Her provision of a feast and her prophetic word averted disaster.
This series of Bible studies seeks to retell the stories of women who were divinely called and empowered to do great things. Many of them rose to the occasion, and a few very famously did not. Often, the tragedies and triumphs in their lives are missed, and their stories are told from perspectives other than with the honor and dignity they deserve.
After excavating their narratives from millennia of obfuscation, now meet the freshly restored, valiant, vivid (and sometimes villainous) women of the Bible.
Her Peace Offering Was More Than Food
God makes a point of highlighting Abigail’s intelligence as well as her beauty, but she was married to someone the Bible describes as a wealthy but also mean and surly man, known for his drunkenness.
This thirty-page book includes the retelling of Abigail’s story, a fifteen-question Bible study, and link to a twenty-minute multi-media presentation of an intrepid and capable wife whose resourcefulness saved her husband’s life and her household from ruin, and whose prophetic voice convinced the young anointed David to keep from committing a terrible a crime.
A Troubled Marriage, a Terrible Emergency
Abigail’s husband Nabal was a descendant of the famous Caleb who, along with Joshua, had led all Israel to conquer Canaan. Caleb, one of Moses’s twelve spies, and Joshua, Moses’s right-hand man, were the only two people of all those who had come through the wilderness to be granted by God the privilege of entering the Promised Land. Caleb was given Hebron as his inheritance from the Lord, within the tribe of Judah. These rich, rolling hills in Nabal’s holdings were Caleb’s legacy.
First Samuel’s account introduces Abigail as both intelligent, and beautiful in form and character. She was trusted by the servants who accepted her authority with high regard. She was resourceful, resilient, good at organizing, quick thinking, swift to action, and able to provide. Abigail was also humble and honoring to others. When she spoke, she was bold, direct, wise, and spiritually mature. Abigail was also well-known for her gracious hospitality, providing abundantly for her guests during the traditionally joyful sheep-shearing festival.
But Nabal seems not to have inherited the mettle and good character of his renowned ancestor. The Bible describes him as bad-tempered and rude, a drunkard given to ingratitude, miserliness, and disrespect. One can only guess what being married to him must have been like for Abigail.
How could a marriage so broken, weighted by the burden of abuse and unchecked addiction, bring any good to Abigail? And yet, God had a magnificent purpose in this apparently mismatched couple, as Abigail’s story reveals.
Nearly forty free Bible studies on a woman in the scriptures are available through signing up to the newsletter below. What’s included:
- Access to all the Bible studies that have been made available so far.
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