Discerning, beautiful Abigail

Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. (1 Samuel 25:1-3, ESV)

Pastor preached from the 25th of I Samuel Sunday.

Notice the description of Abigail. The text does not just say she was beautiful, but that she was discerning and beautiful. Discerning is listed first. This is a fairly familiar text. Abigail is the wife of Nabal who is a foolish, harsh, and badly behaved man.

In the course of this story, Nabal manages to offend David, who then decides to lop off Nabal's head and kill anyone else attached to his household. A servant then runs to Abigail.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.” (1 Samuel 25:14-17, ESV)

The servant understands that Nabal is "such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him". What's more he understands he can say so to Nabal's wife, Abigail. I think this means at least two things: 1) it is no secret to anyone that Nabal is worthless and will not listen, and 2) Abigail, who knows #1, is possessed of such character, discernment, that she must be told of the danger if anyone is to survive. Nabal can't handle it.

And Abigail is successful, of course, in defusing the situation.

And David, of course, does not forget it.