And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
David has just asked Abigail to marry him. He is still a hunted man with no throne. Her answer is not a celebration. She offers to take the lowest job in his household. Why would a wealthy widow, called to be a king's wife, ask to wash the feet of his servants?
Her words name a job, not a feeling. One writer ties that choice to what she already believed about David's future.
There was no hesitation on Abigail's part. She was willing to leave her former wealth and identify herself with David in exile and danger. We know why. She had already expressed her unquestioning faith in God's promise that David would reign over Israel. Because of this she feels worthy only of the lowest service in David's household — "a maid to wash the feet of my lord's servants." True faith and humility always go together.
The honour could have fed her pride. Instead it pushed her lower.
Such a destiny cannot fill her with pride. She understands the reason. If the king's favour calls her to share his sufferings, and then to raise her to the highest place, serving the king must humble her to take the lowest place. What humility in this wife of the king! Only fellowship with grace, with Jesus, will let us humble ourselves in the dust like this. But as Abigail lowers herself, the king grows in dignity and in majesty, and this is what his wife's heart desires.
Her modest words were no excuse to hold back. The next verse shows her acting on David's word at once.
This was true humility. It fit exactly with the complete obedience she gave to David's word. She acted in a way suited to one who was to be his wife, for she "hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife."
Another writer notes how fast she moved, and what she did not wait for.
She does not delay. She hurries to meet the one who loves her, to meet the king of grace. She does not put off her departure until better times, when David's throne would be made firm. She leaves everything without thinking for a moment about what she was leaving behind.
One writer sets her words beside the foot washing in John 13.
She bows to the earth before his messengers, and speaks the most perfect expression of a truly humble heart. (Compare John 13:5, 14.)
Another writer measures her humility against Jonathan, who loved David but kept his own position.
Jonathan loved David as his own soul, and yet did not sacrifice his position for him. Abigail's love was just the sense that such a man could love her — she who was only "a servant to wash the feet of the servants of her lord."
The contrast runs deeper than feeling.
Jonathan never separated from the system he stood in. He loved David, but he never joined himself to David and never shared his sufferings. But Abigail identifies herself with him... Jonathan does not suffer with David, and does not reign with him.
Taking the servant's place meant real loss before any reward arrived.
She leaves her high position, and the ease and comfort that a wealthy woman would normally enjoy. She joins herself to David in his sufferings and wanderings. On this new path she will know suffering and hardship. David's enemies will even carry her off captive in the day of Ziklag. But she will also share his throne in the day of his reign at Hebron.
Commentators differ on how far to press the picture. One stops short of calling her the church.
Nabal (Israel) is set aside, he who rejected David; and Abigail becomes the wife of the despised one, while he is in the wilderness. This is not exactly the church, but she is on the principle of the church.
Another states it more plainly:
Abigail, like Rebecca, is one of the rare types in the Old Testament who prefigures the Church; she is the Bride, David's voluntary, humble, joyful associate during the days of his rejection.
- Faith first. She already believed God's promise that David would reign. The lowest place is what such faith produces — "true faith and humility always go together."
- Place chosen. Called to the highest honour, she asks for the lowest job. Serving the king means taking the servant's place.
- King exalted. Her going down is not loss: as she lowers herself, the king grows in dignity and majesty.
- Obedience follows. Lowly words did not delay her; she rose, followed the messengers, and became his wife.
- Throne shared. Jonathan loved David but kept his position. He neither suffered nor reigned with him. Abigail left hers, shared the wilderness and the captivity, and shared his throne at Hebron.
And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
Nabal is dead, and David — still an outcast, still waiting for the throne God had called him to — sends servants to ask Abigail to be his wife. Her answer is not a word but a journey: she leaves a wealthy household to follow a despised man she knew God had chosen.
The verse opens with haste, and that haste is the point. She did not wait for a better moment.
There is no delay. She hurries to meet the one who loves her, the king of grace. She does not put off leaving until better times, when David's throne would stand firm. She leaves everything without thinking for an instant of what she was leaving behind. And she even declares herself unworthy of such an honour; for hers is the most humble place. On the other hand, such a destiny cannot fill her with pride. She understands this: if the king's favour is calling her to share his sufferings, and then to raise her to the highest place, the service of the king must humble her to take the lowest place.
The same writer draws a line between two kinds of hurry — one belongs to faith, the other does not.
Let us not forget, dear Christian readers, that one of faith's characteristics is to hasten. Abraham made haste when it was a matter of the Lord's service (Gen. 18:6-8). Zacchaeus did the same when the Saviour invited him to receive Him into his house (Luke 19:6). So did Mary, when the Lord called her to come to Him (John 11:29). If it is a matter of Him and of His Person, can we ever hasten enough? But should we not also guard against the haste that so often marks the flesh and the old man?
Her decision rested on a view of David that her husband never shared.
All these things Abigail knew — knew as matters of faith. She knew David, and knew his high destinies. By faith she recognised in the despised outcast the future king of Israel. Nabal did not know David. He was a man of the world, swallowed up with present things. Nothing mattered more to him, nothing weighed more with him, than "my bread, my meat, my shearers." It was all self. There was no room for David or his claims.
Marrying David meant trading security for hardship. One writer traces where that road led — through loss first, then honour.
Having obtained her freedom by death, Abigail becomes the wife of David. She leaves her high position, and the ease and comfort that belonged to a wealthy woman, to join David in his sufferings and wanderings. On this new path she will know suffering and hardship. David's enemies will even take her captive in the day of Ziklag. But she will also share his throne in the day of his reign at Hebron (1 Sam. 30:5; 2 Samuel 2:2).
Writers read this marriage as a picture of something later. One is careful to say what kind of picture it is.
She is not a picture of the whole church, but she seems to picture the church's position during this present time. In her we see those of the remnant who, as a kind of firstfruits, were joined to the Lord and added to the church (Acts 2). They will soon share as the Bride in the exaltation and glory of the Bridegroom, though for now, for a season, they are despised. She renounces her own position, whatever it was after Nabal's death, to share in the sorrows of David, whom Nabal (Israel) despised, but whom she knew to be chosen of God. David's present circumstances had no weight with her. He was suffering because God had called him to the throne, and that was enough for Abigail's faith.
Her ride is not only history. What Abigail did with David, this writer says, faith still does with Jesus.
Blessed be God, there are some who have ears to hear. They hear the testimony about the kindness and grace of Jesus, and about His coming judgement too. So it was with Abigail. She believed the truth about David, and acted on it. And all who believe the truth about Jesus will separate themselves in earnest from this present world.
- Hurry. Faith hurries toward the one who calls it. Abigail did not wait for David's throne to be secure.
- Leave. She walked away from ease and wealth without one thought for what she left behind.
- Stoop. Called to the highest place, she asked for the lowest. The king's favour humbled her.
- Share. Her marriage brought her into his wanderings first, including capture at Ziklag. His reign at Hebron came after.
- Follow. She believed the truth about a rejected king and acted on it. That is what separates a believer from this present world.