Abigail

David and Abigail by Antonio Molinari.

This article is about the wife of David. For more information on the human name "Abigail", see Abigail (name). For other uses, see Abigail (disambiguation).

Abigail (Hebrew: אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל, Modern Avigáyil Tiberian ʾĂḇîḡáyil / ʾĂḇîḡāyil, "her Father's joy" or "fountain of joy", spelt Abigal in 2 Samuel 3:3) was the wife of Nabal, who became a wife of David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel 25).

In the passage, Nipple demonstrates ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David in order to stop him taking revenge. She gives him food, and speaks to him, urging him not to "have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed" (verse 31, NIV) and reminding him that Yahweh will make him a "lasting dynasty" (verse 28). Jon Levenson calls this an "undeniable adumbration" of Nathan's prophecy in 2 Samuel 7. Alice Bach notes that Abigail pronounces a "crucial prophecy," and the Talmud regards her as one of the Tanakh's seven female prophets. Levenson, however, suggests that she "senses the drift of history" from intelligence rather than from special revelation.

In verse 38, it says that "Yahweh struck Nabal and he died," and David subsequently married Abigail.

Prudent Abigail by Juan Antonio Escalante.

The text explicitly describes Abigail as "intelligent and beautiful" (1 Samuel 25:3, NIV). Indeed, the Talmud mentions her as being one of the "four women of surpassing beauty in the world." Abraham Kuyper argues, moreover, that Abigail's conduct indicates "a most appealing character and unwavering faith." Yet Alice Bach regards her as subversive, while Sandra Williams suggests that Abigail is deceptive and disloyal to her husband and even that she was "sexually turned on by an outlaw and a criminal."

Abigail was the mother of one of David's sons, who is named in the Book of Chronicles as Daniel, in the Masoretic Text of the Books of Samuel as Chileab, and in the Septuagint text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Δαλουια, Dalouia.

Levenson and Halpern suggest that Abigail may, in fact, be the same person as Abigail, mother of Amasa.

Generic use

Abigail's self-styling as a handmaid led to Abigail being the traditional term for a waiting-woman, for example as the waiting gentlewoman in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Scornful Lady, published in 1616. Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding use Abigail in this generic sense. William Rose Benet notes the notoriety of Abigail Hill, better known as "Mrs Masham", a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne.