Abigail and David
Comparative commentary by Jennifer Moldenhauer
In artistic reception, depictions of this biblical story usually focus on the encounter between David and Abigail—the key turning point in the tale. Compositionally, the majority of depictions resemble Peter Paul Rubens’s oil sketch more than the other two works in this exhibition: Abigail kneels defencelessly before the armed David and his 400 men, hands over her gifts, and convinces David through her prophetic speech to refrain from his vow of revenge.
Abigail’s speech has a dual function. Literally understood, she only discusses Nabal and David and she tries to convince David not to murder her husband, her household, her family, and possibly also herself. At the same time, she manages to ensure that David does not disqualify himself as a future divinely ordained king through a massacre. As in the encounters with King Saul that frame this story (1 Samuel 24 and 26), David’s restraint from slaying his rival demonstrates his worthiness to assume kingship. Metaphorically understood, Nabal represents Saul, and David’s actions here and now represent his actions toward Saul in the near future. Her prophecy of dynasty is, in fact, no different from the prophecy of Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:11, but Abigail’s words have never become so famous (might this be due to the gender of the speaker?).
It is Abigail’s diplomatic skills alone that are convincing, not her beauty, even though this is emphasized at the beginning by the narrator along with her intellect. The story contains no illicit sex, although the opportunity was present. Even in these artistic renditions of the story, Abigail is staged as a young, beautiful woman in contemporary (royal) costume, but there is no hint of sexual seduction. Abigail’s morality is also confirmed by her maidservants, who are always present.
However, she is hardly styled as a prophet either—Guido Reni’s painting may be an exception to a certain extent, as the seemingly divine incidence of light places the focus on Abigail, but the prophecy seems already to have been spoken and the prophet has fallen silent.
David’s appearance almost always resembles that of a (royal) general rather than a prowling gang leader. His royal dignity is particularly hinted at when Abigail is positioned as kneeling before him. However, it should not be forgotten that his marriage to her, now a very wealthy widow, initially represents a significant improvement in his position. The story ends with the note that David also married Ahin'o-am of Jezreel, but that Michal, David’s first wife, was given to another man by her father Saul. The fact that David is not married to just one woman is relevant insofar as harem formation in the culture of ancient Israel belonged exclusively to the royal court. The note therefore does not indicate that the self-confident Abigail now has to live out her life as an inconspicuous second wife, but is to be read as the beginning of the fulfilment of her prophecy.
References
Berlin, Adele. 2002. ‘Abigail’, in Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament, ed. by Carol Meyers et al. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin), pp. 43–44
Bodi, Daniel (ed). 2013. Abigail, Wife of David, and Other Ancient Oriental Women. (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press)
Fischer, Irmtraud. 2003. ‘Abigajil: Weisheit und Prophetie in einer Person vereint’, in Auf den Spuren der schriftgelehrten Weisen. Festschrift für Johannes Marböck anlässlich seiner Emeritierung, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 331, ed. by Irmtraud Fischer et al. (Berlin: De Gruyter), pp. 45–61
Wolde, Ellen van. 2002. ‘A Leader Led by a Lady. David and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 114.3: 355–75
