed them. The king saw them and exclaimed “I see four men loose”. Not only did God use it to free them from bondage it killed the men who pushed them in. The New King James Version records it as “The fire had no power”. In this situation this threat was designed to take Abigail out but instead it freed her and destroyed her enemy.
“So it was, in the morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.” And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, “David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife.” Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord.” So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife.”
I Samuel 25:37-42 NKJV
Abigail embraced the radical move of God. She recognized her redemption and moved quickly with the hand of God. You’ve heard of people being radically saved? I was radically saved. I remember seeing my first vision. I saw a vision of what looked like the Grand Canyon and I felt that I was on the wrong side, in my soul I thought “how can I possibly get across?” His name is Jesus. I suddenly became a completely different person. I embraced my redemption and the offer of a second chance and all things being made new in my life. After that point and for the last 21 years I have run and run and run after the presence of God. I went from religious to radical. People can be radically saved, Abigail was radically delivered. I know of several people who are close to me who have recently experienced radical deliverance into a life they never imagined they could have on this side of Heaven. For two of them deliverance came after decades of unimaginable oppression. God’s mighty merciful hand is again moving in both of these glorious works. This is a time of radical salvations and radical deliverances.
Let’s review the key attributes of Abigail’s character. First she was a bold leader, an influencer. Second, she was humble, she had learned obedience to God through the oppression she faced, and could easily be used a prophetic mercy bearer. And finally she knew the protocol of representing the King.
She learned to stand against oppression and in that was securing her position in a place of destiny. She influenced the life of a great man but was a great woman herself.