{"id":58921,"date":"2019-07-07T10:48:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T07:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=58921"},"modified":"2023-01-29T17:42:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-29T15:42:03","slug":"a-servants-chutzpah-and-his-mistress-prudence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-servants-chutzpah-and-his-mistress-prudence\/","title":{"rendered":"A Servant\u2019s Chutzpah, And His Mistress\u2019 Prudence"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[466,526],"acf":{"old_id":"58921","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"257","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Abigail\u2019s integrity, goodness, intelligence and reasonableness give her the ability to clean up her husband\u2019s messes\u00a0\u00a0","content":"

We can learn a lot about a person\u2019s character from observing how others interact with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

When David, the newly minted almost-king of Israel, sent messengers requesting food from Nabal the Carmelite and was rudely rebuffed, he immediately prepared to wipe out the offender\u2019s estate. It was Nabal\u2019s wife, Abigail, who rode out to face David and talk him down \u2013 but it\u2019s an unnamed \u201cyoung man\u201d of the estate, himself an unsung hero of the story, who begins to show us her heroic character.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the narrative elsewhere refers to \u201chis servants\u201d and \u201cher servants,\u201d it doesn\u2019t specify whether this young man was a servant of Abigail\u2019s or of her husband\u2019s. Whichever of them he is assigned to serve, he knows to turn to Abigail when disaster looms. In fact, he brazenly points out to her that her awful husband is impossible to talk to (v.17). Apparently, Abigail is much more approachable and reasonable \u2013 and known for her integrity and ability to solve problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

In telling her the situation, the young man emphasizes that David\u2019s men had previously assisted Nabal\u2019s shepherds (\u201c<\/span>But the men had been very friendly to us\u2026all the time that we were with them tending the flocks<\/span><\/em>\u2026\u201d – v. 15-16). He knows Abigail will appreciate the injustice of Nabal\u2019s refusal to return the favor.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than that, he has no doubt that once informed of both the injustice and the imminent danger, she will do something about it: <\/span>So consider carefully what you should do, for harm threatens our master and all his household<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/i>(v. 17)<\/span><\/p>\n

Telling the mistress of the estate what to do? We might be surprised at the young man\u2019s <\/span>chutzpah<\/span><\/em> \u2013 until we realize that Abigail responds just as he expected her to, hurrying to gather food to rectify her husband\u2019s mistake without a word to him. We realize that perhaps this is not the first time Abigail has had to clean up her husband\u2019s mess; perhaps she\u2019s built a reputation so the servants know they can come to her for that purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nabal, whose very name means \u201cdisgusting\u201d and is an apt description of his character (as Abigail herself attests in verse 25), has his reputation, and Abigail has hers. Their contrasting characters were introduced in general terms in verse three: he is \u201ca hard man and an evildoer\u201d; she is \u201cgood of intellect\u201d in addition to being beautiful. Even before we see her act, the servant\u2019s trust in her goodness and intelligence shows just how deeply those descriptions represent who Abigail was.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the crown of a good name rises above them all<\/span><\/em> (Avot 4:13).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":58922,"id":58922,"title":"isam25-womans character","filename":"isam25-womans-character.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam25-womans-character.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-servants-chutzpah-and-his-mistress-prudence\/isam25-womans-character\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam25-womans-character","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58921,"date":"2019-07-07 07:48:23","modified":"2019-07-07 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