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.”
Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.
Comment: When we last looked at 1 Samuel on the 15th February, David was furious at being insulted and considered a joke by Nabal. We saw him with his men all armed and 400 of them on their way to teach Nabal a harsh lesson! But Nabal’s young men, who had been shepherding Nabal’s flocks in the deserted area, when they heard their employer’s insults to David, they were astute enough to know that David was unlikely to shrug the insults off. They went to Abigail, Nabal’s wife, and told her the truth of David’s dealing with and protection of them and the flocks.
Behind her husband’s back she prepared a sizeable gift – 35 litres of grain; 100clusters of raisins and 200 fig cakes – loaded them on donkeys and secretly met with David and his small, 400 strong, army of angry men! A wise plan but will it appease an angry David?
Prayer: Help me to be wise and not a fool in all my dealings, O Lord.
As I read it! 
Thank you Barry for your comments on this passage. This is an excellent example of wisdom shown first by Nabal’s young men, and then by Nabal’s wife, Abigail. She prepared an enormous amount of food, packed it on donkeys, and then proceeded to follow the men and food to meet up with David and his 400 men who had been insulted by Nabal. This shows that Nabal was not a good example to follow. He unfortunately, was bent on bringing problems into the lives of his wife, his family, and his employees. He is definitely not a peace maker, but I believe that his wife, Abigail is just such a person, thank God. God bless you.
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