Who is Nabal? Abigail?

Good morning all.  God is good all the time, all the time God is good.  TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED!!!

  As we study the Bible things come to us that we may or may not have read; possibly heard but just passed us by.  This morning as I opened my Bible the pages before me were 1 Samuel chapter 25.  I glanced at it, then caught sight of a phrase that stimulated my curiosity: Abigail becomes David's wife.  Huh?? I don't remember this.

   So, going back and searching remember that David's first wife was Mikal, Saul's daughter given to him for killing Goliath.  It appears that next was Abigail, who was Nabal's wife.

  Okay, what happen here?  Adultery before Bathsheba? No.  Nabal, whose name means "fool" in Hebrew, was a Carmelite, very wealthy, a harsh and surly man, and a "man of Beliel".  Okay, a foolish man of Beliel.  What is Beliel?

  Beliel -- found 26 times in the Old Testament -- relates to wickedness or worthless.  In 2 Corinthians 66:15 Beliel is used for satan.  Beliel is used for satan, evil, the antiChrist.

   So now we have a man, Nabal, who is evil, harsh, surly and worthless.  David sent messengers to visit with Nabal. He rejected the messengers and insulted David.  At this point David took up arms to go forth against Nabal.

   Well, in the mean time some servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, that these messengers were nice and did not harm but Nabal insulted them.  Abigail, whose name means 'her father's joy' or 'fountain of joy', loaded the donkeys with food and drink and went before David.  She was pleading mercy on behalf of her foolish husband Nabal.

   Then, 1 Samuel 25:36-38 Abigail came to Nabal, held a feast in his house. Nabal feasted, drank and was drunk but Abigail told him nothing of what she did in going to meet with David.  The next morning she told Nabal, and the Bible says: "that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone".

  Verse 38 "And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died".

   When David heard this he knew that the LORD returned Nabals wickedness back upon him.  This is when David sent and communed with Abigail to take her to him to wife. 

   Very interesting story that we often breeze right pass and think not about it.

Here is 1 Samuel 25 for you to read.  If you would like to listen to 1 Samuel 25 then click here. 

  Thank you for reading with me today. If you listen it is very interesting. Love you all. 
In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny