The 7 Prophetesses: Avigail

A little background before jumping in...
The Rabbis depict Abigail as a wise and practical woman, capable of acting at the right moment and in the right way. She saves David from committing unnecessary bloodshed, while at the same time assuring her future. This good woman and David were suited for one another, and their marriage was ordained by Heaven; it was not based on political or economic considerations, but rather on love and mutual appreciation, the roots of which had already been planted the first time they met. - Tamar Kadar
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/abigail-midrash-and-aggadah
1 Samuel 25 stands in stark contrast to, and serves as a mirror image of, the Bathsheba story in 1 Sam 11–12. Both Abigail and Bathsheba are originally married to other men, and both become the wives of David, yet by very different courses of events. In the Abigail story, the woman is married to an evil husband, yet David is prevented by the woman from murdering her husband, as he clearly acknowledges (1 Sam 25:33–34). In the case of Bathsheba, whose husband is portrayed as a good man, David is led to order the murder of the husband because of his desire for the woman. The Abigail story contains no illicit sex, though the opportunity was present; the Bathsheba story revolves around an illicit relationship. In the Abigail story, David, the potential king, is seen as increasingly strong and virtuous, whereas in the Bathsheba story, the reigning monarch shows his flaws ever more overtly and begins to lose control of his family.
Adele Berlin https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/abigail-bible

Why was Avigail considered a prophetess? What does the Talmud teach us?

מגילה י״ד א:כ״א

אביגיל דכתיב (שמואל א כה, כ) והיה היא רוכבת על החמור ויורדת בסתר ההר בסתר ההר מן ההר מיבעי ליה

Megillah 14a:21

Abigail was a prophetess, as it is written: “And it was so, as she rode on the donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain” (I Samuel 25:20). The Gemara asks: Why does it say: “By the covert [beseter] of the mountain”? It should have said: From the mountain.

מגילה י״ד א:כ״ב

אמר רבה בר שמואל על עסקי דם הבא מן הסתרים נטלה דם והראתה לו אמר לה וכי מראין דם בלילה אמרה לו וכי דנין דיני נפשות בלילה אמר לה

Megillah 14a:22

The Gemara answers that in fact this must be understood as an allusion to something else. Rabba bar Shmuel said: Abigail, in her attempt to prevent David from killing her husband Nabal, came to David and questioned him on account of menstrual blood that comes from the hidden parts [setarim] of a body. How so? She took a blood-stained cloth and showed it to him, asking him to rule on her status, whether or not she was ritually impure as a menstruating woman. He said to her: Is blood shown at night? One does not examine blood-stained cloths at night, as it is difficult to distinguish between the different shades by candlelight. She said to him: If so, you should also remember another halakha: Are cases of capital law tried at night? Since one does not try capital cases at night, you cannot condemn Nabal to death at night. David said to her:

מגילה י״ד ב:א׳

מורד במלכות הוא ולא צריך למידייניה אמרה לו עדיין שאול קיים ולא יצא טבעך בעולם אמר לה (שמואל א כה, לג) ברוך טעמך וברוכה את אשר כליתני [היום הזה] מבא בדמים

Megillah 14b:1

Nabal, your husband, is a rebel against the throne, as David had already been anointed as king by the prophet Samuel, and Nabal refused his orders. And therefore there is no need to try him, as a rebel is not accorded the ordinary prescriptions governing judicial proceedings. Abigail said to him: You lack the authority to act in this manner, as Saul is still alive. He is the king in actual practice, and your seal [tivakha] has not yet spread across the world, i.e., your kingship is not yet known to all. Therefore, you are not authorized to try someone for rebelling against the monarchy. David accepted her words and said to her: “And blessed be your discretion and blessed be you who have kept me this day from coming to bloodguiltiness [damim]” (I Samuel 25:33).

Questions

1. What does Avigail say to David? How does she convince him not to kill Nabal?

2. How does he react?

3. What is curious about his response? (To you, to the rabbis of the Talmud?)

מגילה י״ד ב:ב׳

דמים תרתי משמע אלא מלמד שגילתה את שוקה והלך לאורה ג' פרסאות אמר לה השמיעי לי אמרה לו (שמואל א כה, לא) לא תהיה זאת לך לפוקה זאת מכלל דאיכא אחריתי ומאי ניהו מעשה דבת שבע ומסקנא הכי הואי

Megillah 14b:2

The Gemara asks: The plural term damim, literally, bloods, indicates two. Why did David not use the singular term dam? Rather, this teaches that Abigail revealed her thigh, and he lusted after her, and he went three parasangs by the fire of his desire for her, and said to her: Listen to me, i.e., listen to me and allow me to be intimate with you. Abigail then said to him: “Let this not be a stumbling block for you” (I Samuel 25:31). By inference, from the word “this,” it can be understood that there is someone else who will in fact be a stumbling block for him, and what is this referring to? The incident involving Bathsheba. And in the end this is what was, as indeed he stumbled with Bathsheba. This demonstrates that Abigail was a prophetess, as she knew that this would occur. This also explains why David blessed Abigail for keeping him from being responsible for two incidents involving blood that day: Abigail’s menstrual blood and the shedding of Nabal’s blood.

Questions:

1. How does she use her skills or her sexiness/purity as power, strength, a negotiation tactic, practicality, etc?

2. How is she perceived?

3. What is her character or reputation?

מגילה י״ד ב:ג׳

(שמואל א כה, כט) והיתה נפש אדוני צרורה בצרור החיים כי הוות מיפטרא מיניה אמרה ליה (שמואל א כה, לא) והטיב ה' לאדוני וזכרת את אמתך

Megillah 14b:3

Apropos Abigail, the Gemara explains additional details in the story. Abigail said to David: “Yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bond of life with the Lord your God” (I Samuel 25:29), and when she parted from him she said to him: “And when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, and you shall remember your handmaid” (I Samuel 25:31).

The Rabbis’ positive attitude to Abigail is evident from their deliberations about the number of wives that a king may take. The Torah (Deut. 17:17) mandates that the king “shall not have many wives,” which the Rabbis understood as limiting him to eighteen wives. In this context they add the proviso: “‘he shall not have many wives’—even though they be like Abigail” (M Sanhedrin 2:4). In other words, even if the king’s wives are blessed with good traits and are as righteous as Abigail, he may not take too many. Another view, however, understands that this prohibition is meant to prevent the king from leaving the path of the Lord. Consequently, if a person has wives like Abigail, there is no reason to limit the number of his spouses (T Sanhedrin 4:5; BT Bava Mezia 115a). Both approaches, regardless of the differences between their interpretations, highlight Abigail’s uniqueness: she is the only one of David’s wives mentioned in this context and she symbolizes positiveness and goodness. - Tamar Kadari https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/abigail-midrash-and-aggadah

מגילה י״ד ב:ד׳

אמר רב נחמן היינו דאמרי אינשי איתתא בהדי שותא פילכא איכא דאמרי שפיל ואזיל בר אווזא ועינוהי מיטייפי

Megillah 14b:4

Rav Naḥman said that this explains the folk saying that people say: While a woman is engaged in conversation she also holds the spindle, i.e., while a woman is engaged in one activity she is already taking steps with regard to another. Abigail came to David in order to save her husband Nabal, but at the same time she indicates that if her husband dies, David should remember her and marry her. And indeed, after Nabal’s death David took Abigail for his wife. Some say that Rav Naḥman referred to a different saying: The goose stoops its head as it goes along, but its eyes look on from afar to find what it is looking for. So too, Abigail acted in similar fashion.