David was bent upon
avenging the offense that Nabal had committed against him. But the Lord used
Abigail to intervene. She saved David from himself. One might assert that she
was motivated by self-preservation, but the text reveals much more. Her
greatest concern was for David, the Lord’s anointed, the one who was sure to
become the “prince” of Israel, and how this wrongful act would weigh upon his
soul and reputation. Her wisdom and faith impressed itself upon the David and
his wrath was turned away (Cf. Proverbs 15:1).
Of the several lessons one
could take away from this incident the foremost is the necessity of allowing
God to be the arbiter of justice (this is a surprisingly prominent theme in
scripture). God alone is capable of perfect judgment and justice and we are not
to usurp his place by taking matters into our own hands. On the contrary we are
to “never avenge” ourselves. Rather we are to “leave it to the wrath of God,
for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans
12:19).
David had understood this
when just prior to this incident he had the opportunity to strike down Saul and
he would not do it. Instead, like the “Greater David” whom he foreshadowed, he
entrusted “himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23; 1 Samuel 24:15).
God be praised that David, hot from the injustice perpetrated by foolish Nabal
and no longer governed by the knowledge of God’s just judgment, was restrained
by the actions and words of a courageous woman. May the Lord be as gracious to
us that we might be kept from that which would “cause . . . grief or pangs of
conscience” because we had foolishly taken matters into our own hands.
