Idan Sasson, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
I always choose a photo for my characters before writing the story to help my imagination while describing their features for the book. The woman pictured is a news anchor in Israel. Her name is Lucy Aharish, and “she has described her identity as ‘Israeli, woman, Arab Muslim’ in that order.” Can you see the strength of character and determination in her eyes? The intelligence? I see Abigail in this photo of Lucy Aharish. The little smile says she’s smart, confident, and need not scream to get things done.
While You’re Waiting for My October Release…
Many biblical fiction authors shy away from reading another author’s story about a character they intend to write about. I’m not one of them. I LOVE to see how other authors portray a real-life person who lived in biblical times! Our amazing Creator created us all with such wonderful imaginations. I find it fascinating that many of my author friends can read the same Bible account, discover the same historical research, and yet the Lord guides their imaginations to create a completely different story than I fit together with the same Truth and facts! How cool is that?
When Jill Eileen Smith‘s series, King David’s Wives, released in 2009-2011, I devoured them! Book #2 in the series, Abigail: A Biblical Retelling of Second Chances, released in 2010, and was my favorite of the three; but I never imaged that I would write about David’s wise and elegant wife!
Abigail is a secondary character in my upcoming October release, Brave: The Story of Ahinoam (King David’s Brides, Book #1). Why secondary? Because my passion is to write novels about the unsung heroines in the Bible–the unnamed women or those mentioned only sparingly or only by their association with famous men.
So, if you’d like to read a great book about Abigail while you’re waiting on my October new release, be sure to pick up my dear friend, Jill’s, version of the story. She saw Abigail very differently than I do, but I think you’ll love the story!
Who Is Abigail in Brave?
Both Ahinoam and Abigail are listed in 2 Samuel 3:2-5 as bearing David’s first two sons. He married them AFTER King Saul broke the marriage covenant between his daughter, Michal, and David by giving Michal to another husband (1 Samuel 25:44).
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that doesn’t LOVE Abigail. Her story in the Bible proves her wisdom and elegance, her faithfulness and determination. Scripture also makes it clear that she married David AFTER Ahinoam.
“Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife. David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.” 1 Samuel 25:42–43 (emphasis added)
“Had also married” implies that Ahinoam was already married to David when Abigail arrived. Because Brave is “The Story of Ahinoam,” most of the book focuses on the woman who bore David’s firstborn son. However, both Ahinoam and Abigail would be considered “wilderness wives” because David married them while he fled King Saul as a fugitive in the Judean Wilderness. Both were his wives when David escaped Israel with his men and their families.
“So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.” 1 Samuel 27:2–3
Abigail Through Ahinoam’s Eyes
As you might expect, Brave shows us who Abigail is through Ahinoam’s and David’s eyes. At first, she’s Ahinoam’s adversary–though a likable one, much to Ahinoam’s frustration. While writing Ahinoam’s story, I had to walk a very fine line. Since Abigail is so beloved, I dared not let Ahinoam hate her for fear my readers would hate Ahinoam!
But wouldn’t YOU hate a woman your husband wanted to make his second wife? Yikes! 😯
Remember Abigail’s first husband Nabal? Now, consider how even David’s smallest kindness would feel to a woman who had lived with such cruelty for ten years of marriage.
I realize our modern sensibilities are hard-pressed to accept a man loving two women. Believe me, I struggled with it the whole time I’ve been writing this series!
David With More Than One Wife? NO WAY!
How can David marry more than one wife, when the Law of Moses clearly said it was sin?
“[The king] must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.” Deuteronomy 17:17
Take a deep breath and say this with me: Grace. I realize the Old Testament is all about the Law of Moses, but isn’t David the ancestor of the Chosen Seed (promised in Genesis 3:15)? Isn’t Jesus repeatedly called, “the Son of David”? Jesus, His Ministry, His Death, and Resurrection ushered in Yahweh’s saving grace that’s available to all who believe, by faith, that we can be saved by His righteousness and not our own. Right?
What if David was a symbol of that coming Grace? Stick with me for a moment…
Remember when David fled from Saul, and he stopped at the Tabernacle in Nob and asked the high priest, Ahimelech, if he could have the sacred bread that was by Law reserved only for priests to eat? Ahimelech gave it to him.
Law broken.
But Jesus told this very story about David when the Pharisees condemned Him and His disciples for breaking the Law on the Sabbath.
“[David] entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” Matthew 12:4–7
If Jesus offered GRACE to David when he broke the law for what seemed to be a necessary reason, doesn’t it make sense that if I’ve created a “necessary reason” for David to marry more than one wife, the Lord would–through grace–extend to David mercy rather than demanding his sacrifice?
What is that “necessary reason” I’ve created for the six wives who bore David’s first six sons? I hope you’ll read my new series, King David’s Brides, and find out!
