064: The Mystery of the Missing

April 20, 2010
1 Samuel 24&25

If God is clear about what He says, I’d say that humans, naturally, are not. We have the potential to be, and I’d submit even the responsibility to strive for clear communication, but I don’t think it’s something that necessarily occurs to us to do just because. As we age and become socially adjusted, we learn to hide what we truly mean.

These two chapters from 1 Samuel are interesting to me not only because of David’s interaction with a wise, noble woman, but also because of how much dialogue there is and what the dialogue is saying. Do you notice that everyone seems to be referencing and referring to God throughout the passage? And yet I wonder, did they really pay that much heed to God on a regular basis? Obviously it was sort of a religious state (Israel, that is), but I wonder how much of their communication and references to God were habitual, and how much was actually pre-considered and, for lack of a better term, genuine?

In the communication realm, Abigail certainly stands out to me among biblical characters. She clearly knew how to handle communicating effectively. Her interaction with David is a humble approach and a full of blessings for him. I wonder what she said, exactly, to her husband the day after she delivered all the stuff to David and his men. Did she break it to him easy, or in a moment of frustration, did she blurt it out in anger?

I also find it very interesting that David proposes marriage to Abigail via messengers. How terribly unromantic! When my husband proposes to me – if I ever get married – I hope he puts some thought into making it a bit romantic and meaningful to the two of us, and also a complete surprise. Well, I guess that was true of Abigail – I doubt she really expected to be marrying David, especially since he already WAS married, but when she got the opportunity, she did jump on it. I wonder why? Was she desperate and needed someone to support her? From the way it sounds, Nahor was a fairly rich guy. You would think that Abigail would have been at least somewhat independent when he died. Did she come from a family she didn’t want to return to? Obviously, if her father had married her off to Nahor once, he might pick worse a second time. Or maybe she just had no family to return to. Was she older and didn’t think any chance of a better offer would come through? Since she did have kids later with David, I presume she wasn’t all that old. But she really seems eager to go become David’s fifth or seventh or something like that wife.

There’s so many questions left in my mind from reading my Bible… What have you been wondering about lately in your Bible reading?