Whew! I can recall when another’s wise words kept me from something I would later have regretted.
David and 400 of his warriors were on the march, determined to wipe out Nabal’s entire male population (1 Sam 25:22). Perhaps David’s pent-up frustration against Saul could be released against a churlish man who wasn’t “the Lord’s anointed” and so considered fair game. But someone saw it differently. Abigail, the wise wife, had been advised by a servant about Nabal’s foolish response to David’s appeal. There wasn’t a moment to lose! Taking with her “two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs” (1 Sam 25:18), she headed off for the showdown with 401 angry men. Some gift basket! Some gumption! Soon she saw them approaching. “She dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David” (v 23), and immediately launched into her appeal. She said she wasn’t there when the incident happened, but knew this sort of behavior was typical of her husband. But she was willing to take “this iniquity” (v 24) on herself, and begged David not to besmirch his own reputation by taking this action. David’s response? God sent you (v 32), and you have preserved me “from avenging myself with my own hand” (v 33). The upshot? When Abigail got home, Nabal was partying and so drunk he was insensible. In the morning, when she told him the news, “his heart died within him” (v 37), his body becoming as stony as his heart. He lingered for ten days, after which “the Lord struck Nabal, and he died” (v 38). When David heard, he didn’t take long to propose to the wise widow, and they were soon married. Clearly there’s a link between being a blessed peacemaker and living happily ever after.