Commentary on "Abigail: No Victim of Circumstances"

LESLIE MARTIN

 

Day 4: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - A Time to Talk

 

The story of Nabal and Abigail is recorded for us because of their interaction with David, who would be the next and greatest king of Israel. As we’ve already noted, King Saul had put out a death decree on David, and David had been running and hiding for quite some time. When news first came out of David’s falling out of favor with King Saul, David’s brothers joined him in the wilderness, in addition about 400 men joined David and became his initial fighting force.

“So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father's household heard of it, they went down there to him. Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.” 1 Sam 22:1-2 NASU

These men were not a group of misfits, but highly trained warriors; in 1 Chronicles we have a vivid description of their resolve and skill in battle.

“From the Gadites there came over to David in the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, and whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains.” 1 Chron 12:8 NASU

Look up 2 Samuel 23:8-39 for a description of the exploits of 30 of David’s most mighty men. When David was insulted and rejected by Nabal, the number of warriors that accompanied him had grown to 600 men. David and his men had guarded Nabal’s servants and flocks until the time of shearing, as Nabal’s servant reported to Abigail, “They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.” (1 Samuel 25:26) NASB

When David’s young men reported Nabal’s scornful response, David instantly moved into attack mode along with 400 of his choice men.

“Now David had said, ‘Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.’" 1 Sam 25:21-22 ESV

David had been extremely longsuffering during the time that he had been fleeing from King Saul. David refused to take revenge or enact his own retribution on the king, even when it seemed that Saul was delivered into his hand and his men were pleading with him to end it then and there. David’s response had been that he would not “touch the Lord’s anointed.” In other words, David was trusting that the Lord would remove Saul from the throne in His timing, and it wasn’t David’s job to take matters into his own hands despite being already anointed as Israel’s next king. David’s flesh shone through when he was insulted by Nabal. An insult is a much lesser offense than someone issuing a decree to kill you and hunting you like a wild animal! But this time David didn’t seek the Lord’s will in the matter and rashly acted in the flesh. God was looking out for David, however, and Abigail was already taking steps to avert disaster and to intercede for her foolish husband and her household.

 

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