The story of David and Abigail is extraordinary.

In the past, Abigail has been correctly likened to a Christ type.

This is due to her taking upon herself her husband Nabal’s foolishness in how he offended David, and how she acted to make amends, especially in protecting David from acting rashly in a way he would have later regretted.

Having said that, two other important reality on the inner workings of the atonement of Jesus Christ are often missed.

The first reality revolves around the need to have eyes to recognize the “Lord’s offering,” and then having the faith necessary to accept it as payment in full with full purpose of heart. If one does so, not only will one be fully healed and made whole, but one will be rewarded ten fold.

The second reality revolves around the idea of forging a closer familial relationship when one does show faith in accepting the “Lord’s offering.” Remember, Jesus often compares himself to being a bridegroom.

When it comes to accepting the Lord’s offering, it involves an act of faith (just as gaining a testimony). It involves recognizing the hand of the Lord, and then embracing it with gratitude and thanksgiving.

It must be remembered that healing and being made whole is rarely a single event. It is rarely accomplished through spectacular means.

Rather, healing and being made whole is more a process. It is usually accomplished via small and simple means. Quite often, it involves a series of small and simple means. And that is why it requires such great faith to accept.

The concept of accepting the “Lord’s Offering” is best described as follows:

When one is injured or in other ways feels robbed or wronged, and when one demands justice, and when one desires a 10 in order to be made whole, quite often the Lord does not initially offer a fully 10. Rather, He often initially presents us with a 2 or a 3! It requires great faith – and spiritual eyes to perceive it is coming from the Lord – to accept a 2 or a 3 when one is in the gall of bitterness and anger and when one is determined that anything less than a 10 is not only insufficient, but constitutes an insult.

However, if one is willing to accept the full 2 or 3 in faith, as if payment in full has been made, in time one does not only end up receiving the full 10, but one receives a full 100 from the Lord, One is not only made whole, but one is rewarded many times over.

It needs to be remembered that grace is not about making payment in full, but it is making payment ten fold. It is not just doing enough, it is doing more.

So let’s now examine the elements of the story of David and Abigail and see these elements in action – specifically how David was injured, how he sought justice, how Abigail in the Lord’s capacity offered the equivalent of the “Lord’s Offering” (a 2 or a 3 when David was demanding a full 10), how David accepted this offering in faith as if payment had been made in full, and how David was subsequently rewarded not with only a full payment of 10, but a ten fold payment of 100.

Nabal was a wealthy businessman in Israel. He was renowned for his possessions, which included:

List of possessions here …..

However, one of the challenges for Naval was the fact that he had to send his sheep into the wilderness to graze. While in the wilderness, his sheep and herdsman were vulnerable to significant threats from robbers and bandits who sought to plunder his flocks and his possessions.

David and his 600 loyal men were also in this very wilderness. Although they constituted the dominant military threat, not once did they take from Nabal. Instead, they protected his sheep and his herdsman from all other threats and abuse.

At the time of sheering (or harvest), David sent 10 of his men to converse with Nabal to inquire about sharing in the increase (this would have been a customary expectation at this time due to the customary arrangement David had in protecting Nabal’s sheep).

Foolishly, Nabal prized his possessions and treated David’s men with contempt. Who is David that he should have to show him any respect?

When David heard how his men had been treated, in righteous anger he resolved to deal with Nabal in what he considered to be a fitting way – he would not only kill Nabal for his insolence, but all males at his estates would also face the same end (in effect, with no males heirs left, all of Nabal’s possessions would have then fallen into David’s hands).

David didn’t just want vengeance for this slight, and he didn’t just want to be made whole, he wanted more. He wanted all that Nabal had.

When Abigail was appraised of the foolishness of her husband, and when she came to realize the sequence of events that were about to be set in motion, she quickly acted and put together the following supplied to go out to meet David while he was in the way.

The supplied Abigail brought to David were as follows:

List of supplies ….

(It is interesting to note that two supplied involved the number 5 … which signified grace).

When Abigail met David, she made the following plea … “Don’t let Nabals sin fall upon thee ……….”

David must have come to his senses and perceived the “offering” for what it was. It took spiritual eyes … but he clearly saw the grace (since the two supplies signified by the number 5 were buried among the rest of them).

Although David figuratively wanted a 10 (all of Nabal’s physical possessions) … he put away his bitterness and his demands for justice and he fully accepted a figurative 2 or 3 (the gifts that Abigail had brought … which symbolized the “Lord’s Offering”).

Furthermore, it is significant that in that moment, David accepted Abigail’s offering (symbolic of the “Lord’s Offering”) as payment in full.

He went away with no more bitterness nor expecting anything additional in order for all the pain and heartache to go away.

Now that David had demonstrated great faith, it became the Lord’s turn to act and to reward ten fold. In short, when we willingly accept a 2 or a 3 in faith when we are expecting or demanding a 10, in process of time, through the grace that only the Lord possesses, we are eventually blessed with a 100.

When Nabal was told what was about to happen to him, he first went mute, and roughly 10 days later, he gave up the ghost.

Although all that transpired upon Nabal’s death are not fully known, we do know that David subsequently married Abigail, and it is highly likely that he took possession of all that Nabal had previously possessed (all that Nabal had – including his wife Abigail – was given to another because Nabal was not deserving of them).

(It is also interesting to note that when Abigail went to marry David, she took 5 handmaids with her … which again suggests an act of grace.)

In marrying Abigail and in taking possession of all that Nabal previously possessed, David wasn’t just given a 10, he was given a 100 (it is also interesting to note that had David not headed Abigail’s previous entity to spare Nabal, and if he would have proceeded to slaughter him and all males at his home, it would likely have embittered Abigail, and her heart most likely would never have been open to being joined with David in matrimony … which is interesting when one considers Abigail’s metaphoric reference to Jesus and his being the bridegroom).

Had David simply taken all that Nabal had by force – or his own wisdom and strength – he would have never gotten all that was needed to make him whole. Only Christ has sufficient grace to heal the broken heart, to strengthen the weak, and to fully heal and to make whole, and then some. It is all made possible through the grace that is made available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.