Warriors, Prophets, Apostles, and More: Abigail

 

Commentary

When the reader is introduced to Abigail she is described as “clever and beautiful” (1 Sam. 25:3). With those words, the gauntlet has been thrown down: Are we clever enough to understand the choices that she is about to make? Reading Abigail’s story there is a tension between her actions and the reader’s perception and understanding. The most interesting moments of her story to consider are the moments when she asserts herself and whatever authority she has cobbled together because when Abigail speaks up, the reader knows that it is a choice to speak in that moment and to say what she is saying. We must then ask Why now? and Why those words? To me, understanding Abigail’s cleverness seems akin to scrying Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile because the reader is never quite sure what Abigail wants in the end.

Click here to read the rest of the list at Fidelia Magazine, a digital publication of Young Clergy Women International where I am a Writer-in-Residence.