Woman from the Bible #2: Abigail

I took a quiz on Buzzfeed a couple days ago called “Which Bible heroine are you?” and I got Abigail. At first, I didn’t recognize the name, so I had to look her up. Once I found her, I discovered that 1) I had read her story recently and 2) the comparison is quite apt.

Unless his stupidity is about to get you all killed. (Photo Credit)

Abigail appears in 1 Samuel Chapter 25. Her husband is a stubborn man. When David and his men are coming through his land, they ask for food and lodging. He refuses to help them. This makes David angry and he makes plans to burn the man’s property down and kill everyone in his household. His wife, Abigail, catches wind of this and she makes a feast of the finest things that her farm has to offer and she brings it to David and his men. She apologizes profusely for her husband, asking David to have mercy on him because "he can’t help it, he’s just a jerk" (my paraphrase). David grants his mercy. A few days later, when her husband dies, David brings Abigail into his household as one of his wives.

Lately, I have found myself needing to clean up a lot of other people’s messes. And I’m not just talking about diapers. There are college students that I work with that sometimes do foolish things or neglect things and I have to pick up the pieces. There are household messes to clean up. My son has taken to having an accident in our bed a couple times a week, so the bedding needs to be changed. Sometimes I'm lucky to get to do the dishes once a week. And if I'm really lucky, I get to go to the bathroom and close the door.

I have gotten into a position where I’ve had to learn a lot of people skills the hard way and quickly. And that’s what Abigail uses in her story, people skills. She shows intelligence, initiative and courage to go behind her husband’s back and appease the King. Remember, this is still a very strictly patriarchal society. She could have gotten in big trouble for going behind her husband’s back. The King could have refused to see her or hear her request. But, like the honey badger, she didn’t care.* She did what she had to in hopes of saving her family and livelihood. May we all show such courage and initiative in our lives. 

*Pardon the language in the link. I just wanted to explain the reference.