Amen. Please have your Bibles open to 1 Samuel chapter 25, our text for tonight. 1 Samuel chapter 25. Stand with me for the reading of God's Word. Now, if you recall last week, we kind of did a peculiar reading. We went from verses 1 to 13 and then we skipped and we read verses 21 to 20 to 23-ish. And so we're going to do kind of the same thing. We're going to pick up from verse 14 where we left off and we're going to pick up and then we're going to skip verses 21 to 22 regarding David's intentions. Why don't we just include that since we get a good flow and we'll read all the way to verse 31 and that should give us enough time to hear Abigail's speech, which is the centerpiece of this entire chapter. And then Lord willing, we'll pick up the rest of this chapter next week. So this is the reading of God's word. 1 Samuel chapter 25, beginning with verse 14. But one of the young men told Abigail, Naval's wife, saying, Behold, Dawid sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything, as long as we went about with them while we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them, tending the sheep. Now therefore, know and consider what you should do, for evil is plotted against our master and against all his household, and he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him. Then Avigail hurried and took 200 loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheeb already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and 100 clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys. She said to her young men, go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you. But she did not tell her husband Naval. It came about as she was riding on her donkey, and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, Dawid and his men were coming down toward her, so she met them. Now Dawid had said, surely in vain I have guarded all that this man is in the wilderness so that nothing was missed and all belong to him and he returned me evil for good. May God do so to the enemies of Dawid and more also if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who belong to him. When Avigail saw Dawid, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey and fell on her face before Dawid and bowed herself to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak to you and listen to the words of your maidservant. Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Naval, for as his name is, so is he. Naval is his name and folly is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young man of my lord whom you sent. Now therefore, my lord, as the lord lives and as your soul lives, since the lord has restrained you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself by your own hand. Now then, let your enemies and those who seek evil against my Lord be as in a while. Now let this gift which your maid servant has brought to my Lord be given to the young men who accompany my Lord. Please forgive the transgressions of your maidservant for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house Because my lord is fighting the battles of the lord and evil will not be found in you all your days Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life? Then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the lord your god But the lives of your enemies he will sling out as from a hollow of a sling when And when the Lord does for my Lord, according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and appoints you ruler over Israel, this will not cause grief or troubled heart to my Lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my Lord having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with you with my Lord, then remember your maidservant. Amen. Please be seated. Now in this chapter, in this section of this chapter, in the meat portion and the central part of this highlight of this chapter, we're going to learn something about the wisdom of God and his providential prevention. The wisdom of God and his providential prevention. God sends wise people to prevent David from doing a foolish thing, a thing that David had seen Saul do, a thing that God wants to protect his anointed from doing. In the last passage, we've seen the providential prevention of the Lord in the theme of death, death of Samuel, and we're going to see death of Nabal. He is the the alter ego, if you will, of King Saul, the ultimate fool who rejects the Lord's will and who insists on his own will, who is a moral fool, is incapable of doing God's good. And so in the death of Samuel, the godly prophet, we now see the beginning of the theme of death, an end of an era, The death of Naval, which points to the ultimate death of Saul and the ascendancy of David. David is the one who is fleeing for his life, nearly escaping death, but David will live. Saul will die. We saw this man, this fool from Ma'on, the rich man, Naval. We saw also David's messengers witnessing David's interaction. David sent the messengers to request for some help in provisions. The messengers went and their message was completely rejected with scorn and ridicule. David's name was slandered. And so they came back with fury and David immediately reacted by deciding to take vengeance. That is now compounded by David's displeasure and his commitment to shed blood, not just Naval's head, but the entire household of Naval, all the male. So a great problem arose from David's need and Naval's nastiness. So in the province of God, the Lord directs the steps of an unnamed servant to notify the wise woman who becomes the solution to David's great problem. Although the unnamed servant plays a small role, he plays an essential role by directing the attention of the dangerous situation to Abigail, whom God sovereignly uses to solve this problem. And that's usually how the Lord directs providentially and grants wisdom to us. We all place ourselves in times and the path of folly. None of us always follow the path of wisdom. And from time to time, even as wise as David was, even for him, there was a moment where he lost his temper, he was set on vengeance, and he was about to taint his future by taking things into his own hands in the present in the wrong way against the will of God. And we see the Lord graciously and providentially preventing him from working that out, by creating circumstances and people to be brought to the aid. And the Lord teaches David some tremendous lessons. But there's more to the picture than what God does for David here. God also provides for Abigail, and we're going to see that as well. And in providing for Abigail, God meets her needs because 10 days from this event, she's going to be a widow. And a widow in that day, in that generation, was a pathetic picture. Unless she had a male protector, a male suitor, she was very vulnerable. and the Lord protects her and prevents her prolonged widowhood by allowing her to marry a suitable counterpart in David. And so here, the Lord's wisdom is just multifaceted. It's beautiful. His sovereign power is displayed through all parties involved. David humbly turns from his anger. So we have to give David Big time credit because he is a military man. He's infuriated. He has a right to justify his anger and take vengeance to set score and righteousness in his own masculine bravado. He feels that he is justified in doing this and none of his men are going to object. And yet he turns humbly because he's a humble man. When we're confronted by godly wisdom, Are we going to insist on our masculine pride or bravado? Or are we going to just turn and say, you're right, I was wrong. Thank you for helping me. And that's what David does. He listens to the wise counsel of a woman. David is rewarded for goods. That was more than what he had bargained for. He just wanted anything that Naval was willing to grant at this very joyous, celebrative day of sheep shearing. And David got a lot more from Abigail. So he's rewarded. Abigail is rescued from being unequally yoked with a fool. She marries a wise man that is suited for her and God is glorified in averting his servant from a disastrous outcome. So there's a lot here for us to learn. There's two major applications that I would like for us to take home with at the end of this study. So from today's text, we're going to see God's providence in the direction of a servant. He's anonymous. He plays a small but essential role. It's very important that because all of us play, at times small, but essential role in someone else. And I want us to take home that important truth that we learn from this. There's also deeds of wisdom. Wisdom is not something that you contemplate within yourself. It is always expressed in action. And then there is the speech, the dialogue of Abigail, which is the centerpiece. All the attention goes to this most lengthy speech in all of the Old Testament, Abigail's speech. And so I wonder sometimes if the excellent wife of Proverbs 31, the one who is wise in her also speech, the one who is truly loyal in love, is not also reflected in Abigail as much as it is in Ruth. And certainly her speech is a masterpiece of rhetoric. It not only addresses the mind, but also the emotions to turn the will. It is a fantastic case study for wisdom. So let's take a look at this passage in more depth. First, the direction of wisdom through a servant. The direction of God's wisdom through a servant. Verse 14 says, but one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife. Now, notice what he has done. First of all, he's called young man. In Hebrew, naar can point to a position, not necessarily age. So let's give it the fact that he is actually a younger man, a young man, but he has also a lowly position. He's a servant. He's called a naar. He's not a steward, he's a servant. Now, he goes against his master's wishes. He knows who's the head of the house, it's Naval. But he goes to Abigail. He doesn't even try to talk to Naval. What he says later on is, no one listens. He doesn't listen to anybody. He's just set in his own ways. And he doesn't wink or wait to even talk about his master in a negative light. Abigail doesn't correct him. It almost seems like everybody agrees that Nawal is a fool. In other words, Nawal has lived his entire life living for his possessions, his position. He thinks he's a master over David or anybody who comes to him for a need. He thinks that he's the master. This is the way he thinks. He is a morally incompetent individual. He has a mindset of an atheist who doesn't fear God, but only lives for himself. That's Naval. It seems that everyone knows about this, even the servants know. And so we know that this is a wise servant because he's already made up his mind. He's discerning. He knows not to go to Naval, but he goes to the wife of the master. Bold move, bold move. He's already weighed out the foolishness and the potentially disastrous result from the harsh insult that Neval has heaped upon David. And he probably sensed that his own neck is in danger. If he doesn't do anything, he probably will die in short order. So his own self-preservation is at stake. The servant dutifully and faithfully reports the preceding events. getting Mrs. Naval, Abigail's attention, saying, Behold, David has sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he scorned them. In a very brief summary, he lets Abigail know. Now, what is surprising is what he says next. The narrator spends two verses, verses 15 and 16, to give words in the mouth of this unnamed servant, and it's all about the praises of David and his men. It's primarily a description about David's men, but we all know that David's men basically follow orders from David. So it's really a praise about David. Notice what he says. Yet the men were very good to us. Notice the treatment that he and others received were very good. The shepherds also, he said, were not insulted because shepherds are lowly position. They have nothing but to do every day than to look over slow, dumb animals. So obviously it is not a highly skilled labor position, but they weren't insulted. The typical collateral damage wasn't there. They miss nothing. And the protection of the shepherds received was a protection of a wall and an open field, and constantly by day and by night. So there's a sense of vigilance and protection and goodwill and good treatment and respect. I mean, this is a description of selfless serving and securing friendship that's extended to total strangers. So obviously the servant who's reporting this is impressed at the treatment. This is none other than what the Bible teaches as chesed. Loyalty, love, kindness, characteristics highlighted by the character of the men and therefore their leader, David. That's what the servant explains. Now, at this point, we have every reason to believe that Abigail probably knew about that. But to have this confirmed by one of the servants, who now brings this news that Naval has insulted David. And so, by first bringing up praises for David and his men in his lengthy speech, in verse 17, he finishes his talk with a protest against his master. Verse 17. Notice what he's saying. The servant pleads with Abigail to know and consider and to act prudently to counter the folly of her husband. Now, therefore, know and consider what you should do. Here's the situation. They've been so good to us. They've been so friendly to us. They've been selfless and supportive and serving and protecting day and night for a long time. Instead of thanking them, maybe even repaying them for their kindness, our master has scorned them. So Mrs. Naval, know and consider what you should do because your husband just got you, me, and everybody else in big trouble. That's what he's appealing to. Since Naval is totally irresponsible, the servant places the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Abigail. For evil is plotted against our master and against all his household. Now, this servant is wise. He's perceptive. He understands. First, he understands that David and his men, look at all the description. It is a military description. These are fighters. These are protecting, guarding security people. And David is a warrior. He's a leader. And all the men who follow him, follow him because of his great championship over the Philistines and all the heroic acts of David. He wanted to be a friend to Naval, but Naval just greatly scorned him. So the natural conclusion is, David will respond with proper military action against this evil treatment. This is 1,000 BC, folks. This is 11th century BC. This is the ancient Middle East Oriental tradition. You do not scorn and mock and ridicule a man with such stature and expect to live to tell about it. You know those samurai things that you say one thing wrong and they go out in a duel one-on-one till death? That's the era. That's the kind of a masculine bravado that kind of exists in this world. And he, Naval, has just done a foolish thing. He did this foolish thing because he was so proud and arrogant in his own view. He saw David basically as a servant. Later on, it will be completely contrasted as Abigail sees David as her Lord. The term Adonai, my Lord, appears 14 times in Abigail's lips. She is extremely humble. Nabal is extremely arrogant. So therein lies already the first major criteria for wisdom. Here is a servant who is wise. So his wisdom now sparks off He says, this is his protest against his master, he is such a worthless man. The term for worthless man here is, you've seen this before, B'nai B'aeliel, the sons of worthlessness or sons of B'aeliel. But here is singular, the son of B'aeliel. Ben Belial. So here this guy is a worthless fellow. He is in line of the same kind of men as Eli's, remember Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinhas, they're called worthless men. Same thing here. Nabal joins those whom God judges for their worthless, immoral behavior. So this anonymous young man, his male servant, is sovereignly placed into the situation, plays a key role in providing the solution to the problem in the narrative. And here's a great insight for us. You and I may play a small role, but we may play a key role. And even though we may play a small role, we had become part of a solution and not part of the problem. There are people who play small roles too, but they're usually part of the problem. And here is a wise servant who is part of the solution. Later, another anonymous servant in the Bible, this time a young female Hebrew girl, tells household of Naaman the Syrian to provide a solution to the problem of death, death through Leprosy and therefore glorifies God second Kings chapter 5 verses 2 to 3 now the Aramaeans had gone out of the bands and had taken a captive little girl from the land of Israel and She waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress. I wish that my master were with the Prophet who is in Samaria Then he would cure him of his leprosy. Of course. She's talking about Alisha the Prophet And surely enough, this young girl, sovereignly and providentially placed there in Naaman's household, just happened to be one of those captives of a raid of an opposing superpower, the Arameans, today's Syria. It took her. She happened to be in the household of Naaman, ministering to his wife. And Naaman, of course, Naaman, you know that he had leprosy. So here she is. provoking hope that leads the long journey to Samaria and encounter with the true prophet of Israel where Naaman becomes a believer in Yahweh. The Lord God sovereignly places his chosen instruments along the path of people to be part of God's solution that he provides. And the Lord is now ready to provide a tremendous blessing to David and Abigail as well. And that small insignificant part that this servant plays we find quite significant. And that's a study in the providence of God. So we've seen the direction of the servant. Now in the providential work of God, we see the deeds of wisdom through Abigail. Let's skip verse 18. We've already been introduced to Abigail's wisdom in verse 3 by the narrator. The narrator says, there was a man, his name was Naval, his wife's name was Abigail, and the woman was intelligent. That one English word, intelligent, is actually two words in Hebrew. It's tovat sechel, tovat sechel. That means that she had good sense, good sense, good discernment. What you could tell about Abigail is that she has a long pattern history of making good decision, good sense. That's how you know she was intelligent. Now we discover about her good sense in her actions. You look at her actions, you see that she has much wisdom, good sense. Verse 18, she has the wisdom of discernment. Soon as she hears this report from the servant, she acts. then Abigail hurried. This is contrast and encounter to Naval. He knew about David's service to his men long time. He did nothing. He dragged and dragged, dragged his heels. And when David finally comes and say, by the way, we have some need here. It's a very celebrated festive day. Could you just spare us some things that we can celebrate with you? And whatever you can give, we come under your submission, under your protection. Please provide whatever you can. Naval dragging his heels all the way, because this man is not a generous man. He's a stingy man, selfish man. And then he scorns, even refusing to give the bare necessities of bread and water. He sends him home empty handed. But look at Abigail, she hurries, recognizing time is of the essence. Abigail quickly responds to undo the damage that Naval has done. And here's a lesson in wisdom number one. Soon as you ascertain the situation, certain situations require quick and immediate response. You and I do not have time to contemplate. We must do what is right. and do it quickly because it's an emergency situation. She recognizes this is not a normal situation. It's an emergency situation. She's not gonna consult anybody. She's already made up her mind. The gears in her mind are already turning because she is an intelligent woman. She has good sense. Proverbs chapter six, let's take a look at that. Clean some wisdom here. Proverbs 6, verses 1 to 5. Proverbs 6, here's the counsel from wise parents to a son, a child that needs to grow in wisdom. My son, if you have become a surety for your neighbor, that's cosigner, have given a pledge for a stranger, That's pretty foolish, but you've done it. If you have been snared with the words of your mouth, made a promise, have been caught with the words of your mouth, that you can't return, do this then, my son, and deliver yourself. Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go humble yourself and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Notice that final imagery there, like a gazelle and a bird. You have to do everything with all your might to get out, because the consequence is death. There are some things, there are some promises that you must not make. There are some things that you must not cosign. If you have done so, get out as fast as you can. Don't sleep, don't waste any time. Humble yourself and importune your neighbor. Give it all that you have to reverse the situation. That's wise. That's wise. It's not time to go ask for counsel. It's not time for you to go and take a month to pray. No, no, no, no, no. No, the gears of your words and your contract, your signature, your promise, all that is turning. And the longer you wait, the more binding it will be. and you may not even be able to get out at all. So here's wise counsel. Here's an emergency situation where wisdom dictates that you act quickly, swiftly, decisively. And we get the first clue to Abigail's wisdom. She is discerning. She's able to properly assess the situation from the report of the servant and discreetly take actions to solve a complicated problem. We get a sense that Abigail has solved many such complicated problems in the past, And the context of where she would solve them is in the household. In a typical day, there are complicated problems that arise. And you could tell that she has gained much wisdom, so much so that a servant would just go straight to her, and not to her foolish husband, to find solution. Abigail's actions show that her solution is based upon initial request of David's men, provision and supplies. She got all the information. They came with a friendly request. They've been very friendly, but they went with nothing. So that's the area where she concentrates her first effort. She is discerning. She understands what the problem is. She brings up the issue and chooses the wisest course possible to reverse the folly of her husband. Now let's take a look at how she acts. Let's look at the deeds of her wisdom. First, her deeds, her wisdom, is now seen in generosity. Because what was the folly? The folly was radical stinginess. All right, that is within her control. Now, can she reverse the scorn? No, that has to wait because that's a speech. So the scornful speech has to be counteracted with a repentant speech, a humble speech, a conciliatory speech, a exalting speech. But there was an action, a request that has been denied. through stinginess, so she practices generosity here. Notice her provision. She took 200 loaves of bread. Now, think about kind of personal pizza-sized dough bread. That's typically the way that they bake things. You just kind of make a dough and flatten it out, stick it under a clay oven. When it bakes, you pull it out and you rip it apart like the Indian naan, and then you share. That's breaking bread and sharing with one another. That's depending on who's eating it, of course. I mean, if it's for a festive occasion, it'll be larger. If it's for a little boy's lunch, like the one who gave up his lunch, that Jesus multiplied the feet to 5,000, it will be smaller. Mom would know. So here, she took 200 large loaves of bread. This is what you can imagine. And her generosity now begins with this. So 200 loaves probably could be shared among probably about 800 people. All right, so it's more than what David's men could eat. And then she takes two jugs of wine. The term for jug here is skins. That's what it means. It's typical skins, goat skins or lamb skins. That's where the first harvest of the grapes and the juices were squeezed out. And then it was boiled so that the vapor would evaporate. And what you have is a thick paste, a syrupy paste. That gets put into the skins, and it would naturally ferment. And later on, you would scoop some of that and dilute it with water to drink it. So two skins of wine would be a large quantity of wine for the quenching of the thirst of all the people. And there was five sheep already prepared. That was to provide more than enough meat for 500 people to enjoy. Whereas foodstuffs for immediate consumption consisted of baked bread, prepared meat, and two skins of concentrated wine, Abigail doesn't just stop there, but she packs highly desirable goods that also have the additional quality of lasting beyond the day. Bread, you know, they didn't put preservatives in there. Wine could be drunk over a long period of time, but bread and lamb, they must be eaten right away. But she sends now five measures of roasted grain, that's about 35 liters or eight gallons, literally is five seas, of roasted grain. Notice it's roasted grain, so it's not just any grain. It's roasted grain. You don't just roast any grain, you roast the good stuff. and to add flavor and that you pop it in your mouth and eat it as a snack. So it would be kind of functionally equivalent to like our granola or some of the peanuts or almond chips or things like that, trail mix. This is the kind of the way that they enjoyed roasted grain. All right, so this is what she packed. Eight gallons, about, of roasted grain to enjoy as snacks. And roasted grain can last for months, all right? And then, 100 clusters of raisins. The finest grapes. were first harvested and dried, because they had to be enjoyed over a long period of time. And so, they were made into raisins, and raisin cake could last a long time, months at a time, and depending on how it's stored, even up to a year, until the next harvest. So this is highly desirable, not just for its sweetness, not just for its nutritional value, but the fact that it can be preserved and enjoyed for a long period of time. And I mean, if you had a little bit of raisin cakes and a little bit of roasted grains, I mean, you could go off on a journey. And even if you run out of your bread. which is the immediate provision, you could just munch on this and be well nourished along the way. And then on top of that, there was the highest priced, the 200 cakes of figs. These were pressed cakes preserved to be enjoyed again later, along with clusters of raisins. So notice the roasted grain, clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs were not just to be enjoyed right away, but also to be enjoyed for quite a while. Now obviously this isn't a humongous amount of food, but this is sufficient amount of food to send not only to be immediately enjoyed, bread and meat and wine, but also to be enjoyed later on as well. It's a form of tremendous generosity and it's a token of the kind of things that Abigail was willing to submit. This is what she could just scrounge up at a moment's notice. This is now a festive occasion. So she got the best of the best, she packed it all up, and she got it ready to go. And it says she loaded them on donkeys. Now, we don't know how many donkeys there were, but I do a basic math, and you have to get at least three, four donkeys, perhaps five. If each one of these items require eight donkeys, probably the wine would be the smallest in volume and least amount of weight. Roasted grain probably won't weigh that much. A donkey can probably carry the wine and the roasted grain. But 200 loaves, that would be pretty heavy. The five sheep meat that's prepared, that'd probably divvy it up between one or two donkeys. Some of those donkeys can carry a lot of provision. So it says plural here. So she's loading up quite a bit of foodstuffs. very generous, we see her wisdom. We see her wisdom counteracting the folly of stinginess. And that's how you can be part of the solution. If you see somebody that's close to you being stingy, just quickly counter it by being generous. Do the opposite of what is foolish, and then you be part of the solution, not a problem. And here, Naval, who was unwilling to give David even the basic things of bread and water to his friends his guests who favored him now Abigail completely reverses that a word of God says in Proverbs 11 25 the generous man will be prosperous and He who waters will himself be watered Proverbs 22 9 he who is generous will be blessed for he gives some of his food to the poor so to develop a lifestyle of generosity like Abigail, to freely use God-given resources to solve problems. That's exactly what our Lord taught his disciples. Use the mammon of unrighteousness. In Luke 16, 9, I say to you, make friends for yourself by means of wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into eternal dwellings. There's the principle. Use what you have right now for eternal things. Use the material things you have now to gain friends. This is what Abigail has done. That's the wisdom that the Lord taught as well. So that's the wisdom of her deeds, the wisdom of generosity. The wisdom of also administration, verse 19, is a clear mark of God-given wisdom, not only proper assessment of the situation, not understanding the higher spiritual level, but also the knowledge of how to resolve problems, and the surest way to secure the best answer. This is what we call the gift of administration, and even among gifted individuals, there are degrees. Some are more gifted than others. Some are more organized than others. Some are more efficient than others. And we appreciate those people who are highly organized, highly disciplined, highly efficient. And they're a gift to the body if they're served this way. Abigail was a tremendous blessing to her entire household. She may have been the reason why Nabal was so wealthy. The way he acts in folly, he should be the poorest man. From the description of Abigail's deeds, we see all the marks of tremendous gift of administration. Verse 19 says, she said to a young man, go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you. Abigail took immediate action to send with the servants the food that was prepared while she prepared herself to intervene and to intercede. It may have been that she sent the first prepared food loaded on the donkeys and sent it away. And while that donkey was being sent away with a servant, she may have been preparing the second wave of preparation. Who else used this tactic? Jacob. In Genesis 32, remember? He did this wave after wave to pacify the anger of Esau. It's almost the identical picture. Esau and his 400 men are coming. Esau must have been pretty angry. He says, oh, after all these years, he's coming back, huh? And it could have been. But Jacob sent wave after wave after wave of all of his possession, including his family, to pacify Esau. By the time Jacob met Esau, was ready to reconcile. It's a great tactic, it's wise. Notice in verse 14, the servant told Abigail, but here in verse 19, it says, Abigail did not tell. You see, also her wisdom comes in her discreteness and discernment and wisdom that the wise withhold information to solve the problem. You do not open up everything and give to fools. It'll backfire. Naval's immediate reaction to David's request was to scorn with insult, but Abigail's immediate reaction to David's request was to practice generosity. She was wise to keep this action from her husband, for his folly would not have tolerated such a benevolent, generous act. His stinginess would have intervened, and he would have exercised his authority and power to stop her. So the wise understand. And in order to solve the problem, you have to act very prudently and discreetly. In that culture, it would have been risqué for a married woman to act independently against her husband's wishes. So this act of Abigail was not only wise, it was bold. It was courageous. It's not only the servant who sensed that his life was in danger, it's Abigail who sensed. She's doing this not as a matter of pattern, but as an exception. boldly, courageously, discreetly. She's taking matters into her own hands because God has given her wisdom to now counter the folly. But she does more than that. In her speech, we're gonna find out that she does more than just demonstrate wisdom. She demonstrates tremendous compassion. Compassion and pity even for her husband. In so doing, she demonstrates tremendous loyalty. Often wisdom dictates that one act boldly and courageously. And we're going to see more of her character in her speech. Now, verse 20 tells us that the trajectory of David's arrival was already ascertained. Abigail came riding on a donkey through a ravine by the hidden part of the mountain to intercept David and his men who were armed and ready to punish Naval. Here's where the narrator massively injects David's motives, as we read in verses 21 to 22. David is filled with anger, filled with moral outrage, violent purposes in his mind, but that's contrasted with the beautiful, humble, and wise reasoning of Abigail. She is now formulating a strategy to counter David's actions. Again, a woman of wisdom and action. Verse 23, we pick up when Abigail saw David, she hurried. See, there's another hurry. She's just a woman. is quick on her toes, she sighs up the situation, and she acts decisively. She hurries and dismounts from her donkey to prostrate herself early and remain in that position at that ravine where there's a one-way street where David is coming down, and he sees a woman prostrated on the ground. That'll catch any man's attention, right? So what's this woman doing here? And so you kind of, you slow down, Because when you see a woman prostrated in the middle of a street in a dirt road with her face down, you go, hold on a minute, guys, hold on a minute. You stop the entire procession of the road march, this military road march to Naval's house. She fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground, thereby sending powerful message of submission. That is a posture of submission. The posture of humility and submission is totally contrary to Naval, her husband, whose attitude is intended be arrogant, self-authoring, scolding David. And so she begins first through her actions and deeds. This is a non-verbal communication. Through generosity, she's communicating some things, saying, My Lord, you got it all wrong. Yes, somebody was very stingy in the household, but it's a fool who was stingy to you. But here is an expression of my gift to you. Please relent. That is a nonverbal message to counter Naval's folly. Here's another nonverbal message. Humility and submission to counter Naval's haughtiness and his pride. Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse, right? That's scorn. She humbles. Now, after her non-verbal pleading, Abigail wisely engages in a dialogue with David. There's great wisdom here, both for men and for women. When you know that you're encountering some sort of a power struggle, and you know that you are in an inferior position, as far as position, authority, and power is concerned, learn from Abigail, learn wisdom. Here's how a powerful authority and position could easily be melted. David was later on made putty in Abigail's hands, not because she was manipulative, but because she was humble, genuinely humble, truly wise, and selfless. That's beauty, and that's a mark of attraction in anyone. You find this in anybody that are attractive. Men or women, young or old, doesn't matter. This is godliness. This is rare. And here's a rare and remarkable event recorded in the Bible where a female initiates a dialogue with a male. Very rare. So here is now the dialogue of wisdom. We've seen the direction of wisdom through the servant. We saw the deeds of wisdom through Abigail. Now here's her speech. Abigail's speech here is now the most important part of this entire narrative. It's not only humble and submissive, but it's morally superior. You see how superior morally and character-wise is Abigail. It's superior than anybody in this narrative, including David's. And the depth of theological perception is the most clear. Abigail has the deepest and the clearest theological understanding, even more than David. And David's the Lord's anointed. He's the one who received the promise. Abigail believes in that promise, sees the promise being fulfilled already, and she has a deep theological perception. And she's brilliant in her delivery. and it's hard to match even by the most eloquent speakers. In a masterful display of convincing rhetoric, Abigail begins to establish a strong appeal to David's mind and his emotions. Her aim is to turn his will, to change his mind. She first asks permission to speak, but she wisely does not pause to wait for a response, she moves forward. That points to her courage and determination. Again, shows this is not just a wise woman, this is a strong woman, a woman of character and courage. It's not a woman who is fearful and doubting. She knows what she needs to do. And she has a strong and very important role as an intercessor. She begins to intercede for her foolish husband. Notice first Abigail's posture and her vocabulary. For Naval, her husband, David was lowly. But for Abigail, David was her lord, master. By the way, the term adoni, my Lord, was also synonymous with the term that you call, a woman calls her husband back in those days. Remember the New Testament teaches that even Sarah called her husband my Lord, respectful, right? And so here, Abigail's sacrificial assumption of her husband's guilt, on me alone, she says, my Lord, be the blame. She has no blame, but she takes on that role. Notice also her humble pleading, please. She says that twice here, right back to back, which continues in the next verse. Please do not let my Lord pay attention to this worthless man, Naval. She first says, please let your maidservant speak to you. Doesn't pause for David's response and keeps going. And listen to the words of your maidservant. She pleads with humility. And then she goes right into apology for her folly, folly of her husband, verse 25. Please, she says, do not let my Lord pay attention to this worthless man. Now, is she demeaning her husband before a stranger? No, she's simply stating the truth of who Nabal is. That's his name. Now, we know that, educated guess, that His parents didn't give him that name, but they may have been the ones who coined this nickname as they saw this moral, corrupt, stiff-necked boy grow up. You, you foolish child, they could have said again and again. And that pattern continued on. And all the elders say, oh, what a fool. Even the servants say, oh, my boss is a fool. Now her wife is saying, my husband's a fool. Okay, everybody knows it, except Naval. He's a fool, and a person's name is equivalent to his character, and that's what she says. Naval is his name, and folly is with him. That fact alone is sufficient explanation for the folly he demonstrated toward David's goodness. Naval is a morally deficient person. He's not to be taken seriously by the noble David, according to Abigail. He said, my Lord David, you are completely mismatched. If you think that he is your equal, that you are to contend with him. He is a fool. Please don't bother. That's the apology for the folly of her husband. And then her second apology is for her own ignorance. She said, I should have known, but I did not. Please forgive me. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young man of my Lord whom you sent. Abigail confesses her ignorance and explains that had she been there, this would not have happened. She could have reversed the whole situation. Although this is not her fault, she takes the full responsibility. Thirdly, she appeals to David on the basis of God's will. Verse 26, now therefore my Lord, as the Lord lives and your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood. Now notice this, could it be that Abigail knows already that David had let Saul go? Could it be that rumor was around that Saul is hostile toward David, but David is not? It seems that the wise, and the sensitive and the spiritually in tune know the real deal. But if it is not, Abigail is speaking not from knowledge, but she's speaking from general sense, then she's almost becoming semi-prophetic. Because this is exactly what happened in the previous chapter. David did not kill Saul even though his men wanted to kill Saul. It says, Lord had delivered him into our hands. Let's go for it. David had to restrain his men and he felt guilty by cutting off a little piece of the corner of the robe of Saul. Here, Abigail says, the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself by your own hand. Now, she could mean that God sent me over to you to stop you from doing something that's terrible. She could be talking about her immediate situation. But I think it's just ambiguously left there so that the narrator will help the reader to understand, hey, do you see what she's saying? The theme in the previous chapter and what's happening now is tied in. And I think that's masterfully done here, literary. And so Abigail reminds David inadvertently or knowingly that the Lord has restrained him, and that's true. Lord has restrained him, Ein Gedi, and yet David is about to make a huge mistake here. Abigail appeals to David and indirectly urges him to relent by recognizing that the Lord had graciously prevented David in the past from avenging himself by his own hand, which means allow the Lord to deal with both Saul and Nabal. It seems that Abigail does know, and she senses that David is a good man. He's the man of the Lord. He is the anointed of the Lord. He will be king. In her speech, she recognizes this. She senses this. She is like Jonathan who senses this. She is like other people who senses this. And so she's there to help. That a man who's going to ascend to his kingdom cannot have this as his track record. So she's appealing to David on the basis of God's will. That's tremendous wisdom. Whenever you and I have an opportunity to appeal to somebody who's bent on doing the wrong thing by appealing to the will of God in the scriptures, you and I not only are acting wisely, we become peacemakers and we help somebody from great deal of pain and trouble. Now, it takes a humble and responsive man to listen to that kind of biblical counsel. And David does. And so the wisdom of Abigail is not wasted here. She also appeals fourthly on the basis of God's justice. Verse 26, it says, now, then let your enemies and those who seek evil against my Lord be as Naval. Abigail hints that David's life as a fugitive is ordained by God. God allows it. Therefore God will himself deal righteously with David's enemies and show them as fools. as utter moral infidels that they are. Fifthly, she appeals on the basis of gratitude, verse 27. Notice how she even says it. Let this gift be given to you, and I know that you are a generous wonderful provider you now you Practice generosity and you give it to your men because you are the great provider and all I am is just Submitting and supporting you lifting up David as the provider of his men notice She doesn't take direct credit and saying I'm gonna give this gift to you and your men. She doesn't do that. I Says, no, please accept this. Who am I? I'm a lowly person, but I offer this to you. You take it and you do as you always do, provide for your man. Brilliant wisdom. Abigail presents gift to David so that he can be the giver to his men. Sixthly, she appeals on the basis of mercy. Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant." Now she uses the language of sin here, using the language of sin, transgression. Abigail intercedes on behalf of her foolish husband while taking the full responsibility upon herself. After confessing her own fault, asking for mercy, Abigail begins to dialogue with David with a prophetic flair and a deep theological understanding of God's will for David. And then she appeals on the basis of assurance. For the Lord will certainly make for my Lord an enduring house. Now, how does she know that? Saul is king. He wants to make Jonathan, his crown prince, the next king. He wants to establish his dynasty. Abigail doesn't think so. If that were God's plan, then why would God send Samuel to anoint David? Why is God upon David? No, she knows something that Saul refuses to know. She knows that God will certainly make for David an enduring house. Later, prophet Nathan would repeat this assuring fact to David in 2 Samuel 7, verse 16, your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever. God has some very important purpose than just a temporary kingdom to Israel. He has a forever eternal kingdom. through one who is greater than David, David's seed, who's David's Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's very important. David's life and his kingship is very important in God's kingdom plan. Something about what Abigail says has a tinge of prophetic flair to it. Abigail's words are reassuring to David. He's constantly in danger, constantly fleeing for his life, therefore he must be in constant doubt. Is he gonna make it through this day? Is he truly going to be the king of Israel? I mean, there's so many close moments in David's life, you know, you gotta wonder. And so God sends somebody, a stranger like Abigail, to reassure David. How does she know all the details? How does she have such assurance of God's plan and purposes? Because in her voice is the voice of God. in her wisdom is the wisdom of God. She is now an encouraging spokesperson from God to the servant of God, the anointed of God, David. And so this must have been tremendously assuring. Even as David is listening to this, he must be thinking, who is this person who would speak like this to me? And David is a spiritual man, he says, this is of the Lord, the Lord had sent her. She demonstrates the wisdom and the fear of the Lord, humility from the Lord, wisdom from the Lord. This is of the Lord. Any man with a sense of spiritual perception would see this is not of man. It's not just a human interaction. This is the providential guidance of the Lord. And she continues, because my Lord is fighting the battles of the Lord. I mean, Abigail knows something about what David is doing. David is not just fighting his own personal battles. He's fighting the battles of the Lord. There's a spiritual dimension to this. David is a shepherd king to protect Israel from the Philistines. He has a greater role to be the Lord's captain. This is a theological reminder to David. The battle belongs to the Lord. It's not a personal matter. And that speech probably provoked in David a sense of a jolt of correction. That's right, what am I doing? I'm supposed to be protecting people. Why am I in my rage and my anger to protect my own righteousness and justice and set on vendetta against this fool, this petty little man? That's what Abigail is reminding David. It's also an indirect reminder to David that he must set aside his petty matters and allow the Lord to work out his purposes. The Lord had allowed Saul to torment David, and yet David understood the bigger picture and said, I can't personally take vengeance. What happened here? In his anger, in his rage, especially with his men. When 10 of his men came back with that report, he must have fully agreed with them. The pathos and the camaraderie among men and the shared sense of scorn and shame and from this fool and sense of betrayal and treachery of this Nawal. All of that compounded. But Abigail reverses it and says, and evil will not be found in you all your days. Now, not only does she uses the language of sin, forgive me for my transgressions. Now, she says, evil will not be found in you all your days. You're the Lord's anointed. You are God's representative on earth for justice and righteousness. How can evil be found in you? Wrongdoing. Therefore, such personal vendetta must not be found in the life of the Lord's anointed. Now, Abigail appeals to the Lord's protection in case of life-threatening situation here. Verse 29, should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life? Then the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God." Now, I want you to pay attention to that phrase, bundle of the living, that the word translated bundle, here it's tzeror, tzeror, which is often translated as pouch or purse. And the shepherd had two pouches or two bags, if you will. One pouch was for his provision, his bread. Another pouch had stones in it for his sling. So now knowing this, notice how brilliantly Abigail uses the shepherd imagery and juxtaposes two major themes, life and death. Notice what she says. Should anyone rise up to pursue you, King David, to seek your life, then the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God. The Lord has kept you safe in his pouch and ensured that you will live, that no person threatening your life may prevail. It's what she's saying. And then the language of sling is a reminder that inside another pouch, there is a stone for the sling. Sling is no good without a projectile, stone. So she uses now the language of stone, but the lives of your enemies, he will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. So the contrast between two pouches, one of bread representing life, the other of stones representing death, Abigail masterfully alludes to the event of the slaying of Goliath in David's humbler days when he faced a great Philistine giant, foe, an enemy far, far greater than this puny Nabal. Abigail reminds David, God has you with the team of the living. and all your enemies, they're with the team of the dead. Don't take this petty issue and deal with this on your own. Without using specific language, but in general yet picturesque language, Abigail was able to encapsulate and send David a powerful personal message that tells you that Abigail used what she understood from David's past and the great fame in all of Israel regarding David Turn his heart around saying you you are a great leader great warrior. You're a man under God's own protection You must not do this In the way that she's sending David a message of between good and evil wisdom and folly victory and defeat and life and death And verse 30, and when the Lord does for my Lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, not if but when, again her theological assurance comes through, speaking almost like a prophet, reminding David of God's word and his will. Remember the promise that God made to you. You're the Lord's anointed. It is clear that Abigail is both wisdom and understanding. She knows who David is and God's purpose is for David to be king over Israel. Therefore, he will prevail. He will ascend. God will protect him. He will triumph. He will reign over Israel. To a fatigue, discouraged, mocked and ridiculed David, that news was indeed refreshing from a total stranger whom he has never met. And that a woman, a woman to acknowledge God's purposes for David must have been truly encouraging to David. He must have been amazed, encouraged, impressed, and thoroughly refreshed at the same time. And that's what wisdom and speech does. This is ministry. Some people have this gift. And if God has given you that gift, you don't flaunt it, you use it. And this is Abigail. Verse 31, appeal through admonishment. Abigail's not done. Verse 31, this will not cause grief or troubled heart to my Lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my Lord having avenged himself. Now notice how she says it so delicately, so beautifully, indirectly, gently admonishes David regarding his intention to take vengeance into his own hands. all of their impulses, her impulses, the servants impulses, and the fact that she saw David with his sword and all 400 men with their swords, everything was validated. Now, after praising David, talking about the Lord's will, his blessing, his past, after convincing him, all of that, she now gets to the heart of the matter, to turn his will around finally. Verse 31, and that, she doesn't even do it directly. She doesn't scold David and say, therefore, how can you do this? You must not do this. Turn, my Lord, turn. She doesn't do that. She says, this will not cause grief or trouble hard to my Lord. She uses this not as a form of a command, but as a form of a loving suggestion to be so concerned for his welfare and his future that to appeal to him in a beautiful way. Ladies, if you know how to do this to your husband, he will say yes to you all the time. I can guarantee it. But of course, you need to do it unto the Lord. She is an influential person, you could tell. The indirect admonishment was to avoid bloodshed without cause. That is because she respects David so much. She thanks God for providing such a great servant, shepherd, leader. And she awaits for the day when he will be king, when the nation of Israel will be filled with righteousness and justice and wisdom. But she knows she has to wait. So does David. David must not tarnish God's blessing through his personal vengeance. David must avoid getting involved in this petty conflict along the way. Future blessings of God is at stake, and David must not give in to the present passions. Notice where this admonishment came. The very end of Abigail's speech, after much praise and encouragement. Finally, Abigail makes a direct appeal. Verse 31, appeal through acknowledgement. When the Lord deals well with my Lord, then remember your maidservant. Now that last request fascinated me. What is she actually saying? It's vague, it's general, remember. Remember how? It's all up to David, isn't it? If David remembers, you know, there was that very wise, intelligent, attractive woman who's now a widow. I remember her. That's all. That's all Abigail is asking David to do, remember her, your maidservant. Foreseeing God's divine favor towards David, Abigail humbly asks David to find favor by remembering her. Abigail's repeated usage of the term, my lord, my lord, my, 14 times. Ironic and prophetic as well since the term means my husband It is the narrator who is sending the reader a subtle hint to what would become of Abigail Now we don't know how old Abigail was we don't know how old Naval was It could have been that Naval is advanced in age. It could have been that Abigail is a young wife Who knows? And if that's the case, that Abigail must have seen that the eventuality of the death of her husband just by natural course of him outliving his days and her looking at her life as many, many years as a widow. But David would indeed remember Abigail in the most memorable way by proposing to her after Nabal's death. When I mentioned that this chapter has a little bit of romance in it, it's at the very end, after David finds out that Nabal's dead. Then he remembers. David is a godly man. He would not covet another man's wife. He's impressed by her. And he's probably going home and saying, man, what a mismatch. How can somebody like this be married to such a fool? God has a sense of humor. And he would go home. 10 days later he would find out, what, he's dead? And what does David say? The Lord has avenged. The Lord has judged. David recognized the providential hand of the Lord. So I said that there's at least two lessons here that I want us to take home with. Let's conclude and review. First, a lesson from the unnamed servant, because his speech is critical. His role was small, but his role was essential. And whenever you and I pray for somebody, our role may be small, but is essential. Because God uses those speeches, those requests, those petitions that we raise up to the Lord to trigger a chain of his providential sovereign work to bring out his purposes. Now, we may never find out in this side of eternity, but sometimes we do find out. We find out that our prayers were answered. We find out that our small gestures have been honored by the Lord, and it's a wonderful blessing. Therefore, it is incumbent that you and I understand the essential purposes of God and his sovereign plan and his design for salvation and the welfare of people are often triggered by these small things which the Lord embeds upon each one of us. And it's a wise and prudent thing for us to acknowledge that and go before the one who can work out amazing things. through small acts, like a little young girl's, just a young girl's speech of hope for her master, just a word of goodwill and a little suggestion in her busy workday that triggered Naaman's healing and God's glory and honor, even among the Gentiles. And here, unnamed servants, Call to Abigail's attention. This is a serious matter. You must act. And how that wonderful thing triggers such a marvelous blessing in the end. Second lesson is that Abigail appealed to David for forgiveness and generosity when David would come into his kingdom. Now notice, Abigail recognized that David was now a fugitive, but he will in the future come into his kingdom. Her forgiveness was based on the fact that she acknowledged that David is the anointed king, but who has not yet ascended to his kingdom. That's a brilliant theological connection for us because it's a repeated theme for us in the New Testament from the thief on the right, remember? Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. What is Abigail saying? At the very end, what did she say? When the Lord deals well with my Lord, when Yahweh deals well with Adonai, then remember your maidservant. Abigail recognized that David would ascend to the kingdom. And all she says is, remember me. In a general way, I don't think she was even imagining to be his wife. She was saying, I'm probably gonna be a widow in great need. You gonna be the king? If you can just remember me for this time of kindness, I would so appreciate it." I think that that's all she was asking. And I highly doubt that the thief on the right is asking for any huge, huge reward. No, he just said, remember me. It's up to you. I don't know how, but Remember me. I was the thief on your right. I died with you, but I began scorning you, but I ended by acknowledging who you were. And Lord, I have no hope except you. Remember me. Anyway, anyway, he is begging for crumbs. He's not asking for children's bread. Just remember me. That's our prayer and hope, isn't it? That Lord would forgive us on the basis of his return and his reign and his judgeship. That's our plea and petition. Lord, remember. Listen to this plea for your namesake. Save this beloved friend, my father, my mother, my grandparents, my brothers and sisters, for your namesake. Forgive me, Lord, for my sins. That's our prayer and hope, that the Lord would remember us and show favor to us for submitting ourselves under his lordship. That's all we can ask, Lord, remember. and he is a God of remembrance. And so this passage gives us great hope and that we do not lose hope as we continue to pray, continue to cling to the Lord, continue to intercede and continue to trust because our Lord is certain to fulfill his purposes exactly the way he has spoken. So we can cling to him in hope. So I want you to take these two important lessons for us, that no matter how small our acts of intercession may be, small acts of prayer, small acts of love, reminder, anything, that God can use those things to bring about his amazing sovereign purposes, and that Abigail's hope is our hope. Remember. Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. Let's pray. Father, we have no hope except the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our only hope. Lord, we know that our lives, just like Naval, in folly and doom, deserves death and condemnation. But Lord, we know that it was because of your mercy and your grace that you averted your divine wrath. You poured it upon your son. and through your son demonstrated the greatest act of love that universe has ever seen or witnessed. As recipients of that great divine grace and love, we come before you and ask that your love, your kindness, your generosity, and your mercies be continually demonstrated upon those who desperately need it like we did, Lord, and we still do. So help us to continue to pray and intercede on behalf of others Help us to see that no little deed is unimportant in your kingdom. Help us also to see that our only hope is in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal inheritance among the saints. Lord, whom have we in heaven except you? Whom have we here on earth except you? You are our only hope, and may we continue to cling to you and trust you, that you would remember us. Help us, therefore, to live soberly and in a holy manner, befitting the high calling that we have received as Christians, and to live in such a way that you would remember us, and that you would even commend, saying, well done, thou good and faithful servant. So we long to hear the words of your commendation. Help us to be worthy of serving you. We know that life is not about pleasing ourselves, but pleasing you and serving others. Teach us to do this joyfully, as Abigail did. May we grow in wisdom in this area, in our actions, in our speech, so that we would continue to honor and glorify you. It's in Christ's precious name we pray. Amen. Lord, bless you and keep you. Have a wonderful week in the Lord.