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Pursued by a King Abigail's Story
Pursued by a Abigail's Story
is the 7th book in the Ordinary Women of the Bible fiction series.
A sense of unease settles over Abigail as she learns of her father's choice for her husband. Something about the way Nabal of Maon looks at her makes her uncomfortable, but no amount of pleading can convince her father that there is more to Nabal than what they see. Abigail is sentenced to a life with a volatile, unpredictable man.
When David, the rumored next king of Israel, approaches Nabal seeking the customary kindness of strangers, Nabal turns him away, incurring the future king’s wrath. Abigail must be swift to act in order to save her household. Nabal collapses, never to rise again, upon hearing the news of David's wrath and Abigail's actions to appease the future king. And when David’s men appear at her doorstep with an offer of a new life, Abigail must choose between returning to her father’s home, or embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.
A sense of unease settles over Abigail as she learns of her father's choice for her husband. Something about the way Nabal of Maon looks at her makes her uncomfortable, but no amount of pleading can convince her father that there is more to Nabal than what they see. Abigail is sentenced to a life with a volatile, unpredictable man.
When David, the rumored next king of Israel, approaches Nabal seeking the customary kindness of strangers, Nabal turns him away, incurring the future king’s wrath. Abigail must be swift to act in order to save her household. Nabal collapses, never to rise again, upon hearing the news of David's wrath and Abigail's actions to appease the future king. And when David’s men appear at her doorstep with an offer of a new life, Abigail must choose between returning to her father’s home, or embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 13, 2024
112 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Adams
124 books60 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 14, 2024
This book follows Abigail in her marriage to Nabal, and notes his temper, which apparently caused a severe stroke, and possibly a heart attack as well, when he heard that Abigail had give. supplies to David's men - and that he was inebriated when be heard the news, as was normal for him in the Scriptures (the Bible states what we would today describe as a stroke, or apoplexy as it was called for centuries, and his symptoms therein are compatible with what we call a stroke today, in my experience as a retired RN).
It adds details hinted at in scripture, and follows her widowhood closely. While the Bible says only that David took Abigail as his wife, and it seemed to me that he took her immediately, the story gives her the time for appropriate mourning and has a delegation from David asking her if she will accept David's proposal. Using common sense as to the arduous life David's followers would have lived, moving from hiding place to hiding place, living rough, rings true to me. Also it puts flesh and blood to their time in Philistine territory, including the time when the Amalekite raiders took revenge on David for his raids on their towns and kidnapped his wives, children, and those of his men. It details the rescue and how Abigail's role as beloved new wife morphed into her being his chief advisor over time. It mentions her son, named Chileab by his father, who was sickly as a baby, never seemed to put on much weight despite eating well, and details his death from what sounds to me like West Nile virus. The book also details David's ascent from king of Judah to king over all Israel, and credits Abigail with a solution to use Jerusalem as his capital. It details the rough start of Abigail's friendship with Ahinoam, David's 2nd wife (since Michal had been taken from him and married to another man by Saul's decree), and how she had come to love her 2nd husband when David forced her back to his side. Saul had made his daughter a bigamist legally, and so David still had primary rights over a woman who no longer loved him.
The story puts Abigail as the only wife who can read and write, and who was taught by her father when she showed an interest in Torah and wanted to read for herself. While we don't know if that's true, she was at the least a wise woman who organized an efficient household for Nabal, and knew what she had to do when Nabal wouldn't supply David's men when they had saved his shepherds many hours of fighting off beasts and had made sure he lost no livestock. That the author would extend that wisdom and those organizational skills as belonging to a devout woman who read the scriptures and took much of her wisdom from them is not a surprise.
The story certainly puts flesh and blood to David's time dodging King Saul, the stress it put on him and his people, and portrays David in his wanderings, his time as King of Judah, and his conquest of Jerusalem which he set as his capital and which remains the capital for Israel to this day, despite the claims of others. God promised David's son to Bathsheba, Solomon, that He would put His Name in Jerusalem forever, and thus, no claim against Jerusalem by others will stand as God said He would put His Name there forever, and thus His people would serve Him there. There is no other reason that God would allow Israel to win the 6 day war in 1967 CE/AD and lead them into Jerusalem and allow them to conquer it, except that His people Israel were to wroship Him in the place He chose to place His Name forever. And so we see God's provision through the centuries based on His promises that David would always have a descendant on the throne unless that descendant refused to serve Him, was fulfilled when Jesus, David's descendant, came to earth to fulfill prophecy. We see the prophecy of Moses fulfilled, that if Israel turned its back on Him, they would be accursed, but if the leadership especially turned to God alone and worshipped Him in spirit and in truth, they would be blessed. In modern history, we see that though no one else could farm the land of Palestine - a name the Romans gave to the province of Judea after the Jews were dispersed all over the Empire to obliterate the Jewish claim to Israel, and therefore not a real name or place, as it was the same geographic location as Israel and was synonymous with the made up Roman name of Palestine - when Israel returned to it, it would yield its fruits to them, blessing them, as promised in Old Testament prophecy. And so David's legacy, however marred by some of his actions, has continued to modern times. How much of this is attributable to Abigail's actions, we will only know for sure if we reach Heaven, which means having a relationship with Jesus where we accept His sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins, and let Him bee Lord of our lives. I look forward to seeing how well the authors of this series read their characters, and hiw much they discerned of the true nature of these very real and very human people in the Bible.
It adds details hinted at in scripture, and follows her widowhood closely. While the Bible says only that David took Abigail as his wife, and it seemed to me that he took her immediately, the story gives her the time for appropriate mourning and has a delegation from David asking her if she will accept David's proposal. Using common sense as to the arduous life David's followers would have lived, moving from hiding place to hiding place, living rough, rings true to me. Also it puts flesh and blood to their time in Philistine territory, including the time when the Amalekite raiders took revenge on David for his raids on their towns and kidnapped his wives, children, and those of his men. It details the rescue and how Abigail's role as beloved new wife morphed into her being his chief advisor over time. It mentions her son, named Chileab by his father, who was sickly as a baby, never seemed to put on much weight despite eating well, and details his death from what sounds to me like West Nile virus. The book also details David's ascent from king of Judah to king over all Israel, and credits Abigail with a solution to use Jerusalem as his capital. It details the rough start of Abigail's friendship with Ahinoam, David's 2nd wife (since Michal had been taken from him and married to another man by Saul's decree), and how she had come to love her 2nd husband when David forced her back to his side. Saul had made his daughter a bigamist legally, and so David still had primary rights over a woman who no longer loved him.
The story puts Abigail as the only wife who can read and write, and who was taught by her father when she showed an interest in Torah and wanted to read for herself. While we don't know if that's true, she was at the least a wise woman who organized an efficient household for Nabal, and knew what she had to do when Nabal wouldn't supply David's men when they had saved his shepherds many hours of fighting off beasts and had made sure he lost no livestock. That the author would extend that wisdom and those organizational skills as belonging to a devout woman who read the scriptures and took much of her wisdom from them is not a surprise.
The story certainly puts flesh and blood to David's time dodging King Saul, the stress it put on him and his people, and portrays David in his wanderings, his time as King of Judah, and his conquest of Jerusalem which he set as his capital and which remains the capital for Israel to this day, despite the claims of others. God promised David's son to Bathsheba, Solomon, that He would put His Name in Jerusalem forever, and thus, no claim against Jerusalem by others will stand as God said He would put His Name there forever, and thus His people would serve Him there. There is no other reason that God would allow Israel to win the 6 day war in 1967 CE/AD and lead them into Jerusalem and allow them to conquer it, except that His people Israel were to wroship Him in the place He chose to place His Name forever. And so we see God's provision through the centuries based on His promises that David would always have a descendant on the throne unless that descendant refused to serve Him, was fulfilled when Jesus, David's descendant, came to earth to fulfill prophecy. We see the prophecy of Moses fulfilled, that if Israel turned its back on Him, they would be accursed, but if the leadership especially turned to God alone and worshipped Him in spirit and in truth, they would be blessed. In modern history, we see that though no one else could farm the land of Palestine - a name the Romans gave to the province of Judea after the Jews were dispersed all over the Empire to obliterate the Jewish claim to Israel, and therefore not a real name or place, as it was the same geographic location as Israel and was synonymous with the made up Roman name of Palestine - when Israel returned to it, it would yield its fruits to them, blessing them, as promised in Old Testament prophecy. And so David's legacy, however marred by some of his actions, has continued to modern times. How much of this is attributable to Abigail's actions, we will only know for sure if we reach Heaven, which means having a relationship with Jesus where we accept His sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins, and let Him bee Lord of our lives. I look forward to seeing how well the authors of this series read their characters, and hiw much they discerned of the true nature of these very real and very human people in the Bible.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2025
Beautiful
I have always lived the idea of Abigail. It was her bravery and faith that appealed to me as I chose her for my confirmation name. I longed to be able to do what was required of me to be faithful to God bringing Him honor and glory. I had no clue what I was asking for but lived the idea of her striking beauty being second to her humility and submissive obedience.
I live the way this author portrays her while adding the plausible and believed wisdom and possessed and shared with her second husband.
Her story is not of a faint hearted woman because she was not one. But the silent heartbreaks she emailed Brooke my heart and I cried for her and with her.
It is a beautiful thing to love and to be loved and painful things to see the love you give Gail to be enough for the one you love as time moves forward. This process is described so true to what so many people experience. It is heartbreaking but the grace Abigail chooses to maintain despite her passion is what I find to be most attractive about her. It is something I strive to possess.
Great book.
I have always lived the idea of Abigail. It was her bravery and faith that appealed to me as I chose her for my confirmation name. I longed to be able to do what was required of me to be faithful to God bringing Him honor and glory. I had no clue what I was asking for but lived the idea of her striking beauty being second to her humility and submissive obedience.
I live the way this author portrays her while adding the plausible and believed wisdom and possessed and shared with her second husband.
Her story is not of a faint hearted woman because she was not one. But the silent heartbreaks she emailed Brooke my heart and I cried for her and with her.
It is a beautiful thing to love and to be loved and painful things to see the love you give Gail to be enough for the one you love as time moves forward. This process is described so true to what so many people experience. It is heartbreaking but the grace Abigail chooses to maintain despite her passion is what I find to be most attractive about her. It is something I strive to possess.
Great book.
September 27, 2024
Abigail’s story was beautiful! My heart broke with hers and rejoiced with hers. Her faith was beautiful and inspiring. A beautifully written book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews