A Nabal Fable

Abigail and...Nabal?

I have been reading through the Old Testament, slowly but surely, and I recently got to 1 Samuel 25. The chapter starts off with Samuel dying, which begs the question, why is this book and the following book named after him? Then it goes into a story about a guy named Nabal and his hot wife Abigail. 1 Samuel says Nabal is very rich, so much so that he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. (Dang, Nabal! Share the wealth, man!). "Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved" (verse 3). So while Abigail was sitting there being attractive and smart and discerning and wise and godly and all that, Nabal was probably burping at the table and kicking his three thousand pet sheep or something.

They grabbed their swords!

David (you know, the little shepherd boy who killed the giant named Goliath with his slingshot then later became king of Israel, also known as "a man after God's own heart") heard about Nabal and decided to go see him. He sent his men to go talk to him and instructed them to be super nice. He told them to say to Nabal, "Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David" (6-8). See? They're super nice. Well, Nabal is the prime example of somebody who doesn't follow world news (that's for you, PEP teachers). He didn't even know who David was and was being super annoying. David's men went back and told him everything that Nabal said, and "David said to his men, 'Every man strap on his sword!' And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage" (13). Four hundred men plus King David grabbed their swords and went to see Nabal. 

Abigail's sneaking looked like this, plus donkeys.

Then one of Nabal's servants went and told Hottie Wife Abigail about how Nabal was so rude to the men who were really nice to his servants, who also happened to be the servants of the king. Abigail wasn't stupid (she was "discerning and beautiful," to be exact) and stepped in to save the day! She prepared huge gift baskets (well, donkeys loaded with stuff) to give to David & Co. 1 Samuel reads, "Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys" (18). She snuck out with her donkeys and some more servants without Nabal knowing. 


Abigail found David and fell down at his feet and begged his forgiveness for her husband. She said to David, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent" (24-25). She owns up that her husband is a bummer, but begs for his life anyway. She is very respectful to David, and David is kind in return. 

This is... probly not what eating like a king looks like.

When Abigail returned home she found that her husband had been feasting like a king while she had been saving is life from the actual king. Nabal was pretty shwasted, so she waiting until the morning to tell him what happened. When she did, "his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died" (37-38). When David heard of Nabal's death, he took Abigail to be his wife. She got to be the wife of the king!

I found this story ridiculous, but in the best kind of way. It happened to actual people some 4,000-odd years ago, but we still get a peek into their lives. We can learn a lot from the folly of Nabal compared to the character of Abigail. Nabal was disrespectful and rude to the king and his servants, repaid the good they did to him with evil, then went off and feasted and drank while his life was on the line. Abigail, however, did not complain about having a husband like Nabal. Rather, she was honest about his character but was willing to take the responsibility for his actions to allow him to live. She was also very beautiful and made a mean fig cake, apparently.

It's so easy to become like Nabal. I treat people who deserve my respect like they're beneath me. I ignore my problems and leave them for other people to take care of. I spend my time enjoying myself instead being responsible. How much more I'd rather be like Abigail: she respected not only the king but also her bummer of a husband, she went out of her way to take care of his problems when she didn't have to and even though he wouldn't appreciate it, she didn't complain. She was godly, respectful, discerning, beautiful, and pretty darn classy.