Abigail Intercedes for Nabal
Abigail gathers a large gift and rides out in secret to meet David. As she approaches, David is still speaking in anger and swearing to wipe out every male in Nabal's household.
T18hen Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them. 21Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. 22May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”
Abigail bows before David, takes the blame on herself, and asks him not to act in the spirit of Nabal's folly. She speaks of the LORD's restraint, of David's secure future, and of the clean conscience he should carry when he comes to rule.
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him. 24She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. 25My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent. 26Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal. 27Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. 28Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live. 29And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling. 30When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, 31then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your servant.”
David blesses the LORD, Abigail's discernment, and Abigail herself, because she has kept him from avenging himself by his own hand. He accepts her gift and sends her home in peace.
32Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! 33Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. 34Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.” 35Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”
Abigail returns to find Nabal feasting like a king and too drunk to hear anything. When she tells him the next morning, he collapses, and about ten days later the LORD strikes him dead.
36When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light. 37In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone. 38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.