Copyright © Rod Benson 1996. All rights reserved.

Last weekend The Australian Magazine

published a list of the 100 most powerful women in the world,

headed by Pakistan’s President Benazir Bhuto, followed by Hillary

Clinton, the wife of the US President. Only one of those 100

women was under 30 years old, and only six were under 40. Age and

experience certainly count for something!

If the list comprised the 100 most powerful people in

the world, there would be far fewer women, and most would be well

down the list (except the Queen of England, of course). In many

ways it’s still a man’s world, men make most of the important

decisions, and men are largely responsible for the problems the

world is in today.

Today is Mothers’ Day, and rather than focus on motherhood or

child-rearing this morning, we’re going to look at one woman in

the Bible, not very well known, who provides a good role model

for women today. Her story reveals some of the characteristic

weaknesses of men, and the wisdom a woman can bring to an

impending crisis.

Her name is Abigail, and you’ll find her story in 1 Samuel 25.

Abigail lived with her husband Nabal in Maon, in the hill country

of southern Judea. Nabal was virtual king of the hill country,

but he relied on David and his men to protect his sheep business

and his family from marauding tribes raiding from the south and

east. One day David and his men arrived at Carmel, a few

kilometres south of Hebron, while Nabal and his servants were

shearing his sheep. You can almost imagine them sweating under a

corrugated iron roof, the repetitive click of their shears

mingled with the incessant buzz of flies.

David’s men needed food, so he sent a messenger to Nabal

asking for provisions. Perhaps Nabal was suffering from lack of

sleep, or he had a headache or indigestion, or the shearers’

union was applying pressure to him to increase wages, but his

response to David’s courteous request was both churlish and

arrogant. He said,

"Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many

where?" (1 Samuel 25:10-11).

Now although David was not yet king, he wasn’t accustomed to

being addressed to like this, and he knew just what to do about

it: he took 400 soldiers and marched to Carmel with the intention

of severing the heads of every man in Nabal’s community. David

was a man of quick and decisive action!

But a servant heard the plan, and told Nabal’s wife Abigail.

Now you might expect her to have donned black mourning clothes

and gone around wailing the death of her husband. But she was a

special kind of person: wise, resourceful, and diplomatic. We

pick up the story at verse 18. Abigail prepares to pacify David

with gifts of food and drink (which is what he originally asked

Nabal to give him). Imagine the scene in a movie: Abigail riding

a donkey into a narrow mountain ravine, followed at a distance by

the rest of the donkeys laden with food and wine. She runs

straight into David and his 400 warriors, and does the best thing

she could do – she gets off her donkey and bows before David with

her face to the ground.

Then, filled either with uncommon courage or reckless fear,

Abigail gives David the gifts from her household and begs

forgiveness on behalf of her foolish husband Nabal, arguing that

it was needless, indeed imprudent, for David to kill Nabal and

his servants. David accepts the logic of Abigail’s argument (and

her gifts), and relents. He says to her, "Go home in

peace. I have heard your words and granted your request"

(verse 35).

Abigail was a special kind of woman. She realised that David

was destined to become a great leader (perhaps king of all

Israel), and understood how foolish her husband had been. Using

her initiative and resources, she attempted to undo the wrong

Nabal had caused, and she succeeded. The story illustrates that

male egoism can be misguided and destructive (although David

swallows his pride and anger in the face of a peace offering from

a beautiful woman!). It illustrates the truth that women often

have insight into issues that men fail to appreciate; they are

not always wrong, or out of their depth, or ignorant. And it

suggests that we men should pay more attention to the wise advice

and insight of the women in our lives.

The final chapter of this remarkable story unfolds when

Abigail goes to Nabal to tell him how she saved him from certain

death through her prudence and quick action. Sigmund Freud argued

that a woman’s choice of a husband was often made in accordance

with the narcissistic ideal of the man whom the girl had wished

to become. If this was ever true of Abigail’s marriage to Nabal

(and I don’t believe it was), she had long since outstripped him

both socially and intellectually, and had become far more than

Nabal would ever aspire to.

She returns to where he is shearing his sheep only to find him "in high spirits and very drunk" (verse 36). This was not uncommon in those times, since the master would often throw lavish parties at night for his servants during shearing season.

The irony is that while these tables of plenty were bringing

satisfaction and joy to Nabal and his servants, David and his men

were going without, and Abigail had to arrange a special feast

from her own reserves.

Finding Nabal drunk, Abigail reserves her news until the

morning, whereupon his heart failed him and he suffers what

appears to have been a stroke. Nabal never recovered, and ten

days later he died as a result of God’s judgement. David happily

acknowledges the reality of God’s sovereignty and justice, and

asks for Abigail’s hand in marriage. Abigail lost no time in

gathering her attendants and agreeing to David’s request.

In his autobiography, South African President Nelson Mandela

relates many childhood experiences. After playing games with the

other boys, Nelson would return to his mother’s kraal for supper.

He says,

Whereas my father once told stories of heroic battles and

heroic Xhosa warriors, my mother would enchant us with Xhosa

legends and fables that had come down from numberless

generations. "These tales stimulated my childish

imagination, and usually contained some moral lesson. I recall

one my mother told us about a traveller who was approached by an

old woman with terrible cataracts on her eyes. The woman asked

the traveller for help, and the man averted his eyes. Then

another man came along and was approached by the old woman.

"She asked him to clean her eyes, and even though he found

the task unpleasant, he did as she asked. Then, miraculously, the

scales fell from the old woman’s eyes and she became young and

beautiful. The man married her and became wealthy and prosperous.

It is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue

and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know (pp.

12-13).

Abigail’s virtue and generosity were similarly rewarded in

unexpected ways. She was the kind of person who deserved to be

queen: beautiful, shrewd, with excellent political connections

(note that she is always referred to as "Nabal’s

widow" – this obviously had some significance to the

people of the time). This final part of the story of Abigail and

David teaches three lessons.

First, it reminds us that vengeance is best left to God. When

you’re put in a situation such as the one in which David found

himself, don’t try to vindicate yourself – let God vindicate you.

He is just, and his way will surely be more powerful and

effective. Second, foolish character will eventually betray

itself, and lead to your ruin; and wise character will be proved

right and good. Finally, wisdom and initiative triumph in times

of crisis, and are well rewarded – and we should never exclude

women from our discussions and decision-making.

Today, on Mother’s Day of all days, let us honour our own

mothers, the mothers of our children, and all women as priceless

gifts from God.

May 1996.

Revised: 15 Jun 1996.