Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 096

Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

married to

Nabal According to the 1st Book of Samuel Chapter 25, Nabal ( ''Nāḇāl'', "fool") was a rich Calebite, described as harsh and surly. He is featured in a story in which he is threatened by David over an insult, and ultimately killed by God. Biblica ...

; she married the future

King David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

after Nabal's death (

1 Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...

). Abigail was David's second wife, after

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married to Palti, son of Laish, when David went into hiding. Abigail became the mother of one of David's sons, who is listed in the

Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...

under the name ''

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

'', in the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

of the Books of Samuel as ''Chileab,'' and in the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

text of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Δαλουια, ''Dalouia''. Her name is spelled Abigal in in the American Standard Version.

Name

Derived from the Hebrew word ''ab,'' "father", and the Hebrew root ''g-y-l'', "to rejoice," the name Abigail has a variety of possible meanings including "my father's joy" and "source of joy".

Biblical narrative

In 1 Samuel 25,

demonstrates ingratitude towards David, the son of Jesse (from the tribe of Judah), and Abigail attempts to placate David, in order to stop the future King from 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 God will make him a " lasting dynasty" (verse 28). Jon Levenson calls this an "undeniable

adumbration {{Short pages monitor

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abigail 10th-century BC people 10th-century BC women 11th-century BC people 11th-century BC women Christian royal saints Christian saints from the Old Testament Christian saints in unknown century Eastern Orthodox royal saints Eastern Orthodox saints Old Testament people Roman Catholic royal saints Saints Wives of David Women in the Hebrew Bible