Bible Women Rahab & Abigail

M oses died and God buried him on Mount Nebo, then God chose Joshua to lead the people.

He gave instructions to take all the people and cross the river Jordan and take possesion of all the land that he had given to them.

Now Joshua who was the son of Nun sent two spies in secret to Shittim and said "Go, view the land, especially Jericho ". They went and in Jericho they stopped at the house of Rahab who was a harlot.

The king of Jericho was told that men from the sons of Isreal had come to check out the land. He then sent word to Rahab and said to bring out the men that had come to her and had entered her house because they had come to check out the land.

Now Rahab had hidden the men on the roof under stalks of flax, but she told the kings men that the men did come to her and she did not know where they were from. Then she said that when it became dark and it was time to shut the gate that the men went out and that they should go after them quickly so they would be able to overtake them.

So the kings men pursued them and they went out and shut the gate. She then went up to the roof and said to the men that she knew that the lord have given the land to them and that the terror of them was on everyone. I know that all of the inhabitants of the lands have melted away before you.

Joshua 2: 10 (KJV)

10.) For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that [were] on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
11.) And as soon as we had heard [these things], our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
12.) Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:

13.) And [that] ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

14.) And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15.) Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house [was] upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16.) And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.

17.) And the men said unto her, We [will be] blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18.) Behold, [when] we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.

19.) And it shall be, [that] whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood [shall be] upon his head, and we [will be] guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood [shall be] on our head, if [any] hand be upon him.
20.) And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21.) And she said, According unto your words, so [be] it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

22.) And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought [them] throughout all the way, but found [them] not.
23.) So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all [things] that befell them:
24.) And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

Joshua was greatly revered because God had caused the river Jordan to part so that the Ark of the Covenant and all of the people could cross over on dry land.

Joshua followed God's instruction in all that he did and all of the nations were in fear of Joshua and the Jewish people. God gave exact instructions on how to defeat Jerico, the oath made with Rahab was not forgotten.


Joshua 6; 17 (KJV)

17.) And the city shall be accursed, [even] it, and all that [are] therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that [are] with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

The Fall of Jericho By: Raphael

Joshua 6: 21 (KJV)

21.) And they utterly destroyed all that [was] in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22.) But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
23.) And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.

24.) And they burnt the city with fire, and all that [was] therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25.) And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel [even] unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.


Rahab Became the mother of Boaz his name is found in the geaneology of Jesus.

When I read a Bible story certain things stand out for me, and I learn from them.
Now Rahab heard about the God of the Jewish people and all the things he had done and believed in and feared God.

She chose to protect the two spies and even made a deal with them.
It does not matter who we are or where we come from, even in the Old Testament if we believe in and choose God we can and will be grafted into the family.

Read about Jericho and Rahab in the King James Bible Joshua chapter 2, to Joshua chapter 6

1 Samuel 25: 5 (King James Version)

Abigail

Nabal and Abigail

Now there was a man named Nabal in Maon and his business was in Carmel. He was very rich and had many sheep and goats. Nabal was a Calebite and he was a very mean and evil in his dealings with others.

He had a wife whose name was Abigail and she was intelligent and beautiful.

While his men were shearing his sheep in Carmel they were protected by David's men and had no troubles and lost no sheep. So David sent ten young men to visit him in his name.


5.) And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
6.) And thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity], Peace [be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace [be] unto all that thou hast.
7.) And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.

8.) Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
9.) And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
10.) And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who [is] David? and who [is] the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

11.) Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give [it] unto men, whom I know not whence they [be]?
12.) So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
13.) And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.

14.) But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
15.) But the men [were] very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
16.) They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

17.) Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he [is such] a son of Belial, that [a man] cannot speak to him.
18.) Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched [corn], and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid [them] on asses.
19.) And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.

20.) And it was [so, as] she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them.
21.) Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this [fellow] hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that [pertained] unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
22.) So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that [pertain] to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

By: Joseph Schonmann

23.) And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
24.) And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, [upon] me [let this] iniquity [be]: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25.) Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, [even] Nabal: for as his name [is], so [is] he; Nabal [is] his name, and folly [is] with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

26.) Now therefore, my lord, [as] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
27.) And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28.) I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee [all] thy days.

29.) Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, [as out] of the middle of a sling.
30.) And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
31.) That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.

32.) And David said to Abigail, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
33.) And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
34.) For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

35.) So David received of her hand [that] which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36.) And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart [was] merry within him, for he [was] very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
37.) But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became [as] a stone.

38.) And it came to pass about ten days [after], that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.

David Marries Abigail

39.) And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed [be] the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.

40.) And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
41.) And she arose, and bowed herself on [her] face to the earth, and said, Behold, [let] thine handmaid [be] a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42.) And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.


Abigail was not going to let Nabal ruin her life, she knew that she must do something to prevent this disaster. She was an intellegent women and she used what she had in order to approach David and because of her courage saved all the men in her family.

Abigail did the right thing and eventually became David's wife, if we apply wisdom and courage the things in our lives that seem impossible can change for the better.