ABBY SAVES HER FAMILY

1 Samuel 25

Two thirds of a verse tells us Samuel died. 

Our daily paper shows most deaths in about a two-inch column. Those who wish and can pay may have a longer obituary, but not even a full page can adequately cover the average person’s life, much less an outstanding individual. Yet if our lives are our best obituary, Samuel wrote a hero’s life. A king-maker, he crowned two, and broke one. He rose to prominence through his faithfulness to God’s calling and gained the respect of the nation. What obituary are you writing?

Next we meet an interesting couple, who would make a great pair for a situation TV comedy. Nabal was a rascal, a sort of Archie Bunker with a mean streak. Abigail was a wise woman who could think rapidly on her feet. She also was a good looking woman. I’ve wondered if John Adams’s wife was named after her. After reading Adams’s biography by David McCullough, I came away thinking perhaps she should have been our second President.

Anyway, last week we saw David being driven into the life of a rebel and guerilla warrior, living off the land. In exchange for protection from Philistines and other marauders, villagers would support David and his 600 men. Recently they had offered protection to Nabal’s shepherds as they kept his sheep out on the Carmel outcropping. No marauders, either animal or human bothered them, and they knew it.

Nabal was rich and owned 3000 sheep, 1000 goats and much more. During days of shearing, David sent ten men to ask Nabal to donate a sheep or two to feed his men. Nabal treated the messenger roughly and sarcastically asked who David thought he was? There were plenty of rebels around these days, bandits, and runaway slaves. He couldn’t be bothered with them. So the men reported back to David who became enraged. “Grab your gear and let’s go!” he called for 400 men, leaving 200 to protect their base. 

Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s men had heard the exchange between their master and the messengers. He recognized how the refusal might be received, so he reported to Abigail. She too recognized their danger and ordered a huge food supply to be loaded up and sent immediately to David, hoping to head him off before his vengeance struck. She herself followed, and they did indeed head off David and his men. 

She went and threw herself on the ground at his feet. She asked David to blame her, not her husband and pardon the offense. Abby said she did not see nor hear what happened or the outcome would have been different. She said Nabal meant fool, so fool was his name and folly his game. She then turned to prophesy David would one day be king and asked him to remember her favorably then. David accepted her apology and her gift, so the crisis was averted.

When she went back home, she found her husband throwing a major banquet, happy and drunk as a skunk. The next morning, she gave him time to get past his hangover and recounted what happened. When he realized 400 armed men were about to decimate his entire ranch, “his heart died within him,” and he froze. I would guess he had a major stroke on the spot. Ten days later he died. 

Scripture says the Lord killed him, thus giving us a problem both in interpretation and theology. Repeatedly scripture says the Lord is long-suffering, patient, and forgiving. Yet, here Samuel says He killed a man for his rudeness and foolishness. 

Perhaps the easiest way out is to take the traditional approach of synagogues and churches. The Lord is sovereign and decides when every person will die. Nabal was no different. Besides, by taking him out, the world is freed of his arrogance and selfishness.

Many Old Testament scholars like to point out that people in those days did not make the distinction we do between direct and indirect causes. Everything that happened did so because God willed it. We make a distinction between God’s permissive will that allows some things not in his active will. Otherwise, we could not sin.

On another issue, note one of quite a few examples where a woman takes a leading role. We are told this was a paternalistic society that strongly favored men. And so it was. But here and there we find strong women taking a major role. The result was she saved her family and on her husband’s death, she became David’s third wife. Saul had taken Michal from him when he abandoned the court. He had then married a girl from Je, Amnon.  Now he married the beautiful and smart Abigail, bringing a happy   ending for both of them.