References (14)
The man's name was Naval, and his wife's name was Abigail [meaning "my father's joy"], and the woman was wise (Hebr. tóv sechel) and beautiful, but the man was cruel and evil in his deeds. He was of the house of Caleb.
[The Calebites were a respected tribe in Judah who, among other things, built Bethlehem, David's hometown, see . Naval means fool or wicked. Abigail is described with the word understanding, whose verb form is used in 1 Sam 18:5 about David. This gives a subtle hint that there is a connection between them. This is reinforced by the phrase "brutal and wicked" driving a wedge between Naval and his wife, who is "good in understanding."]
But one of the young men [in Nabal's house] told Abigail, Nabal's wife, and said, "Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our lord, and he snorted at them (snorted, insulted them).
And Abigail hurried and took 200 loaves of bread and two skins of wine and five sheep that had been sheared and five measures of dried grain and 100 raisin cakes and 200 fig cakes and put them on donkeys.
And when Abigail saw David, she hurried to get off her donkey and fell on her face before David and bowed herself to the ground.
Then David said to Abigail (Hebr. Avigal) [here spelled Abigail (Hebr. Avigajil) without the ending jil, meaning "joy"]: "Blessed be the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel (Elohim), who has sent you this day to meet me,
When Abigail returned to Nabal, he had prepared a feast in his house, like a king's feast. Nabal's heart was merry [in good spirits], and he was very drunk, so she told him nothing, little or great, until the morning light.
When David heard that Naval was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord (Yahweh) who has executed my cause from Naval's hand and has restrained his servant from evil, and the evil Naval, the Lord (Yahweh) has repaid upon his own head." David then sent (an envoy) and spoke to Abigail about taking her as his wife.
And when David's servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife."
And Abigail hurried and arose and rode on a donkey with five of her maidens following her, and she went after David's messengers and became his wife.
And David stayed with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, even David with his two wives, the Jezreelite Ahinoam [] and Abigail [short form of Abigail], the Carmelite wife of Naval [].
David's two wives were also taken captive—Ahinoam of Jezreel [] and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel. [, ]
[The grief and bitterness of the people soon turned to anger and found a focus in David. After all, it was his fault that this had happened. In , wives, sons, and daughters are all written in the plural. In , son is in the singular and daughters in the plural. Perhaps this emphasizes the thoughts and fears of how the youngest son of the men and their daughters who had remained at home were now being treated by the Amalekites. David, who was grieving himself, but now also facing death threats, did as he usually did and sought strength from the Lord, see .]
So David went up there, and his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel, went with him. []
and his second [son] was Chilab [meaning "his father's image," also called Daniel, see ] – [born] of Abigail [short form of the name Abigail], the wife of Naval the Carmelite [widow whom David later married];
and the third, Avshalom (Absalom) – the son of Maacah,
daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur [region in Syria],
These were the sons born to David in Hebron (Hebr. Chevrón):
Amnon, the firstborn – by Ahinoam of Jezreel,
Daniel, the second – by Abigail of Carmel,
