Not So Little Women: Week 8
Abigail

Today in our Not So Little Women series, we look at a woman named Abigail who was married to a “worthless” man named Nabal. We meet a few men in this story, yet all of them look terrible and make bad decisions. The only time we see them come back from the brink is when Abigail speaks wisdom into their folly.

Abigail is called “discerning and beautiful” in the Hebrew text. She goes out to meet David, because he has been slighted and intends to kill every man in Nabal’s household. Abigail springs into action by taking supplies and meeting David before he has a chance to execute his plan. In 1 Samuel 23:25-28 there are five aspects of her appeal:

1. She took her husband’s guilt upon herself, even though she had nothing to do with the encounter between David’s men and Nabal.

2. She confessed her husband’s folly, because she knew her husband did not respect or love God, which led to how the whole problem started.

3. She asked for forgiveness (on Nabal’s behalf), and made restitution by providing David with various foods.

4. She affirmed God’s promises of David’s future kingdom.

5. She warned David of the consequences if he carried out his plan in anger.

What do we learn from Abigail? – We learn there is wisdom from above and wisdom from below. James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere… True wisdom teaches us that God loves us and we don’t have to pretend to be anything other than who and what we are. Abigail went with no feigned sincerity or pretense—she was who she was in openness.

2 Corinthians 1:12 our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. Abigail points us to Jesus in that Jesus has taken our guilt upon Himself, shown us our own folly, brought forgiveness, made restitution between us and God, affirmed His own rule and reign, and shown us that our sin is not to be obsessed over. We can freely and joyfully lay our sin before Him as we understand and receive His grace.