“Vengeance is Mine,” Saith the Lord: David, Nabal, and Abigail

Justice, revenge, retribution, payback; everyone knows of others who deserve these consequences, even oneself may be deserving of these if it were not for the mercy of God. Yet whose place is it to bring justice upon the unjust? The answer to this question, and one’s proper role in such situations, can be found through an understanding of the Biblical narrative found in I Samuel 25 which beautifully illustrates the story of David, Nabal, and Abigail. To understand the theme of this story more fully, one must understand the narrative’s setting, its central conflicts and the epiphany the climax brings forth, and the characters with their individual motives, which all work together to reveal its theme: God is in control and will fight the battles of revenge for His children.

To truly understand the story and its situation, it is vital that one understands the setting and context in which the story takes place. The temporal setting is somewhere between 1025 and 1010 B.C.; the time period that David, along with at least six hundred men, are in hiding from Saul’s wrath. He and his men have been living almost like Robin Hood and his “Merry Men”: “Night and day they were a wall around us;” and David says, “It has been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing” (verses 16 and 21). According to verse 21 the physical setting is an isolated area somewhere near or in the desert. This culture places great importance on loyalty to one’s “master” and repaying good with good. When one understands the context of the story through setting, then one can realize why David and his men are in need of food—they are in hiding; why David asks Nabal for food—he and his men have been offering protection for Nabal and his possessions; why David is so irate when Nabal refuses him—it is their culture to repay good with good, not evil; and why Nabal is so upset that his wife helps David without his knowing—culture causes him to see a lack of loyalty rather than an act of kindness. This understanding of the setting and context of the story allows one to see the details in a much clearer light.

The plot and climax of this story is pervaded with conflicts. There is the underlying conflict between David and Saul which is the cause for the entire scenario David is in—hiding, isolated, and without access to food. There is conflict within Nabal’s servants who admire David when they realize the conflict between David and their master, and conflict between husband and wife when Abigail helps David. However, above all are the central conflicts that arise between David and Nabal when Nabal refuses to share of his abundance, and between Nabal and God; for Nabal was fighting in “the Lord’s battle” (verse 28) on the wrong side. David and his men are in need of food and ask this wealthy man whom they have been protecting for help, yet Nabal is selfish and refuses, thus paying “evil for good” (verse 21). As David and his men are on their way to annihilate Nabal, Nabal’s wife meets David on his way and offers the needed supplies without her husband’s knowledge, asking David’s forgiveness and, possibly unknowingly discloses great wisdom. The story reaches a climax and a moment of epiphany when Abigail meets David and gives her speech of utmost spiritual understanding, causing David’s eyes to be opened and his motive to be changed. She tells David he is fighting the Lord’s battle, that God will protect him, and bring success upon him, assuring David that he is “securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord,” and tells David that the Lord will hurl away the lives of his enemies. Thus, urging David not to continue in his plan to destroy Nabal so that when he is king, “he will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself” (verse 31), for it is God’s to avenge. God shortly proves this near the end of the story: “The Lord struck Nabal and he died” (verse 38). The conflict within the plot builds until the end of the story when the theme is revealed.

The three main characters in this story are David, Abigail, and Nabal. David, the protagonist, is dynamic in this story, while the other two are static. The antagonist, Nabal, is a very wealthy man who is selfish and self-indulgent as one sees when he rudely denies David of his courteous request, and when he holds a “banquet like that of a king,” indulging in drunkenness. As even his wife discloses, he is a fool: “He is just like his name—his name is Fool, and folly goes with him” (verse 25). Unfortunately, this character who is driven by selfish and foolish ambition remains static, ultimately costing him his life. One sees the change in David as he at first decides to take matters of justice into his own hands: “May God deal with [me], be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave one male alive of all who belong to [Nabal]” (verse 22), but later realizes it is not his place to avenge, but God’s, and turns the entire situation trustingly over to the Lord. He is at first motivated by vengeance and anger, yet through a moment of epiphany due to Abigail’s wisdom, changes his attitude of anger to that of praise and thanksgiving to God for opening his eyes—“Praise be to the Lord...for keeping me from bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hands” (verse 32). Abigail serves as a foil to Nabal by contrasting greatly with his selfish foolishness with her sound and selfless perspective. Abigail is also a normative character, embodying the strength, beauty, and sweetness of the soul (Amy Alexander) for which the narrative exalts through her profound wisdom which encompasses the entire message and theme of the story—it is not ours, but God’s to avenge. The three characters that embody the protagonist, antagonist, and normative have differing traits that are rich and deep—Nabal having that of selfish foolishness, David having that of anger and rage that change to peace and trust that God is in control, and Abigail having that of strength and beauty that comes from sound wisdom. Each heightens the other characters’ traits, whether good, bad, or changing, and bring a greater fullness to the meaning and message of the story.

This story’s theme has a great impact on me—it reminds me that God is truly in control of every situation in my life, and that He does care when the righteous are wronged. It is easy to acquire an attitude of revenge when someone repays good with evil, however, this historical narrative shows that we are not to take justice into our own hands, but that we can rest in the peace of God’s provision as David chose, showing others the mercy the Lord continues to shows us. Through Nabal’s death, this narrative reveals that God will not allow wrongdoings to go unpunished, but that He will bring justice. I so admire Abigail—her story in the Bible is short, but the lesson and role model she provides are of infinite value. I find great peace and joy in the theme of this story—God truly cares for His children and the justice of wrongs, He holds every situation in His mighty Hands, and will take care of each if we are willing to obey and turn our situations trustingly over to Him, allowing the Lord go to battle for us. The entire theme of this story can be summed up in Hebrews 10:30, “‘Vengeance is mine,’ saith the Lord!”