Abigail: One Of Only Four “Beautiful” Women In The Bible
Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The Holy Bible is not exactly replete with direct complements toward individuals and therefore, we may assume that one given is quite meaningful. The three others referred to as beautiful (or "very fair") are, Vashti (Esther 1:11), Sarah (Genesis 12: 11,14), Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:2-3). But Abigail was not only a beautiful woman, she was a good and godly person.
It is best that the reader read the following verses in order to understand the anger aroused in David.
And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And 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: And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And 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. Ask 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. And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?
So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. And 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. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. But the men were 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: They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. (1 Samuel 25: 2-17)
When Abigail had heard this, she hurriedly put together a load of provisions and headed to find David and his men. She met them as they were coming back to the fields where Nabal was shearing his sheep. She gave them the provisions she had readied and made a humble plea for David to spare her husband's life and not to destroy his holdings.
"And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet 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 LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; That 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 LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid." (1 Samuel 25: 23-31)
David was very impressed and gratefully accepted the food with the assurance he would not bother her husband.
Then in verse 38 the Bible says: "And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died."
When David heard of Nabal's death, he sent his men to Abigail and asked her to come and be his wife, which she did. The story had a happy ending for a good woman. It is suggested by many scholars that Abigail may not have had any choice when it came to marrying Nabal, since it was the custom of many people at the time, for the father to choose a husband for his daughter.
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)Yea, Thou and thine hath written thee a goodly piece and hath not hasted !In some explications she is endowed with corpulence and is shown to be enormously obese as well as clumsy:E.G. "And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face,.."(I know that by now you can take a joke.)Another nice job well done;PaulHi Paul, I surely can take a joke, but in this case, I only knew the meaning of "and", "not" "in some" and "ass". You sound like an actor in a Shakespeare's play. Thanks for the comment.
Biblical scholars have postulated that it was much too much a coincidence, given what we know of the personality and inklings of King David that Nabal died a mere ten days after this meeting; I, too, am also convinced that David had a 'hand' in her husband's death so that he might have a 'hand' with most lovely and most eloquently convincing Abigail.Well, I admit David was capable of such, ie, Bathsheba, but here it says the LORD smote him. I go with that until I can see a reason to think otherwise. It's another good observation though, and I'm not trying to say you are wrong about it. The LORD has smitten many by some humans swords.
Neat snapshot of a lady who was easy on the eyes and used extreme wisdom also. Thanks Joel! MarijoThanks for reading Marijo, and the nice comment.
Enjoyed your article very much. I am a fan of Francine Rivers and she is always writing biblical stories about the people in the Bible. Thanks for sharing.
Very good read Joel. Abigail was not only beautiful but extremely wise as well. I have always liked the passage of scripture that talks about their (Abigail's & David's meeting). Thanks for sharing Joel.Thanks for reading and commenting Edward. Yes, she was a very astute lady.
Hi Joel. Thank you for sharing this well-written article. There is so much to learn from this women in the Bible. ~Nenita~Thanks Nenita, and you are correct. Normally the women of the bible were a lot better than the men (aren't they still?) with the exception of a few, such as Jezebel, Delilah, etc.
Thanks for the post. I love reading it. But may i ask what does this mean in Job 42:14-15. Can this women be one of the most most beautiful mention in the Bible?
Thanks.Thanks for the comment rubie, I suspect this does mean they were very beautiful. I was merely referring to those who were specifically referred to as beautiful. I imagine there were a number of others so. I doubt that David had anything less than beautiful wives, as probably his son Solomon did also and he had 600 of them.
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