Guido Reni

The Meeting of David and Abigail, c.1615–20, Oil on canvas, 156.2 x 163.8 cm, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 71.524, Courtesy Chrysler Museum of Art

Prophet and Future Queen of Israel

Commentary by Jennifer Moldenhauer

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This painting by the Italian painter Guido Reni (1575–1642) depicts the encounter between David and Abigail and their entourages. However, while the biblical text is characterized by the direct speech and dialogue of the protagonists, the message in the painting is conveyed without any words appearing to be uttered.

The viewer is made to feel involved in the events through the close proximity of the painting’s central figures (who are positioned close to the picture plane), but also through the direct eye contact of the maidservant on the right.

Abigail, wrapped in a blue cloak and adorned with a wreath of flowers in her loose hair, is depicted sitting on the donkey in front of David. Her shoulders are drooping, her gaze is lowered, and her neck is vulnerably exposed.

David, on the other hand, stands confrontationally armoured and armed in front of her. Two of his men in the background, also wearing armour, emphasize the explosive situation in which Abigail has completely defencelessly placed herself.

It is remarkable, however, that several people’s gazes have turned in astonishment to the top right, towards a point outside the composition—seemingly into the light that makes Abigail’s face shine. Even in David’s case, it is not clear whether he is looking into Abigail’s face or whether his gaze has moved past her towards the sky and the source of the light. Reni paints a moment of spiritual realization: David understands that YHWH has sent this woman to show him the path of justice, and to direct him away from the exacting of retribution.

Such Old Testament stories were interpreted typologically by Christians, from very early on, as precursors of the New Testament and as models for moral behaviour. Various pious women who played a role in God’s saving purposes, such as Esther, Judith, Rebecca, Ruth, Naomi, Sarah, Rachel, Leah, and Deborah, were identified as precursors of the Virgin Mary.

The same applies to Abigail, who can be read as a model of humility and self-sacrifice. The connection between Abigail and the Virgin Mary is also enhanced by iconographic details, such as the white and blue colour of her clothing and the motif of riding on a donkey—a typical feature of depictions of Mary on the journey to Bethlehem or after the birth of Christ on the flight to Egypt. Last but not least, the donkey also anticipates what will be the second meeting between David and Abigail, in which Abigail will once again ride on a donkey to become the king’s wife.

 

References

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

Schmeer, Julia. 2017. ‘Marias Verschwinden. Metaphorische Umgestaltung Marias in der Nürnberger Literatur des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts und bei Luther’ (Unpublished PhD thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)

Zucker, David J., and Moshe Reiss. 2016. ‘David’s Wives: Love, Power, and Lust’, Biblical Theology Bulletin, 46.2: 70–78

See full exhibition for 1 Samuel 25

1 Samuel 25

Revised Standard Version

25 Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah.

And there was a man in Maʹon, whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abʹigail. The woman was of good understanding and beautiful, but the man was churlish and ill-behaved; he was a Calebite. 4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6And thus you shall salute him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7I hear that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing, all the time they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes; for we come on a feast day. Pray, give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

9 When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David; and then they waited. 10And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who are breaking away from their masters. 11Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” 12So David’s young men turned away, and came back and told him all this. 13And David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword!” And every man of them girded on his sword; David also girded on his sword; and about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abʹigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed at them. 15Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them; 16they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know this and consider what you should do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is so ill-natured that one cannot speak to him.”

18 Then Abʹigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. 19And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20And as she rode on the ass, and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them. 21Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good. 22God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

23 When Abʹigail saw David, she made haste, and alighted from the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; pray let your handmaid speak in your ears, and hear the words of your handmaid. 25Let not my lord regard this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I your handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, seeing the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt, and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27And now let this present which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28Pray forgive the trespass of your handmaid; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking vengeance himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.”

32 And David said to Abʹigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! 34For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had made haste and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; and he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house; see, I have hearkened to your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

36 And Abʹigail came to Nabal; and lo, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. 37And in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38And about ten days later the Lord smote Nabal; and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evil-doing of Nabal upon his own head.” Then David sent and wooed Abʹigail, to make her his wife. 40And when the servants of David came to Abʹigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42And Abʹigail made haste and rose and mounted on an ass, and her five maidens attended her; she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinʹo-am of Jezreel; and both of them became his wives. 44Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laʹish, who was of Gallim.

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