In 1 Samuel 25 we have the account of the death of the prophet Samuel. What happened here with David is in fact happening with us more often than we realize. David felt misused and wrongly accused and he wanted to take reverence. A woman called Abigail went to David and she spoke to him and he listened to her. If he did not listened to her, evil would have been found in David if he had carried out his plan in this instance, so he was providentially stopped from doing the wrong thing by one of the very persons he would have sinned against. David would have committed the sin of offence not only to those he wanted to kill, but also against himself and he would have caused so many soul wounds which could prevent him to become the next king of Israel.

David went down to the wilderness of Paran when he heard of the death of Samuel.

There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel, his cattle were there, his sheep particularly, for they are afterwards said to be shorn there. The man was very great; in worldly substance, though not in natural wisdom and knowledge, and especially in true religion and piety. He had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats; so the substance of men in those times was generally described by the cattle they had, whether of the herd or flock, in which it chiefly lay, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel; which was the custom in Judea and Syria.

The name of the man was Nabal, which means a "fool", and was churlish and evil in his doings; morose and ill natured in the temper and disposition of his mind, and wicked in his conversation, and fraudulent and oppressive in his dealings with men

The name of his wife Abigail which means "my father's joy". She was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance; she was not only of a good understanding in things natural, civil, and domestic, but in things spiritual, as we will se later when se spoke to David, and which, with her external form, completed her character, and greatly recommended her.

Nabal was of the house of Caleb, a descendant of that great and good man Caleb the son of Jephunneh. So he was of the house or family of Caleb, and so of the tribe of Judah, as David was.

David heard in the wilderness that Nabal's sheep were shorn there; when there was generally good living, and so a proper person, and a proper time, for David to apply for the relief of his wants.

David sent out ten young men and David said to them go to Nabal, and greet him in my name and wish all health and happiness in my name, present my service and best respects to him.

When David's young men came to Carmel, they spoke to Nabal according to what David told them to say. They delivered their message punctually and exactly, in the very words, in David's name, as he told them to do.

Nabal answered David's servants, and said in a very haughty manner, in great wrath, who is David and who is the son of Jesse? He sent the young men of David without food and water back to David. The young men said nothing and returned back to David.

When they got back to David and told him what had happened, it angered David.

And David said unto his men to prepare to march up to Nabal. David and about four hundred men out of the six hundred he had with him, and two hundred stayed with the stuff; the baggage in their camp.

But one of the young men (Nabal's men) told Abigail, Nabal's wife that David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute Nabal; in a very kind and handsome manner, to ask of his peace and welfare, and to wish him all happiness and prosperity, but Nabal railed on them and gave them very abusive language, and he said that David and his men are scoundrels, fugitives, and runaway servants.

Then this young man told Abigail that David and his men were very good to them. Very kind and civil, very useful and serviceable, and the men of Nabal were not hurt, neither by David and his men nor others in the wilderness of Paran. When robbers came, David and his men protected the men and positions of Nabal. He said: "they were a wall unto us both by night and day, protecting and defending us against the Philistines, who, as they robbed the threshing floors of Keilah, would have plundered the flocks of Nabal"

He went on to say that David and his men were on the march to come against Nabal and against all his household.

Then Abigail then went to David and took two hundred loaves of bread, two bottles of wine, five sheep killed and dressed by the butcher, ready to boiled or roasted, five measures of parched corn, a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and laid them on asses to carry the provision to David and his men.

When say came to David, she spoke to him as we see in the Word of God, 1 Samuel 25: 20-31.

In verse 31 we see that Abigail said to David "that this will be no grief to you, nor offence of heart to my lord". David would become to King of Israel and he could not allow himself to be offended as it would cause him to fail in that what God had called him to do. Abigail, by God given wisdom prevented David to commit the sin of offence and in so doing she prevented David of receiving soul wounds which could cause him many problems later in life.

1 Samuel 25:20-31 - So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, "Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good. May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light." Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said: "On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil is not found in you throughout your days. Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, that this will be no grief to you, nor offence of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant."