A Wise Woman once said...

 

    I grew up hearing saying like "a wise woman once said...".  It was always small little tidbits of advice that could apply wisdom to my life.  It is wisdom because these people actually lived through something to get to that conclusion.  They have experienced things that we have not.  It is worthy tidbits to respect, even if you may feel like it does not apply to your life.  

    When Samuel died it was a mournful time for Israel.  Change was yet again in the air, but in a way that no one could predict.  David and his men moved on to Carmel where they ran into a surly rich man named Nabal.  He was blessed with  a beautiful and intelligent wife named Abigail.  She was always having to clean up his messes and made him look as good as she could.  

    David sent 10 polite men to peacefully and respectfully to ask Nabal for whatever food he could spare.  Nabal said he had none and he was not kind about it.  Nabal's hot head and appearance of not understanding the culture of taking care of strangers offended David.  David probably chose his property because if he went anywhere else, then it would have been a burden on the people.

    David was a pretty calm man, so Nabal must have been super obnoxious for David to vow to kill every male in the household.  He took 400 men to complete the job.  A servant had reported to Abigail and she went to work at once to make peace.  This meant keeping her husband out of the loop because if he had forbidden her, then she would not have been able to make peace.  

    She met David on the road humbly.  She took on the blame of her husband.  As a wise woman, she said "My Lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, he he lives up to his name: His name means stupid, and stupidity is all he knows."  She said many things that got David to accept her gift of food and blessed her good judgment.  She had saved many lives that day.

    When Abigail returned home, Nabal was already drunk.  She chose to tell him in the morning all she had done.  After all a wife should not keep secrets from her husband.  It is all about the context and timing in a bad marriage.  The news gave him a heart attach and he died about 10 days later.  God took care of punishing Nabal's evil heart, so David never had to and Abigail would be free of his burden.

    David heard and returned to make Abigail his wife.  It was how he took care of her and it only made him a better man for it.  He also married Ahinoam and Jezreel.  My guess is that she asked to be able to have them near.  They were probably her two best friends.  (David had lost Michal because Saul had given her to Paltiel as if David were dead.)

 Samuel