Abigail

^{1 Samuel 25}

^{David, Abigail, and Nabal}

^{I’ve been reading “The Peacegiver” which starts out with a story of David and Abigail. I did not remember the story from reading the Old Testament, but when I read it this time, I saw in Abigail a type of Christ. Then I re-read the description of her in “The Peacegiver” and found that I missed the point. Or several points. Points I still don’t get. I read the actual story twice today and not just the re-telling in the book. I am missing something. I am missing a lot. I thought I did a pretty good job of spotting types of Christ in the Old Testament, but I am spotting them and either shooting beyond the mark, or I’m shooting wide completely.}

^{So I’m going to tear this apart. You can read this or not. I am doing for my own benefit. If it helps you, wonderful!}

^{Basic story:}

^{Nabal sends out his livestock and herders into a dangerous area to feed. David and his men, who are on the run from Saul, protect the herds and herders from the bandits and bad guys and don’t ask for anything in return. Just being nice. Nabal’s men and animals return at the end of the season safely. David, running low on supplies, sends some men to Nabal to ask for provision, reminding him of how well he treated and protected his stuff earlier. Nabal laughs at them and derides David, mocking him, and sends the men away empty. The men return and report to David. David is livid, and takes 400 men, leaving 200 behind to guard their stuff. He and his army swear to go to Nabal and slay every “one who pisseth against the wall”, or all the males. This would include little boys and old men (women cannot piss against walls and are jealous that we can), all of them innocent. In fact, only Nabal is guilty. While on the way, one of Nabal’s men hears about it and goes to Abigail, Nabal’s wife. She is a good person. This young man calls Nabal a “son of Belial” which means “worthless”. It is an arch insult. He also calls him “Nabal” which means “fool”. Apparently, they all called him that behind his back. So it was more of a nickname and not his given name. Abigail let it go. She must have had a very hard marriage. Anyway, when she finds out David’s army is coming to destroy the men, she gets her servants to load up donkeys with supplies and yummies and sends them out to meet David, she following. When she sees David, she rushes to him and falls on her knees before him and begs him to place the sin on her and leave of the murder he had planned. What follows is best read directly. David’s heart is softened, but not his men’s hearts. Still, they love him, and trust him. So lives are saved, but David’s soul is saved and he knows it. She returns to tell Nabal, but he’s partying and falling down drunk, so she waits until morning. When he sobers up, she tells him and his heart fails him for fear and he apparently goes into a coma. Ten days later he dies, when the Lord smites him. When David learns of it, he sends for Abigail to marry and she says yes, and the chapter ends.}

^{Here’s the King James Version, with my notes.}

¹And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²And 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.

Abigail, the type of Christ, was beautiful and sound. Nabal, the descendent of Caleb, was a jerk. He represents apostate Israel.

⁴And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.

⁵And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:

⁶And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

⁷And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.

⁸Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

⁹And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

¹⁰And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

¹¹Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?

The righteous but poor of the House of Israel come to the wealthy of the House of Israel and ask for help and he refuses. This is a sin in itself, but it also tempts the righteous poor to sin, as well. It’s a double sin. Whenever we sin, we tempt others to sin, too. It’s the ripple effect. We are not responsible for their actions, but we did tempt them by our actions.

¹²So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.

¹³And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.

¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.

¹⁵But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:

¹⁶They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

I like that. “They were a wall unto us”. David and his men were also types of Christ at this point. They protected the unprotected. They defended them against the bad guy, and they lacked nothing the entire time.

¹⁷Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

“He is such a jerk, that nobody can even talk to him.” Ever met anyone like that? And he’s saying this to Nabal’s WIFE. And she lets it go!

¹⁸Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.

She give gifts and blessings, just like Christ does for us.

¹⁹And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.

She sent messengers (prophets) ahead to warn the heretofore righteous but imperfect of the House of Israel of her coming, but did not notify the willful idiots of the world.

²⁰And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.

Jesus rode on an ass into Jerusalem. He had up that point, not made his true identity known to all people. But as he came into Jerusalem, he removed all doubt about himself. Abigail rode an ass around a mountain, hidden from David’s view. Suddenly, she appears and lets herself be known.

²¹Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.

We often say in our hearts, “I have been nice to this person for long enough, but this is the last straw. No more Mr. Nice Guy.”

²²So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

“Well, what goes around comes around. He’ll get his. I hope he suffers like he made me suffer. I will never forget this.”

²³And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

“And when Christ saw his people about to sin, he hurried and descended from heaven, and fell to earth as a man, and bowed himself beneath the rod…”

²⁴And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.

“And said, ‘Upon me let their iniquity be; and let me, I pray, speak to them, and they will hear my words.’”

²⁵Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

And he says to us, “Do not regard the man of sin, even Satan; for as his name is, so is he. Satan is his name and folly is with him…”

²⁶Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

And now I think she shifts gears a bit. At least that’s how I see it. It’s more of a plea. Think about how Jehovah must pray to His Father on our behalf. She says in 26, “And now, seeing how God has kept you from the ultimate sin of shedding innocent blood [the unpardonable sin], and from completing your murderous plan of revenge, let your wicked enemies and the enemy of your soul, be as fools and devils.”

²⁷And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.

“And let all the blessings and gifts that I, your Savior, have to give, be received by all the House of Israel.”

²⁸I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.

Ok, here is the key. She says, “…forgive the trespass of thine handmaid”. What? What sin did SHE commit? None. She is taking on her head the sins of Nabal. So does the Savior. And he goes to His Father and says, “Father, even though I committed no sin, I take responsibility for THEIR sins. Forgive ME, Father, and I will forgive THEM. Deal with ME, and I will deal with THEM.”

²⁹Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.

Then she says to David, “Even though a man is out to get you, and to destroy your soul, why should you let him? Don’t let him draw you out of your armor, your protection, your safety. Let your soul be bound in with the Savior. And let HIM deal with them.”

³⁰And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;

³¹That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.

And here is another type of US: “And finally, when the Savior shall finally give you all the glory and honor and blessings of ruling with him in heaven over the House of Israel, you will have no unpardonable or any offense of desire or thought to hold you back. Then remember the ones who helped you and blessed you. [When you become famous, don’t forget us little people.]”

³²And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:

David, softened, says, “Blessed be God who sent the Savior to us.”

³³And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

“And blessed be my Savior’s counsel, and Himself for preventing me from sending myself to hell.”

³⁴For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

“For if the Savior had not descended to earth to atone for me I would have surely turned to gross sin and murder.”

³⁵So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

Then David receives all the blessings the Savior, er, I mean Abigail, has to offer and he says to Him, er, I mean her, “See? I have listened to your voice and gospel and received you into my heart.”

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.

³⁷But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

³⁸And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.

So, Nabal parties, just like Satan who thinks he has command over this earth. But Satan will have his day of reckoning just like Nabal did.

³⁹And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.

So will we rejoice, at the judgment day, when even Satan has to appear before Christ to be judged of his sins and his sent to his own place forever, never to bother us again. But see that last sentence, where David sends to Abigail a proposal of marriage?

⁴⁰And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.

⁴¹And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

⁴²And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

I think that David and Abigail switch roles here. I think that David is the type of Christ and Abigail becomes us. He proposes a marriage contract, she accepts and is made queen to the king. This is in direct correspondence to the parable that Jesus give of the Bridegroom and the virgins, etc.

Abigail kept David from sinning against the sinner. Christ keeps us from sinning against those who deserve to pay for their crimes. We ought to forgive in our hearts and pray for them. Not to say criminals don't deserve punishment, but that is for the authorities to take care of. We must each find that thing that will allow us to recognize Christ's atonement for us individually. Also, Abigail was actually atoning for Nabal. She was taking his sins upon her own head and risking actually death. Christ atones not just for us "righteous" but for the bad guys, too.

What all this means, ultimately, I’m not completely sure. How much I’m missing, I don’t know. Over time, I guess I’ll learn more. I’ll try and address more later.