We do know from one other reference in 1 Chronicles 3 that Abigail was the mother of David’s son named Daniel. Abigail also tells David not to slay Nabal because God would do the vengeance if only David would wait on the Lord. What a match! By her quick wisdom and generosity she not only saved her entire family from death, but was miraculously delivered from an evil husband, and given a Godly husband in his place. gail. Go to People in the Bible or Women in the Bible Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/SIphotography. A Bible woman was married at a very young age to a husband chosen by her family. In the second, David orders the murder of a good man because he desires his wife. King David had a complicated family life with multiple wives and many children. William Rose Benet notes the notoriety of Abigail Hill, better known as "Mrs Masham", a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne. She is mentioned a few other times in scripture, but not with as much detail as is found in this main chapter. Abigail - Women of the Bible. When David learns of Nabal’s death, he recognizes that the Lord has protected David and avenged him from Nabal’s evildoing. Abigail (Hebrew: אֲבִיגַיִל‎, avigáyil, ’ǎḇîḡayil) was the wife of Nabal; she became a wife of the future King David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel 25). [9] In terms of her moral character, Abraham Kuyper argues that Abigail's conduct indicates "a most appealing character and unwavering faith,"[10] but Alice Bach regards her as subversive. The passage in 1 Samuel 25 makes it clear he also married Ahinoam, and married others along the way. [1] Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to Palti, son of Laish when David went into hiding. We also do have to keep in mind that during the Old Testament times, women were seen more as property than humans [cultural views, not God’s] and that marriage would give them security, as we see from this article. So, if Abigail abounded with wisdom and beauty, why did David marry more than one woman. If men were intent on objectifying and abusing women, God determined to put a few safety measures in place. [15] Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding use Abigail in this generic sense, as does Charlotte Brontë. Theirs was an unequal match—perhaps an arranged marriage in which Abigail had little to say. Who Was Abigail in the Bible? The banquet Nabal throws himself, and the amount of food Abigail sends David seems to confirm this. She probably had every creature comfort anyone could ask for. She has good sense, and she keeps David from doing a bad thing. “Abigail lost no time…” (1 … Abigail was “an intelligent and beautiful woman” (1 Samuel 25:3) who saved her husband and his household, prevented David from doing something rash, and secured an unexpected future for herself. What Is the Meaning of Lazarus and the Rich Man? Her character shows us that women of God can be humble, wise, and diplomatic. If we take one look at what happens to David’s sons, we can get a good idea of the dissolving family dynamic the Davidic dynasty had. Absolutely amazing. But wait a minute, hadn’t David already married other women such as Michal and Ahinoam? Nevertheless, as stated in the Bible Study Tools article linked above, God “resets the clock” in the New Testament and Jesus’ teachings on marriage clearly show that God desires a marriage union between one man and one woman (Matthew 19). 25:33-34). "[8], Levenson and Halpern suggest that Abigail may, in fact, also be the same person as Abigail, mother of Amasa. The wife of a rich man when she met David, Abigail possessed beauty, intelligence, political shrewdness, and material wealth that helped David at a critical moment when he could have thrown away his chance at success. Scripture presents her as a beautiful, intelligent woman whose lot in life is one of being married to a rich fool. Abigail combined her wisdom with her wealth to appear before an approaching enemy to plead for… Abigail. We should also note that the examples of families with multiple spouses always seem to have massive drama or tragedy. So, does Scripture allow polygamy? This seems to indicate she had some prophetic giftings of some sort. David's third wife was named Abigail. Perhaps that is why Abigail raised no objections to the fact that David had eight wives in all. Her husband is just the opposite: mean and churlish. As a woman of limited options and say, she may have gone with it or not realized the cultural tacit ate away at not only her marriage but their family. She prepared a … But this doesn’t mean he didn’t marry other women in addition to Abigail. She gives him food, and speaks to him, urging him not to "have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed" (verse 31, NIV) and reminding him that God will make him a "lasting dynasty" (verse 28). David proceeds to ask Abigail to be his wife. They had a son named Amasa who became a leader in David's army (2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:16, 17) but was killed by his cousin, Joab. After all, most people in the Bible who marry more than one wife have great familial troubles as a consequence of this action (take, for instance, Jacob married two wives and all the drama that happens because of that). Abigail married Jether, who also was known as Ithra. In the end, she also honored and submitted to Israel's anointed king, thus saving David from the sin of avenging himself through murdering Nabal’s household (1 Sam. For more information on the name "Abigail", see, "my father's joy", "my father rejoices", "my father is joy" (or similar); from either the verbal root, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abigail&oldid=993723303, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 December 2020, at 03:38. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. According to 1 Samuel 25, Abigail is married to Nabal, a wealthy rancher, and she is described as beautiful and intelligent. Of the seven women being reviewed, she is the one most people are less likely to know. [4], In 1 Samuel 25, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, the son of Jesse (from the tribe of Judah), and Abigail attempts to placate David, in order to stop the future King from taking revenge. The passage confirms this when she predicts David will be king over Israel. As a woman of beauty and brains, she counsels David, prophesies his kingship, and becomes one of his wives who is actually named. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright © 2020, Christianity.com. Abigail, Nabal, and David Abigail is an interesting woman who we meet in 1 Samuel chapter 25. The Talmud amplifies this idea, mentioning her as being one of the "four women of surpassing beauty in the world," (the other three being Rahab, Sarah, and Esther). (1) ABIGAIL wife of Nabal the Carmelite (see Carmel) and later of David.Abigail is described as both beautiful and sagacious (I Sam. We don’t get to hear about too many female figures in the Bible, and although we may have heard the name “Abigail” widely used in today’s vernacular, we may not know much about Abigail’s story in the Bible. It's too bad the Bible doesn't say how such a wise, courageous and gifted woman like Abigail ended up married to the likes of evil Laban. Her modern-day Daniel trilogy released its first two installments with IlluminateYA, and the final one, Vision, releases in August of 2021. What Did God Mean When He Said 'Behold I Am Doing a New Thing' in Isaiah 43:19? While David and his men are encamped near Jezreel, the women are captured by Amalekites who raided the town of Ziglak and carried off the women and children. Abigail (Heb. Abigail stands out for a number of reasons. This was certainly something to appreciate during a time when Israel had been recovering from repeated attacks from surrounding nations like the Philistines. 15 Abigail thought and acted quickly. Does David mark as the exception to having more than one wife, or does he encounter consequences for doing so? Derived from the Hebrew word ab, "father", and the Hebrew root g-y-l, "to rejoice," the name Abigail has a variety of possible meanings including "my father's joy" and "source of joy". We can chalk up polygamy in the Bible as men engaging in a corrupt cultural practice that was, essentially, “okay” in their eyes at the time. Abigail had possessions, wisdom, intelligence and beauty. But does David show the exception to polygamy? So when we ask ourselves, what does it mean to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves?” we must look no further than Abigail in the Bible. Abigail's father was Zeruiah Nahash. Abigail was also honest with her husband (1 Sam. She is also the co-author of the Dear Hero duology, which was published by INtense Publications. The Bible commends Abigail for her actions. And in a few of those instances, we see her deep faith in God’s purpose and plans for David, and so she reminded him of God’s hand in his life. Abigail humbly accepts his proposal (1 Sam. Anthony Trollope makes two references to the abigail (all lower case) in The Eustace Diamonds, at the beginning of Chapter 42, whilst Thomas Mann makes the same reference at the start of the second chapter of Part 2 in Buddenbrooks (published in 1901). This should be enough to fix the current problem if used correctly. This commentary describes this as, “David was carried away by the corrupt custom of those times.”. But modern women usually choose their own husband. David led the pursuit, and they were subsequently rescued. Abigail didn’t leave Nabal; she didn’t even let David kill him. in Carmel. Ann does an amazing job filling in the rest of the story. Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to Palti, son of Laish when David went into hiding, and Ahinoam. If men were allowed to take multiple wives, they could satisfy various desires without divorce. . She became the mother of one of David's sons, who is listed in the Book of Chronicles under the name Daniel, in the Masoretic Text of the Books of Samuel as Chileab,[2] and in the Septuagint text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Δαλουια, Dalouia. As the wife of the wealthy Nabal, she is also a woman of high socioeconomic status. Burnette-Bletsch, Rhonda – “Abigail” in Carol Meyers, Toni Craven and Ross S. Kraemer, eds., Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000) 1. Or why did God allow him to do it? אֲבִיגַיִל) is the name of two women in the Bible. Does this mean that the Bible allows for polygamy? STORY OF ABIGAIL In 1 Samuel 25, a beautiful story emerges, one of submission and deliverance. For one, Nabal is a rather bizarre character. 1 Tamar Kadari, “Abigail: Midrash and Aggadah” jwa.org. 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