This incredible young woman could be the heroine of a novel! We meet her as the wife of Nabal of Carmel, and this is how the Bible describes them: "the woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean."

Doesn't that say a lot? David and his band of renegades have been careful to observe the desert code. They never raid the flocks of Nabal during the growing season. But when sheep shearing time comes, they follow the custom of the country
and ask for a share in the feast. It is what they have a right to expect.

Surly Nabal sends them packing, with insults added, and the fury of David is roused. "To arms," he shouts, and he dashes up the mountainside, bent on revenge.

Abigail is alerted by her servants that her husband has violated the code. The servants add that David's men have indeed been their protectors so that the unspoken plea is for her to do something. She rapidly gathers supplies, an abundance of them, and sets out down the mountain without telling Nabal.

She meets David coming up, still muttering that it has been in vain that he ordered his men to protect the sheep of this owner. Abigail's supply train distracts him until she has time to fall at his feet and apologize for her husband of whom she does not hesitate to say: "Nabal is his name and he is nabal (a fool)." She praises David, urges restraint, and uses her generous gift of food to dissipate his wrath. He blesses her good sense and sends her back home.

Back on the ranch, Nabal is feasting at the successful sheep shearing, and she says nothing that night. But in the morning, she recounts what she has done. Nabal seemingly has a stroke over this defiance -- which saved the lives of all his household -- "He became like a stone, and died within ten days."

David receives this news with some satisfaction. He then woos Abigail and makes her his wife. To my everlasting sorrow, she almost drops out of the picture after this. She is with David when he is anointed king of Israel, she is mentioned as having been taken hostage and rescued at Ziklag, and is credited with having a son, either Daniel or Chileab. Since this child never figures among David's quarreling adult sons, he must have died before maturity. What a little firebrand he might have been with such a duo for his parents!

Abigail's name -- her father's joy, in Hebrew -- is another charming thought. Where did she come from? Do you understand my fascination with her?

Bible reference: 1 Sam. 25