David, Abigail, and Nabal

During the time of the United Monarchy, David sent ten young men to Nabal in Carmel to request provisions during a sheep-shearing festival. Nabal is described as a man who was very great and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, while his wife, Abigail, is described as a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance (1 Samuel 25:2-3). Nabal refused the request, asking who David was and equating him to servants who break away from their masters. When the young men reported this to David, he commanded four hundred of his men to gird on their swords to seek retribution for the insult (1 Samuel 25:10-13).

One of Nabal's young men informed Abigail that Nabal had railed against David's messengers despite the protection David's men had provided to Nabal's shepherds in the wilderness. The text describes Nabal as a son of Belial, such that a man could not speak to him (1 Samuel 25:14-17). Without telling her husband, Abigail prepared a significant offering of bread, wine, sheep, parched corn, raisins, and figs. She met David as he was descending a covert of the hill and fell at his feet, urging him not to shed blood or avenge himself by his own hand, but to accept the blessing she brought (1 Samuel 25:18-24).

David accepted the provisions and thanked Abigail for keeping him from coming to shed blood. Abigail returned home to find Nabal holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king, and he was very drunken; the text does not say what he ate, only that his heart was merry (1 Samuel 25:35-36). When she told him these things the next morning, his heart died within him and he became as a stone. About ten days later, the Lord smote Nabal and he died (1 Samuel 25:37-38). Upon hearing of Nabal's death, David sent messengers to Abigail to take her as his wife, and she followed them to become his spouse (1 Samuel 25:39-42).