1 Samuel 25

We started this book with Hannah's longing for a son and the Lord's gift of Samuel. This great man anointed both Saul and David. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Samuel died. Yet we have not heard the last of this man as we shall see in a later chapter.

Israel had to move on without Samuel, and the man who would be the father of all the kings of Judah was still on the run. Along the way, this David would grow in favor with God and man. Here in 1 Samuel 25, we hear the account of how he became married to a beautiful and discerning woman, Abigail.

Abigail was the wife of Nabal, a man who was harsh and badly behaved. He did not have an eye for the Lord's true anointed, David.

The ethics of the Lord's man were easily judged by the critic. What he communicated to Nabal through his fighters sounded like extortion. If we join in Nabal's critique we will miss the point. What would Jonathan, son of Saul, have seen in this episode? What would he have done?

The Scriptures tell us what to think of Nabal. He was an arrogant fool. David and his men have protected him in a very dangerous world that we do not understand. More than that, Nabal simply had no eye for the Son of God. “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”

Abigail was able to see in the son of Jesse a man who should be followed. She heard the true report from their working men about what David's protection had meant for them. She considered the situation rightly and took action to save lives.

Abigail was willing to take the penalty that would have been coming to her household. She brought apology, provision, and honor to David. She had listened to the word of David's goodness and his protection of their well-being and had truly believed. Her words and actions were the fruit of her belief.

Abigail restrained David from bloodshed, and called upon the Lord to make this matter right. This was holy reasoning that David could appreciate. Now David was able to see Abigail for who she was, and when Nabal soon died, he took Abigail as his wife.

It is a gift to be able to discern beyond the list of rules that have become the customs of our lives. Not every habit of our families or culture is truly the way of the Lord. To follow God requires relationship. We need eyes from God to see. We need ears from God to hear. We need the wisdom that comes from above and the humility from heaven that teaches us to bow before the Lord's Anointed. It is our great privilege to be the bride of the Son of God who shed His blood for our eternal well-being. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.