In chapter 25, we find a beautiful portrait of a humble and noble woman of God. When the story opens, Abigail is married to Nabal, an ignorant and foolish man. Her husband had little discernment and acted rudely to David’s men, who had protected Nabal’s men and flocks for an extended period of time. David heard of the insults and headed out to deliver some immediate justice. Abigail, because she was gracious and godly, intercepted him, intervening in order to makeup for her husband’s lack of common sense. She appealed to David and was willing to take the guilt of her husband’s sin on herself, basically saying, “blame me.”<\/p>\n
Abigail and David\u2019s first conversation was filled with references to the Lord, their mutual faith in Him, and their common desire to be kept from doing wrong.\u00a0 Abigail was a woman of faith, a lady of great character and intelligence. She turned David back to the Lord, keeping him from taking matters into his own hands.<\/p>\n
Another great woman of faith, Eleanor Roosevelt, said:<\/p>\n
One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes . . . and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
How true for all of us, both men and women trying to become men and women of faith. More choices will be coming at every one of us today, and how well we respond to them will effect our tomorrows.<\/p>\n
“LORD, help us to make good, godly choices today in each and every decision we face, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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1 Samuel 25 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1<\/sup>\u00a0And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0there was\u00a0<\/em>a man in Maon, whose possessions\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>in Carmel; and the man\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Now the name of the man\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and\u00a0she was\u00a0<\/em>a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>churlish and evil in his doings; and he\u00a0was<\/em>of the house of Caleb. 4<\/sup>\u00a0And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And thus shall ye say to him that liveth\u00a0in prosperity\u00a0<\/em>, Peace\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>both to thee, and peace\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>to thine house, and peace\u00a0be<\/em>unto all that thou hast.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.\u00a0\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And when David\u2019s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Nabal answered David\u2019s servants, and said, Who\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>David? and who\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>unto men, whom I know not whence they\u00a0be<\/em>?\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0So David\u2019s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff. 14<\/sup>\u00a0 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal\u2019s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0But the men\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he\u00a0is such\u00a0<\/em>a son of Belial, that\u00a0a man\u00a0<\/em>cannot speak to him. 18<\/sup> Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched\u00a0corn\u00a0<\/em>, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>on asses.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And it was\u00a0so, as\u00a0<\/em>she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this\u00a0fellow\u00a0<\/em>hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that\u00a0pertained\u00a0<\/em>unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that\u00a0pertain\u00a0<\/em>to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord,\u00a0upon\u00a0<\/em>me\u00a0let this\u00a0<\/em>iniquity\u00a0be:\u00a0<\/em>and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.\u00a0\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>Nabal: for as his name\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>, so\u00a0is<\/em> he; Nabal\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>his name, and folly\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0Now therefore, my lord,\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0liveth, and\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>thy soul liveth, seeing the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath withholden thee from coming to\u00a0shed\u00a0<\/em>blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the\u00a0LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>thy days.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out,\u00a0as out\u00a0<\/em>of the middle of a sling.\u00a0\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And it shall come to pass, when the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0And David said to Abigail, Blessed\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: 33<\/sup>\u00a0And blessed\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>thy advice, and blessed\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to\u00a0shed\u00a0<\/em>blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0For in very deed,\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0So David received of her hand\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person. 36<\/sup>\u00a0And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal\u2019s heart\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>merry within him, for he\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.\u00a037<\/sup>\u00a0But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>a stone. 38<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass about ten days\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>, that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0smote Nabal, that he died. 39<\/sup>\u00a0And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.\u00a040<\/sup>\u00a0And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.\u00a041<\/sup>\u00a0And she arose, and bowed herself on\u00a0her\u00a0<\/em>face to the earth, and said, Behold,\u00a0let\u00a0<\/em>thine handmaid\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.\u00a042<\/sup>\u00a0And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.\u00a0\u00a043<\/sup>\u00a0David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives. 44<\/sup>\u00a0But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David\u2019s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>of Gallim.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In chapter 25, we find a beautiful portrait of a humble and noble woman of God. When the story opens, Abigail is married to Nabal, an ignorant and foolish man. Her husband had little discernment and acted rudely to David’s men, who had protected Nabal’s men and flocks for an extended period of time. David […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6531"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16179,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6531\/revisions\/16179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}