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By R.A. Mathews

He was a rich man without a lick of sense, which caused his wife to shine. How so? Abigail found herself forced into the role of making up for her husband Nabal’s error in judgment — actually, his nearly deadly mistake.

It’s roughly 1,000 B.C. and David is on the run, a fugitive fleeing an insane king. David is also the captain of 600 men who joined him. 

Wealthy Nabal had vast herds of goats and sheep which David’s men had protected. One day, David sent men to Nabal to ask for food for his army. Nabal rebuffed the messengers so badly, that David strapped on his sword and told 400 of his men to do likewise, determined to kill Nabal and every man who worked for him. Here’s the passage.

“Now there was a man… and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats… So David sent ten young men; and David said… ‘Now, your shepherds have been with us; we have not harmed them, nor has anything of theirs gone missing… Please give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’

“But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, ‘Who is David?… Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?’ So David’s young men… informed him… Then David said to his men, ‘Each of you strap on his sword.’… And David also strapped on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David…” (1 Samuel 25:2-13, NASB)0

Fortunately for Nabal and his men, Abigail learned of the matter and quickly intercepted David with a large peace offering of food. Here’s the passage.

“Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine, and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain, and a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and she loaded them on donkeys… When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey… She fell at his feet and said,‘… Please forgive the offense…’ So David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, ‘Go up to your house in peace. See, I have… granted your request’” (1 Samuel 25:18-35 NASB).

Scripture says as soon as Abigail returned and told Nabal that David’s approaching army meant to kill him and his men, Nabal’s heart turned to stone and 10 days later he died (1 Samuel 25:37-38).

At that time, David’s first wife, Michal, had been taken from him by King Saul, but David had married Ahinoam in the wilderness. He was so impressed with Abigail, that he sent her a marriage proposal. “Then Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife” (1 Samuel 25:42 NASB).

The interesting thing is that Ahinoam gave David his first son, Amnon, who was a deviant, sexually assaulting his half-sister. The third son, Absalom, born to Maakah, murdered Amnon and tried to murder David. The fourth, Adonijah, born to Haggith, would have murdered Solomon and Bathsheba, trying twice to seize the throne. But the second son, Daniel, also known as Chileab (1 Chronicles 3:1, 2 Samuel 3:3) gave David no trouble, and his mother was Abigail.

When Billy Graham died, who I had greatly admired, my newspaper editors asked me why I didn’t write a tribute. One of his children had come forward and said that he was always gone, her mother was overwhelmed, and the children were sent to boarding schools. It surprised me.

I suspect David was also an absent father— dealing with Saul pursuing him, a civil war, wrestling with Israel’s enemies, and finally running the nation. 

It showed in his sons.

Yet Abigail, who had used her wits in dealing with David’s rage, appears to have reared her son well. Perhaps just by being who she was.

Your children are a reflection of you.

Seek holiness. Strive to live your best life before God. But also know that every time you forgive, every time you offer respect to another, and every time you walk away from temptation you help your child also step forward in holiness. 

Carefully decide what you want them to reflect.

Contact the Rev. Mathews at RAMathews.com where you can see her books and join her book club. Copyright © 2025 R.A. Mathews