What’s in a Name? Abigail - A Sermon for Sunday October 6th 2024

READING: 1 Samuel 25:2-42

A reading from 1 Samuel.

2There was a man in Maon, whose property was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite. 4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6Thus you shall salute him: 'Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7I hear that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing, all the time they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight; for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.'"

9When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David; and then they waited. 10But Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters. 11Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?" 12So David's young men turned away, and came back and told him all this. 13David said to his men, "Every man strap on his sword!" And every one of them strapped on his sword; David also strapped on his sword; and about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted insults at them. 15Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields, as long as we were with them; 16they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil has been decided against our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured that no one can speak to him."

18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19and said to her young men, "Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20As she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them. 21Now David had said, "Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned me evil for good. 22God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him."

23When Abigail saw David, she hurried and alighted from the donkey and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

26Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, since the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal. 27And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28Please forgive the trespass of your servant; for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30When the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant."

32David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! 33Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! 34For as surely as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male." 35Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition."

36Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. 37In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; he became like a stone. 38About ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.

39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD who has judged the case of Nabal's insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head." Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife. 40When David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife." 41She rose and bowed down, with her face to the ground, and said, "Your servant is a slave to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 42Abigail got up hurriedly and rode away on a donkey; her five maids attended her. She went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

Word of God, word of life.

Thanks be to God.

Welcome to the first iteration of this preaching series:

What’s in a Name?

This series focuses on some of the lesser-known people of faith

from the scriptures.

There are two main inspirations for this preaching series:

First, the children from Vacation Bible School,

and their faithful insistence that we name

the biblical characters that are not named.

God knows each and every one of us by name.

Second,

this book from Anna Carter Florence,

A is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scripture

(N.B. All quotations are taken from this resource)

I am tempted to simply read her words to you.

But I will not.

I am learning along with you;

I’ll be meeting some of these people of faith again

for the first time.

I am, generally, a follower of the lectionary.

It is good for the church to follow a pattern of readings

that allows us to hear the biblical story well

over a three or four year span,

but there are many great stories of faith

and people of faith,

who do not find their way into our lectionary.

This is one of them - Abigail.

She must have known that marriage could be challenging,

after all, she married Nabal.

What’s in a name? Nabal means “Fool”

and he was one.

Nabal was rich, powerful, mean, surly, insulting,

ill natured, stubborn.

Abigail is quite the opposite:

She was clever and beautiful.

The backdrop for the story is Nabal’s sheep shearing festival.

He has gone up to shear 1000 sheep and 1000 goats.

David heard about it,

and it sounded like a new business opportunity.

The armed men in the story are soldiers for David,

the future king of Israel.

At that time, Saul was king,

and Saul’s love for David turned into jealousy.

With the threat of violence,

David fled to the wilderness,

living as an outlaw.

David was somewhere between Tony Soprano and Robin Hood,

David had a band of merry men,

a gathering of those in distress,

those in debt,

or those in discontent.

But David wasn’t stealing from the rich to give to the poor,

David and his gang were running

a protection racket

among local sheep herdsmen.

David and his gang showed up,

intimidating,

armed,

providing protection for Nabal’s herd,

protection that no one asked for,

and like some who work in “waste management”

David was expecting a payout for services rendered.

The future king of Israel

was essentially a mob boss.

Abigail - beautiful and smart,

knew who David was.

Her fool of a husband did not.

“Who is this David? I’m not paying him”

says Nabal.

Now, it is possible that Nabal is just standing up for himself,

perhaps he sees that David is taking advantage,

and refuses to pay.

David felt disrespected, dishonoured.

The truth is,

not paying the mob-boss-soon-to-be-king,

meant the death of your whole clan.

Nabal was a fool not to pay.

David was irate.

He sent 400 troops,

and planned to kill every male.

They will pay with blood.

If you want to know just how upset David was,

read verse 22 in the King James or Revised Standard Version

you’ll see our version has softened his language a bit.

With Nabal’s entire house on the brink of disaster,

Abigail intervened,

and did not let her fool of a husband know.

He was too busy with a long, drunken party.

She packed up all the food,

the same food

that would have been given to David in the first place.

To quote Anna Carter Florence:

“She had a plan, a speech, all ready.

Abigail was a match for any war hero

when it came to tactical brilliance.

She knew what was required

when a man’s ego and honour were injured,

what to say to de-escalate tension

and shift the focus away from the offender.

She knew how to appease wounded pride,

repair a chipped self-image,

and appeal to a man’s higher sense of self.

And she knew that calling forth

generosity, gratitude, and empathy

were key to restoring honour and dignity.”

Abigail found the words

that turned David’s heart.

Her courage saved her household,

through her, God saved David

from the stain of blood guilt,

vengeance that was not his to take.

I love this part,

Abigail returns to her drunken fool of a husband,

and decided to wait until morning,

until the wine went out of him,

to tell Nabal what she did.

And the news is so shocking that Nabal basically dies:

his heart died within him; (perhaps like a stroke)

he became like a stone.

The story closes with David wooing Abigail,

she becomes just one of his 8 wives,

bearing him a son, Chileab,

who becomes just another one of David’s descendants.

This may have been understood to be a happy ending.

Remember that marriages would most often be arranged,

and in this case, David made the arrangements.

In ancient Hebrew culture,

women would need a husband,

or offspring,

to care for and provide for them,

and Abigail was a widow with Nabal’s death;

lack of husband meant a threat to her survival.

David showed a kindness

- and necessary security -

by taking Abigail as his wife and bearing a child.

Their stories don’t seem to matter much after this,

Abigail is mentioned a couple times,

once being taken captive during battle.

Not exactly happily ever after.

But Abigail made a big difference in David’s life.

she helped shape his moral character. .

Abigail is considered a prophet,

she spoke truth to David in his power,

and got him back on track towards his role

as the anointed,

the to-be king.

She is the only woman in the bible

to be described as both intelligent and beautiful,

in that order.

Her speech to David is the longest by any woman

in the Old Testament.

“Abigail has earned respect.

A person owes when she exercises unfailingly good judgment.

And Abigail did,

whether riding forth into danger

or riding out years of foolishness;

she beat outlaws and ogres with good sense alone.

It is quite a record for a biblical character

who is often among the last to be noticed.”

When you feel like you’re the last to be noticed,

remember Abigail.

God notices the people we do not.

God uses unsuspecting people for God’s purposes

all the time.

When you feel like you’re the last to be noticed,

God notices you,

and God is at work in and through you.

Sometimes God’s work is greater than we could ask or imagine.

Abigail was out of options,

violence and death was waiting for her household,

and she acted shrewdly to save her household.

I don’t think she could anticipate

that God would use her words

in building the moral character

of the next king:

an unexpected outcome.

Trust that God knows better than we do,

in the big stuff,

and in the day to day.

Good things can happen when we find our prophetic voice,

the voice that speaks truth to power,

the voice that speaks the truth of the moment

the voice that speaks for those who cannot.

God desires wellness, new life, wholeness

for all creation,

The gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed

to and for the diverse crowd that follows,

and for those we notice last,

for the voiceless.

God gave Abigail courage to speak for peace and justice,

By God’s Spirit,

may God give us courage and voice

amidst our own threats.

In the story, David’s protection racket was a problem.

While the mafia might not be a concern for you and I,

gangs and gang violence are a growing concern in this city.

Perhaps we can learn from Abigail

and we too can find a good common sense response

amidst our own threats of violence.

In our own homes, in our communities,

we may find ourselves in those impossible situations,

the catch 22,

where you are stuck and out of options.

Trust that like Abigail,

when you are stuck,

God is not done with you.

Nothing, not even the impossible situations

will separate you from God’s love.

Trust that like Abigail,

when your life doesn’t exactly seem like happily ever after,

God knows your heart,

God knows your situation,

and not even mediocrity will separate you

from God’s love.

Remember, God’s love is not like human love.

All that God creates is lovable,

and God loves even the Nabal’s in this world,

God have love even for the fools among us,

Thanks be to God that includes me,

because I can sure act the fool,

just like you know you can as well.

To those who feel stuck with a fool

in community, in work, in family,

and to those who know themselves to be the fool,

God is not done with you.

Even if our foolhardy hearts cause us to die,

not even that death can separate us from God’s love.

A word that comes to mind for Nabal is stubborn.

Like him,

we too can dig in our feet,

stand our ground,

when we don’t need to.

May God replace our own stubbornness

with the certainty of faith

that trusts God amidst our challenges

and impossible situations.

One final thought on Abigail for today:

What’s in a Name?

Abigail means my father’s joy,

or my father is exulted.

Abigail exulted God her Father.

God’s name is exulted in and through Abigail’s faithfulness,

God’s gift to her in the first place.

God finds joy in Abigail,

and God finds joy in you.

May God give you courage and faith

to sustain and guide you

in your own impossible situations.

May God’s Spirit open our hearts and minds

to the Abigails of the world

turning us from our own foolhardy ways.

May we join God’s work in the world and in us,

trusting that God will accomplish more

than we could ever ask or imagine.

Thanks be to God. Amen.