Tonight, we're going to continue looking at our
characters, little women, not so little women
in the Bible. We're going to continue to look
at characters that we find in the Old Testament.
Tonight, we'll be looking at a woman named Abigail.
Her story is confined. within 40, I guess, what,
two verses of 41 verses, or 43, I don't know,
40 -some verses, of 1 Samuel. And so, before
I tell you the story about David and Abigail,
which you may or may not know the story, I was
told most of it by now. But before we actually
look at the story, I want to make sure that we
kind of understand where we are. Just did the
overall story of the Bible. Because if we just
focus in on this one story, if you don't know
anything about the Bible, you won't get anything
out of it. If you know a little bit about the
Bible, you might actually be more confused when
you leave than before you came in. Because what
is going on with David and who? This is a bald
guy and what's going on? So, in the first couple
of minutes of art lesson tonight, I'm going to
do a brief history of the Bible up to this point.
So the Bible is a story of God interceding first
with a guy named Abraham and promises him a large
family. Nations, actually, will be born out of
his line. And then we do see that lesson. We
find also that... As those children begin to
grow into tribes and nations of their own, eventually
they are down in Egypt and because they grew
in such number, they became enslaved by the Pharaoh.
400 years pass. This guy Moses comes along, leads
them out of bondage, across the Red Sea, into
the wilderness. 40 years later, they cross the
Jordan River and they enter what land had been
promised initially to Abraham, the promised land.
Canaan. The people lived there forever and they
were governed by these people called judges.
We have a book in the Bible called Judges that
talked about that time. Because when God, when
you are the people of God and God is your supreme
leader, right, it's hard to justify the idea
of a king. Because God's already the king, right?
Except that when you're living in In Jewish land,
in the land of the Israelites, rather, or the
Hebrew people, and you look at your Canaanite
neighbors who do have a king, right? There's
a lot of advantages to having an earthly king
versus a king you can't see. You can get a job
working for the government, maybe in a way that
you wouldn't be able to get a job working for
the church, right? Because you're not born of
the right tribe. So there's advantages to having
an earthly king. And so the Israelite people
during this time of judges, they just kept clamoring
and clamoring and clamoring and praying and praying
and praying and praying. They could have an earthly
king just like God. But God sent prophets along
the way and said, you guys don't need a king.
You've already got a king. Me. Right? Yes. 1
Samuel 2. I'm sorry. 1 Samuel chapter 25. Oh,
okay. Okay. Sorry. Well, we're going to do 1
Samuel chapters 2 through 44 tonight. 25. Sorry,
sorry, sorry. I started to write that 2 and I
got sidetracked. That was supposed to be the
25 and then 2 and 44. But 25, 1 Samuel 25, 2
and 44. So, we want a king, we want a king, we
want a king. God says, you guys don't need a
king. And if I give you a king, things are going
to go really badly. And the people said, no.
we don't think so, we'll be really good this
time. Please give us a king, please give us a
king, please give us a king. The end of judges,
the time of the judges ends, and God gives the
people a king, a guy by the name of Saul. Right?
But right off the bat, Saul is told to act in
a specific way by God, to do specific things
in God's way, and right off the bat he does them
in his own way, and his prophet, Samuel, comes
along and And says, Saul, you're screwing it
up. And says, God liked you enough to be king.
You get to be king. But because you did things
the way God didn't want you to do them, your
lineage will now no longer be able to be kings
of Israel. We're going to go with somebody else.
Right? This guy, Samuel, he happens to know.
who the son of the other person is, because he's
called to go to the home of a guy named Jesse,
who has a young shepherd boy by the name of David,
whom God has shown is the actual anointed king
of Israel. David grows up, gets to be about probably
14, 16 years old, encounters this really tall
guy, right, named Goliath, kills Goliath, becomes
super, super famous. The time period after David
killed Goliath, but before David became king,
was like he was a, I don't know, I'm trying to
think of some cult hero that's really famous
today. I can't, I don't know. He'd be like today's
Billie Eilish, right? He'd be super, he'd be,
no, not a BTK, not BTK. What are they called?
The Korean band people. BTS. BTS. David was a
sensation. David was Elvis Presley. As a matter
of fact, as a matter of fact, as a matter of
fact, Bible even records that Saul was very,
very jealous of David because he would talk about
how the thousands of people show up to proclaim
Saul's great name, but the tens of thousands
show up to sing praises for David. And this is
really at the root of their relationship with
Saul's jealousy of David. Because David is just
trying to do what God tells him to do, for the
most part. And Saul already knows his time is
limited. And so it leads to this conflict between
King Saul and his number one favorite general,
David, who's in charge of the armies. And he
would be, right? He killed the Philistines. Claim
victory over him. So he's the head of the armies.
Well, when the king wants you dead, it doesn't
matter whether you're head of the armies or not.
Because there are other people that are going
to be willing to kill you. So David goes on the
run. And while Samuel the prophet is still alive,
David is in this region right here. If you can
see, next to this thing, you won't be able to
read what that red dot is, but it says Ramah.
This is about the region where they hung out.
When Samuel died, David and his guys on the run
actually went down here to the Negev, which is
in the Sinai Peninsula, it's close to Egypt,
into something called the wilderness of Paran.
The wilderness of Paran. And this is where they're
hiding out from King Saul who wants to kill them
because David has a legitimate claim to the throne.
Right? Samuel has proclaimed his anointed nature.
The great prophet has said, David is a special
guy. David has claimed victory over the Philistines.
David is a special guy. Saul is a powerful king,
but he's incredibly individually flawed. Right?
So there's a real reason that Saul would be worried
about somebody like David taking over his throne.
So he's trying to execute David. And David is
just trying to stay alive. So he's down here
in the wilderness of Parnon, hiding out, and
he's run out of provisions. He needs food and
water and stuff like that for his men. And this
is actually where we pick up our story tonight.
Now I'm going to go ahead and read at the beginning
here. I'm going to go ahead and read through
44. So get yourself comfortable. We're going
to go ahead and read the whole thing. We don't
normally do that. We're going to do the whole
story, then we'll go back. And in my meticulous
detail, verse by verse, explain its meaning.
So, verse 2, a certain man in Maon. Maon is right
here where my finger is, right? So here's down
here in the wilderness of Parnell next to Carmel.
Not Mount Carmel, the village of Carmel, right?
Certain man in Maon had property there at Carmel,
was very wealthy. He had 1 ,000 goats, 3 ,000
sheep, which he was shearing. in Carmel. His
name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail,
the character of our story. She was an intelligent
and beautiful woman. But her husband was surly
and mean in his dealings. And he was a Calebite,
which we won't talk about probably, but maybe
we will. When David was in the wilderness, down
here, right? He heard that Nabal was doing this
sheep shearing in Carmel. So he sent ten young
men and said, go to Nabal at Carmel and greet
him in my name. Go tell him Elvis is hungry.
It's what's being said here, really. Tell him
it's me. Say to him, long life to you, good health
to you and your household, and good health to
all that is yours. That's a formulaic blessing.
That one in the Middle East would give to another
in the Middle East to show that there's no ill
harm, that we're not trying to cheat anybody.
We come on the up and up. You know, it's like
when the dealers do that thing. That's what that
statement is verbally doing. Now, I hear that
it's sheep shearing time. When your shepherds
were with us, we did not mistreat them. And the
whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs
was missing. Ask your own servants and they'll
tell you. Therefore, be favorable to my men since
we come at a festive time. Please give your servants
and your son David whatever you can find for
them. When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal
the message in David's name and then they waited.
Nabal answered David's servants by saying, Who
is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many
servants are breaking away from their masters
today. Remember, he's on the run from King Saul,
right? Why should I take my bread and water and
the meat I have slaughtered for my shears and
give it to the men coming from nowhere? Who knows
where, sorry. David's been turned around and
went back. When they arrived, they reported every
word. David said to his men, each one of you
strap on your sword. So they did, and David strapped
his on as well, right? Regulators, mount up.
About 400 men went up with David, while 200 stayed
with the supplies. Verse 14. One of the servants
told Abigail, who was Nabal's wife, David sent
messengers from the wilderness to give our master
greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet
these men were very good to us. They did not
mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in
the fields near them, nothing was ever missing.
Night and day they were a wall around us the
whole time we were herding our sheep near them.
Now think it over and see what you can do. Because
disaster is hanging on our master and his whole
household. He is such a wicked man that no one
can talk to him. Abigail acted quickly. She took
200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five
dressed sheep. Five say is about a bushel. about
five bushels of roasted grain, a hundred cakes
of raisins, two hundred cakes of pressed figs,
loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants,
Go on ahead, and I'll follow you. But she did
not tell her husband Nabal. As she came riding
her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were
David and his men descending toward her, and
she met them. David had just said, It's been
useless all my watching over this fellow's property
in the wilderness, so that nothing of his was
missing, and he has paid me back evil for good.
May God deal with David, be it ever so severely,
if by morning, David is saved. Let God do whatever
he wants to me, and I don't care what he's got
to do, but I can promise you that by tomorrow
morning, I will leave one male of all who belong
to him. It's going to kill everybody. When Abigail
saw David, she quickly got off her donkey, bowed
down before David with her face to the ground.
She fell at his feet and said, Pardon your servant,
my lord, and let me speak to you. Hear what your
servant has to say. Same kind of formulaic act
of submission here. Please pay no attention,
my lord, to that wicked name Nabal. He's just
like his name. His name means fool, and folly
goes with him. Nabal means fool. It also means
the word churlish. As for me, your servant, I
did not see the men my lord sent. And now, My
Lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and
as you live, since the Lord has kept you from
bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your
own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent
on harming my Lord be like Nabal. And let this
gift which your servant has brought to my Lord
be given to the men who follow you. Please forgive
your servant's presumptions. The Lord your God
will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my
Lord. Because you fight the Lord's battles. And
no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as
you could live. She missed on that part. Even
though someone is pursuing you to take your life.
The life of my Lord will be bound securely in
the bundle of the living by the Lord your God.
But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away
as from the pocket of a sling. That's a beautiful
phrase that I'll explain here later. When the
Lord is fulfilled. For my Lord, every good thing
He promised concerning Him and appointed Him
ruler over Israel, my Lord will not have on His
conscience the staggering burden of needless
bloodshed or having avenged Himself. And when
the Lord your God has brought my Lord success,
she says, remember your servant. David said to
Abigail, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
who sent you here to me today to meet me. May
you be blessed for your good judgment and for
keeping the bloodshed of this day and for avenging
myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as sure
as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who's kept
me from harming you, if you had not come quickly
to meet me, no, not one male belonging to Nabal
would have been left alive at daybreak. Then
David accepted from her hand what she had brought
to him and said, Go home in peace. I have heard
your words and granted your request. When Abigail
went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a
banquet like that of a king. Remember, it's sheep
shearing time there in Nebraska, right? And so
they're feasting. This is a time of plenty. He
was in high spirits and very drunk. She told
him nothing at all until daybreak. So he gets
drunk all night. She's not going to mess with
starting a fight with him tonight. He's drunk.
So she waits till the morning when he's sober.
His wife told him all these things. Everything
she had just told him about David, she stopped
David, the guy who killed Goliath, David, from
coming with 400 dudes and slaughtering your whole
family. I stopped David. Remember Goliath? I
stopped him from coming and slaughtering our
whole family. And when his wife had told him
these things, his heart failed him. It became
like a stone. About 10 days later, the Lord struck
the ball and he died. It's believed that he probably
had a stroke. That's a stroke, not a heart attack.
When David had heard that Nabal was dead, he
said, Praise be to the Lord. It was my cause
against Nabal for treating me with contempt.
He's kept his servant from doing wrong. He's
brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head.
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to
become his wife. The servants went to Carmel,
and she said to Abigail, David has sent us. to
you to take you to become his wife. She bowed
down with her face to the ground and said, I
am your servant and ready to serve you and wash
the feet of my Lord's servants. Abigail quickly
got on a donkey and attended her five female
servants, went with David's messengers and became
his wife. David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel.
They were both his wives. It's an interesting
story here too. But Saul had given his daughter
Michael, David's wife, to Patil, the son of Laish.
who was from Gallium. And that's why we're not
sure whether she was the second or the third
wife, because Michael was the first wife, but
then Saul gave David's first wife to another
dude. But then she came back to the house. So
it's kind of confusing about how many wives this
guy David had. She didn't want him more than
the ball. So what we see in Abigail here is highly
intelligent, apparently beautiful. Young woman,
but she's married to an arrogant, selfish drunk.
Right? Whose name is Nabal, which in Hebrew literally
means fool. Now, people have talked about this,
like, why would she have married, if she was
so intelligent, why would she have married a
guy like Nabal, first and foremost? Secondly,
why would she have married a guy whose name was
fool? Right? Right. Well, one, she didn't probably
have a lot of choice in the matter as far as
marriage. Two, the name thing, it's like, um,
uh, anybody have a friend named Smokey? Yep,
yep. Literally walk around, and the clock would
be mine. Oh, right. Uh, Rocky? Yeah. Rusty. Rusty,
that's a good one. Anybody know a Rusty? Yeah.
Is he Rusty? No, no, no. Okay, Nabal means fool,
but Nabal's also a name, right? Just because
his name is Rusty doesn't literally mean... He's
oxidizing. Now, so first and foremost, we need
to understand that this was going to be probably
the result of an arranged marriage between these
two, which is a great warning to all of us. Though
we see tonight how God can and does often overcome
things in a bad marriage, I'm going to say it
again so we can all hear it. While God often
does work through our lives, To prevent bad marriages,
the most important thing that God tells us to
do is to not enter into bad marriages in the
first place. Tonight is all going to be about
husband and wife relationships. But we need to
get to a hierarchy here of what exactly God does
in fact desire. And first and foremost, God desires
that if you have a desire for someone that is
not... In God's best interest for you, the first
step is to probably not enter into that marriage
to begin with. Right? Abigail, again, probably
didn't have that privilege. But the sad fact
is that even those today who do, and the truth
is that the people who do have a choice, and
the people who are, they think, intelligent and
thoughtful and careful. with the process, right?
Even asking for God's careful guidance in the
relationship and believing that they have it
and go through with the marriage, often those
relationships still end up broken. People realize
after just a short period of time that maybe
they've married someone that changed all recognition
of the person that they had fallen in love with.
If you've ever found yourself in a situation
like that, then tonight's story about Abigail
is just for you. Now, the story does have a happy
ending. But like most love stories and like most
happy endings, there is heartbreak and heartache
and pain along the way. And I'm sure you probably
can identify with that feeling as well. So the
first thing I want to do is just kind of set
the scene here. When we open up our story in
verse 2, we find David at this low point. Remember
how I just described David. He's on the run for
his life. David is seen as being someone, if
you recall, Nabal is going to make this statement
about there are so many servants breaking away
from their masters, which means... Indicatively,
that Nabal understands what's going on between
Saul and David. And Nabal is on Saul's side.
Right? In that instance, David is the servant
and Saul is the master. And I'm going to have
this breakaway guy. And I'm going to give him
all these provisions. He's just a runaway slave
in my mind. That's the way Nabal takes it. Because
he understands what's going on between Saul and
David. And he's with the current king. Abigail
is not, and for that, she's going to be one of
the seven women, recognize seven women prophets.
Because she does make a prophecy within her statement
to David. We'll get there. So, now while David
has begun to run out of these provisions, right?
So he sent these guys down to check when the
ball, to see if they could get something, some
provision. Now why? Let me explain why they would
think that they would have provisions coming
to them. So what David and his men had been doing
was living in this wilderness area. Scripture
backs this up. Remember, they talked to the servants
and the servants say that, look, whenever the
sheep were near his men, nothing ever came up
stolen. Everything was always protected. He said
David and his men acted like a wall, right? around
our property, around our sheep. They've actually
done a job for Nabal. Now, Nabal is obviously
celebrating a great harvest of wool, if you will.
They say that his flock of about 3 ,000 sheep
would have produced perhaps maybe up to 2 tons
of wool, which would have been of significant
value. in 1000 B .C. Two tons of wool. So, Nabal
has a large, a commercially large agricultural
program. Right? Nabal doesn't have the county
sheriff to come out and handle what do they call
that when you steal a horse at Wranglin? Not
Wranglin. Rustic. Right? They don't have the
county. They don't have rangers to come out and
handle rustlers. And for large agricultural ranching
operations like this, protecting the livestock,
as much as it is today, is of your most supreme
importance. Because every cow or every sheep
or every goat or whatever that you allow to be
stolen is maybe not just one animal gone, but
if it does. Mother that could have had calves,
right? I mean, there's a generational thing that's
lost here. Livestock are very, very important
animals. They're super important at this time.
Problem is with sheep, right? The sheep, what
do they do all day? They just eat grass, right?
Now, I'm not asking any of you if you're a geographer,
but I'm just going to ask basic general knowledge.
What do you think? Down here near Egypt, in the
Middle East, Little bit of grass, lots of grass.
Little bit of grass, right? So you've got to
keep these herds moving around so they can have
places to forage. Which means that every time
you go to a new place, you run the risk of encountering
more danger to your flock. And so for Nabal to
have celebrated a season of wool growth, a season
of sheep production, and not have any significant
losses, and not have to pay anybody for protecting
all of those livestock, is a significant additional
amount of money in his pocket. But it's not the
right thing to do. Because in this time, the
one way that you, I mean, how do you, in 1000
B .C., how do you think you distinguish between
a robber, and a security guard. Did he rob you
first? Right? I mean, the robber can be the security,
but the security guard can be the robber. You
don't want to pay the security guard? Guess what
he does? He becomes the robber. Right? It's a
fact of life. It's not like Nabal just says,
well, I didn't, I mean, Nabal doesn't have like
some... Workers' comp claim or something. Nabal
doesn't have a small claims court thing where
he could just go, well, I never entered into
a contract with David and his men. This was a
condition of doing this kind of life at this
kind of time. And if you chose to take advantage
of people that protected your agricultural interests,
and you chose not to reward them, guess what?
They stop being the security guard, and they
start becoming the robbers. And that's exactly
what David's threatening here, right? Oh, you're
not going to pay us really what we're owed? Well,
there's not going to be one nail in your family
life tomorrow. Let's see what happens to the
sheep then. Right? That's what's going on here.
The boy has an obligation. Given his abundance.
Given what's been through the, I'm not sure what
they call it, the growing season of the sheep,
right? And he's had success. He knows he owes
this money. But he's a fool. Right? So this is
the very, very first thing that I think we need
to understand in this story. That it kind of
seems crazy. Like, it kind of feels like, oh,
you know, you see movies about like mafia extortion
in New York City or something. Where the guy
comes in and says, this is a really nice place
you got here. It would be a shame if anything
bad were to happen to it. Well, it sure would
be a shame if... You showed up tomorrow and then
nice front windows were bashed in. Boy, that
would really stink. Why don't you gain me a little
bit of money and I'll make sure that that never
happens for you. Right? And it is kind of like
that. But this is a necessity. And I think the
same thing probably in larger cities with the
mafia. It's a necessity of doing business. Right?
Because the truth is that the police in New York
City can't provide... You the same level of protection
that the mafia could if you were paying them
protection money. You know what I mean? Think
about it. For free, I get to depend on the NYPD.
Or for a fee, I could have the mafia protect
my place. Which one do you think you'd feel most
comfortable with? The mafia. That's right. That's
right. See, that's what we're talking about here.
Abigail sees this, though. Abigail sees this
like, man. This is not right. This isn't even
living with integrity. Because the ball, you
know, this isn't even about a disagreement of
how much. You know you owe this guy something.
And so, contrary to what we might think would
be the historical character and nature of a woman
in first century B .C. Middle East, Abigail acts
quickly. Right? She gets all of this stuff. She
gets 200. Loaves of bread, verse 18. 200 loaves
of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep,
60 pounds of roast grain, 100 cakes of raisins,
200 cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on
the donkeys. And once she meets David on the
road, verse 24 to 32, right? She begins this
appeal, right? But what we see here is Abigail's
words and her actions actually have the effect
of averting the wrath of David. Right? And in
the process, at least saving maybe not Nabal,
but any male that was around the place. Right?
So, in verse 2, we see that Nabal was rich, 3
,000 sheep, 1 ,000 goats. Abigail, it seems,
probably agrees with the Beatles that money can't
buy me love. Right? It certainly didn't for her.
Verse 3, the second of it, we find that Nabal
is this harsh and evil guy. In verse 11, we see
the fact that he's so selfish. Check this out.
If you're reading the King James Version, you
can read along with me. I check different versions
of the Scripture that I'm reading whenever I
teach. I've been using the NIV tonight, but for
this one, I use the King James Version because
in one verse, in verse 11, and I think that I'm
right. I counted seven times in one verse where
Nabal refers to himself. He says, Shall I then
take my bread and my water and my flesh that
I have killed for my shears and give it unto
men whom I know not whence they be? In one sentence,
refers to himself seven times. Right? Then we
also see verse 17, the second half. He's also
very stubborn. And so, verse 36, near the end
of the account, so we've got this guy who's extremely
arrogant. He's extremely stubborn. Verse 36,
near the end of the account, we also find he
has another problem. He was drunk, right? Based
on what we know so far about Abigail, sounds
like these two are probably incompatible, right?
We hear that kind of language all the time. Abigail,
to her eternal credit, tries to make the most
of what is definitely a terrible situation. And,
in my opinion, this is a great example of the
unequal yoke that we read about in the New Testament.
You may or may not have heard that term before.
2 Corinthians 6 and 14. Do not be yoked together
with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and
wickedness have in common? What fellowship can
light have with darkness? While I said she made
the best of it, I also want to make it clear
that this probably would have not been easy for
her to pull off. So not only was she incredibly
intelligent, incredibly compassionate, she was
also incredibly brave. For her to even pull this
stunt off might have put her own life in danger.
But you know, maybe Abigail felt suffocated in
her marriage. Maybe she hated being paired with
such a bad husband, right? Maybe this is just
the result of her own personal selfish desires.
I don't think that's the case, and I'll explain
why. She's definitely attached by a chain to
this fool, right? In verse 14 to 17, we see that
Abigail, after her servant came, to apprise her
of the situation and how she had heard of David's
men coming, right? And that they were angry,
remember, because they had acted as a wall of
protection around them. And then she finds that
David is breathing murderings and threatenings,
just like Saul of Tarsus, by the way, that we'd
read about in the New Testament. Look at the
weight of verses 21 and 22, right? He was going
to kill. Everybody around him. Right? That was
real anger. Now, we also find that Abigail here
plays the role of wise counselor. And another
weird thing here about the writing of Abigail
is how Abigail is, I don't think, is ever actually
told to do anything. That whenever she speaks,
she's actually always the one making a demand.
Even though she's being very comfortable and
kind with her words to David and she's using
the your servant this and your servant that,
everything she says is not a will you, but do
so. And when that happens, remember how cool
I am about it. Right? I mean, it's very interesting
here. The agency that Abigail is given in being
able to counsel David. You guys know who counseled
David just before Abigail began counseling? Samuel.
And it's only Samuel who died in verse 1 of this
story. Halfway through the next story of Samuel
dying, here's this woman, Abigail, and how it
dies in the future king of Israel, David. for
the writers of 1 Samuel to have given a woman
this much power in the story is of note. We should
pay attention to why Abigail had such boldness
in her interaction with David. And I think it's
because of the result of, personally, that it's
the result of the Spirit descending upon Abigail
that not only provides her the ability to be
wise, as a counselor, but also be forceful in
her womanly way with David to get what she wanted
accomplished, I think that it's the result of
the Spirit of the Lord. Because not only does
she have the ability to do that, but she'll also
have the ability to prophesy. She makes a prophecy
over David that has only been spoken of by David
except by one person, one other person. The guy
who died in verse 1, Samuel. Samuel, the great
prophet of the nation. The guy who actually gets
to bless. God says you're the king. Nope. God
says you're the king. That's Samuel. Abigail
is the next person in the story to understand
the prophetic meaning of David and his future.
Okay? And look at verse 26. And now, my Lord,
as surely as the Lord your God lives, as you
live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed
and from avenging yourself with your own hands,
May your enemies and all who are intent on harming
my Lord be like Nabal. Be foolish. Right? Now
what we're pointing out here, she's pointing
out that David, you have a much bigger job to
do than worrying about Nabal. Because if you
just run around killing people willy -nilly because
they didn't give you a big cake or something,
right? You're not going to be able to rule God's
people with integrity. You're a stone -cold -blooded
murderer. Right? And Abigail is actually saying
something in prophetic language here. She's saying
it's actually really great that you made this
decision because when you become king, you're
not going to have blood on your hands. You're
going to be able to operate the kingdom with
godly intent because you're not going to be riddled
with the guilt and shame of being a murderer.
What I want you to see is that Abigail points
something out to David. God has brought me to
you. At the beginning of verse 26, we see as
well at the end, she points out that God is the
only right avenger. Right? That's the inference.
David, this is not your fight to fight. Whenever
Nabal did what he did to you, he didn't offend
you as much as he offended God. And it's not
your place to take blood. It's not yours to spill
blood. It's not your place to take life. That's
God's job. God will take care of it. And sure
enough, that is what happens. David is saving
himself from having blood on his hands. It's
interesting that this story is a direct opposite
correlation with David having an interaction
with another man's wife, Bathsheba. David has
an interaction who becomes his wife too. He has
another interaction. With Bathsheba only this
time, David doesn't follow the advice of the
godly woman. David takes things into his own
hands, and while he doesn't actually kill the
Hittite, no, I can't think of his name, Bathsheba's
husband, Uriah. He does put Uriah on the front
lines and then tells... And tells Joachim, the
leader of the army, to pull back once he's out
there. So he is responsible for his death. I
mean, the way that inappropriate situations break
down between husband and wife, whenever it comes
to the story of David, Nabal, and Abigail, it's
completely different than the way that it breaks
down with David, Bathsheba, and Uriah, right?
But in the end, people still end up dead, right?
So Nabal was the fool because he doesn't listen
to Abigail and her advice. And David is the wise
one in the story because he listens to her advice.
David accepted from her hand what she had brought
him and said, go in peace. I've heard your words,
granted your request. Disaster and bloodshed
averted. But then the story takes another turn
because she returns back home and she comes to
tell Nabal. What she's done and how the threat
has been averted. Verse 36. When Abigail went
to the ball, he was in the house holding a banquet
like that of a king. He was in high spirits.
Very drunk. Right? He would have been a lot of
use had David actually shown up and tried to
start a fight with him in the night. But the
wise woman, what does she do? You probably know
this from your own experience, right? Comes home,
finds him drunk. Does she grab a frying pan?
No, she's going to be smarter than that. She's
going to wait until tomorrow whenever he's sober.
Right? If I punch him in the head right now,
then I'm just as bad as he is. No, no, no. We're
going to do this in the light of day. Right?
So that happens. We find out in the story that
Nabal, because he realizes what incredibly...
A poor decision he had made. He suffers some
sort of physical ailment and dies. So in the
last few moments that I have here, I just would
like to tease out a few of what I think to be
timeless truths, scriptural truths, that are
important that we need to take and think about
in our own relations. The first truth that we
find is that an unequaled yoke between two people
can cause unequal... unimaginable pain and anguish.
Again, the best way to get out of a bad marriage
is to not get into the bad marriage and to begin
with. Right? Unequaled yokes can bring untold
pain and anguish. Right? A second timeless truth
though that we have to also admit here is that
bad marriages happen. Mismatches are common.
Now let me qualify. It's important because some
marriages improve. Just because marriages start
out rocky doesn't mean that they can't improve.
And praise God for that. There's nothing too
hard for the Lord and God's grace is great. Once
a partner is saved or there's a spiritual transformation
in the life of a spouse, they just seem to grow
spiritual maturity and they quite frankly become
easier to live with. And when that doesn't happen,
they don't. But some bad marriages don't end
up as good marriages. Some bad marriages don't
have happy endings. And the truth is, we need
to live in the real world. And this story confronts
that. In verse 39, it says that Nabal was judged
and many people would launch in right there and
say, well, there you go, right? God bails out
Abigail. Thank you for that. This bad situation
with Abigail. God bails her out and kills Nabal,
right? But note what verse 39 says. Nabal was
not judged for Abigail's sake, but for David's
sake. Because he was to be anointed king. Right?
God did not bail out Abigail from a bad marriage.
This whole story saved the future king of Israel
from an integrity problem. And that's of greater
import to God and His larger plan with the people
of Israel. That's my opinion, that that's of
more import. What Abigail teaches us is that
she believed and she exhorted to David that revenge
is God's business. Not mankind. People, humankind.
Right? There's also, I think, a bit of encouragement
in this acknowledgement of this bad marriage.
And that is, right? And that is that if you're
in a bad marriage, you don't have to despair.
Because you can glorify God in a bad marriage.
Right? It can get better. God transforms it.
Can transform it supernaturously. Wonderously.
But if you ever find... in such a situation,
remember that not all hope is lost. Even if that
marriage seems to end and that you've done all
your power to prevent it, you can still glorify
God no matter what ends up happening. Right?
If you focus on bringing glory to God and not
focus on your personal desires. Even when the
worst thing in a relationship that could happen.
Even in divorce. you can still glorify God through
a bad marriage. That's what Abigail does here.
She continues to glorify God, not paying attention
to her immediate circumstance whatsoever. The
third thing is, and that's this, that your spouse,
or what kind of a jerk he or she is, is no excuse
for your lack of spiritual growth. You still
have a responsibility to God. Bad marriages can
happen. Right? Well, and you can't flip it around.
Well, bad marriages happen, good marriages happen.
It doesn't really matter who I marry because
God will make it all right in the end. No, no,
no, no, no, no, no. You have a job to do in this
too. Right? The covenant in a marriage covenant
is not just between you two, but you three. You
have a job to do. The fourth lesson that God...
even in bad situations like that, can bring and
will bring other encouraging believers along
your path. Just like He does for Abigail and
for David. When they come and they seek fellowship,
right? And they take their counsel and their
advice. And fifthly, the last thing, maybe the
penultimate thing, but next to last. Even good
marriages have their problems. Human relationships
are tough. And the only way that you can guarantee
that God will provide for you in the relationship
is if you place your trust and your faith in
God's plans for you versus your own plans for
you. Now that gets into the difference between
happiness and joy. Right? That gets into the
difference between happiness and contentment.
All of that only becomes really truly understood
with spiritual maturity. But these are things
that can be true. Now finally, let me just give
you a few things. First, if you are married,
be godly examples to your husbands. And if you're
not married, be godly examples to other men.
Again, your involvement in a bad relationship
is no excuse for your lack of spiritual growth.
1 Corinthians 7 -16, Paul says, How do you know,
wife, whether you will save your husband? Or
how do you know, husband, whether you'll save
your wife? Some people feel that Abigail was
actually rebellious in her relationship here.
And I don't know. I haven't quite figured out
where I come down. Because people say, well,
she went behind her husband's back to do all
this. She didn't tell him of her plans ahead
of time. The fact of the matter is that in Ephesians
chapter 5, Men are to love their wives like Christ
loves the church. And wives are to obey their
husbands and submit to them in the Lord. That's
what that actually says. People like to... Dudes
like to stop it. But you have to submit to the
Lord, not to the man. And that means... And if
that means that glorifying God means that this
relationship ends, then you focus on glorifying
God and let the court take care of the rest.
Right? Amen to that. Don't get into bad relationships
first. Right? I did. Why didn't you listen? Right?
And look, this isn't a wives versus husbands,
husbands versus wives thing. Whenever our spouse,
whenever our partner, whenever the person that
we are paired with, when they are failing to
do the godly thing, what is your responsibility?
To do the godly thing. And that's what Abigail
shows us. More than anything, you are not the
product or the responsibility of your spouse
or mate's spirituality. Your commitment to God
and your faith to God is your responsibility.
We can live on several levels, I think, in this
story. I think it's very interesting what this
story tells us. Right? One thing that it definitely
tells us is this. What is the good in ever returning
evil for good? Like Nabal wanted to. Never. Right?
Or... What is the good like David in returning
evil for evil? Not good still. And apparently
it says Abigail as well. Vengeance is God's,
not yours, David. Or we could be like Abigail,
right? And we could return good for evil. Jesus
is blessed of the peacemakers. For they indeed
are the children of God. What a story, right?
This is a great woman. This is a great example.
Now? Now it's all on us. Well, I'll take that.