Megillah, Daf Yod Daled, Part 4
Introduction
Abigail was married to a scoundrel named Naval, when David sent men to ask her for bread. Naval foolishly refused, causing David to set out to kill him. Abigail went to David to try to appease him and succeeded. Eventually, Naval died and David married Abigail.
אביגיל – דכתיב +שמואל א" כ"ה+ והיה היא רכבת על החמור וירדת בסתר ההר. בסתר ההר? מן ההר מיבעי ליה! אמר רבה בר שמואל: על עסקי דם הבא מן הסתרים.
"Abigail", as it is written, "And it was so, as she rode on her donkey and came down by the hidden side of the mountain" (II Samuel 25:20). "By the hidden side [seter] of the mountain"? It should say "from the mountain"!
Rabbah b. Shmuel said: It means that she came with reference to blood that came from the hidden parts [setarim].
The verse says that she came down on the hidden side of the mountain. This is a strange detail why on the hidden side of the mountain, and not just down the mountain.
Rabbah b. Shmuel now begins an extended midrash, in which we shall eventually see what Abigail prophesied. Abigail was coming down the mountain to David to ask him questions about her menstrual blood. David here is portrayed in the way that a typical rabbi is portrayed women came to ask whether their blood was impure. The story continues below.
נטלה דם והראתה לו. אמר לה: וכי מראין דם בלילה? – אמרה לו: וכי דנין דיני נפשות בלילה? – אמר לה: תלמוד מורד במלכות הוא, ולא צריך למידייניה. – אמרה לו: עדיין שאול קיים, ולא יצא טבעך בעולם.
She brought some blood and showed it to him. He said to her: Is blood to be shown at night? She replied: Are capital cases tried at night? He said to her: He [Naval] is a rebel against the king and no trial is necessary for him. She replied; Saul is still alive, and your fame has not yet spread abroad in the world.
Abigail showed the blood stain, assumedly on a sheet, to David. He replies that we don’t show blood stains at night for obvious reasons. She, being a prophetess, responds that David should not be coming to execute Naval for we don’t judge capital cases at night. David responds that Naval is a rebel, and rebels against the king do not even need to be judged. The king can execute them without a trial. She defends her husband by replying that King Saul was still alive, so how was Naval supposed to know that David was king.
אמר לה: +שמואל א" כ"ה+ וברוך טעמך וברוכה את אשר כלתני [היום הזה] מבוא בדמים. דמים תרתי משמע! אלא מלמד שגילתה את שוקה, והלך לאורה שלש פרסאות. אמר לה: השמיעי לי! – אמרה לו: +שמואל א" כ"ה+ לא תהיה זאת לך לפוקה, זאת – מכלל דאיכא אחריתי, ומאי ניהו – מעשה דבת שבע, ומסקנא הכי הואי.
Then he said to her: "Blessed be your discretion and blessed be you, that you have kept me this day from shedding bloods" (I Samuel 25:33).
Damim [bloods] this means two bloods! Rather it teaches that she bared her thigh and he went three parasangs by the light of it.
He said: Listen (lie) with me.
She replied, "Let not this be a stumbling-block to you" v. 31).
The word "this" implies that something else would be, and what was that? The incident of Bathsheba; and so it was eventually.
This section shows how Abigail saved David twice, and was also a prophetess. David says that she prevented him from shedding blood, but he uses the word "bloods" as if to say she prevented him from another type of blood. This second blood was the menstrual blood. David wanted to lie with her, because she was exceedingly beautiful (and David is David, after all). She told him "let not ‘this’ meaning ‘me’ be a stumbling block for you." Abigail was not a stumbling block for David he did not lie with her until Naval died. But Bathsheba was a stumbling block for David. This was predicted by Abigail, and eventually came true. Thus she was a prophetess.
+שמואל א" כ"ה+ והיתה נפש אדני צרורה בצרור החיים. כי הוות מיפטרא מיניה אמרה ליה +שמואל א" כ"ה+ והטיב ה" לאדני וזכרת את אמתך, אמר רב נחמן: היינו דאמרי אינשי: איתתא בהדי שותא פילכא. איכא דאמרי: שפיל ואזיל בר אווזא ועינוהי מיטייפי.
"And the soul of your lord shall be bound up in the bundle of life" (v. 29). When she left him she said to him. "And when the Lord shall have done well by my lord . . . then remember your handmaid" (v. 31). R. Nahman said: This is like what people say: While a woman talks she spins.
Some say: The goose stoops as it goes along, but its eyes peer afar.
Abigail, when departing from David, asks him to remember her in the future. She knows that her current scoundrel of a husband, Naval, will die, and she wants David to marry her later on. Abigail, married but already securing a future marriage, is like a woman who can talk and spin wool at the same time. She was a good multi-tasker. Another folk-saying illustrating this is that even though the goose walks with its head down, its eyes look far off.