Wisdom and Danger

I remember when I started this blog, one of my first blogs was about the fact that the word “wisdom” in the Bible is a feminine noun (you can view that post here). I noticed this while reading through Proverbs. In the past few weeks, I have read through I and II Samuel in my quiet time. I noticed a pretty interesting thread: the role of wise women, particularly the stunning acts which put them in serious danger. Below are a few examples.

Michal

After David was anointed king, Saul made several attempts on David’s life. Michal, Saul’s daughter, was married to David. She discovered one of her father’s plots to kill David, warned him, and helped him escape through a window. Not only that, she lied to her father’s messengers:

“Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, ‘He is sick” (I Samuel 19:13-14).

A scary moment for a new bride. She finds herself between her father (the king) and her husband. She knows her father is in the wrong and though he is king, she does not yield to his kingship. She uses wits and brains to save David’s life while risking her own.

Abigail

David flees Jerusalem and finds refuge in the wilderness, along with other warriors. While in the wilderness, David sends men to a man named Nabal to ask for provisions. David’s crew has been kind to Nabal’s workers and even provided protection for them and the herds. One would expect Nabal to offer kindness in return, but instead, Nabal refuses and answers them harshly. David is furious and immediately prepares his men for a fight.

Abigail is Nabal’s wife. When the workers report these events to Abigail, she takes action.

“Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, ‘Go on before me; behold, I come after you.’ But she did not tell her husband Nabal.”

“‘Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. . . now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. . . when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself.”

“And David said to Abigail, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!‘”

(From I Samuel 25)

Here is what I gleaned from this:

• Abigail did not submit to her husband when he was in the wrong.
• Abigail was brutally honest about her husband’s character, not to harm him, but to help him and others. (Recall the post about honor and honesty here).
• Abigail took action to prevent disaster
• Abigail appealed to David (who was anointed to be king and the most notable warrior in Israel) by acknowledging his good character thus far and called him to “rise” above her husband’s foolishness.
• Result: Abigail’s wisdom and discretion caused her to take quick action, put herself in danger, and prevent disaster. Wisdom didn’t keep her safe. Wisdom put her into harms way (through action and words), but was the saving grace for many!

Wise Woman

This woman does not have a name in the Bible, but she is given the title “wise woman.” Here is the story:

A man named Sheba organizes a coup in Israel to usurp David. He flees to a city called Abel. Joab, David’s military commander, and his men surround the city and start to attack it.

“Then a wise woman called from the city, ‘Listen! Listen! . . . I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the Lord?‘”

Joab reports to the woman that they are only there to find a man named Sheba, who is trying to overthrow David and cause division in Israel.

“And the woman said to Joab, ‘Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.’ Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom.”

The people in fact do as the woman has told Joab and Joab immediately stops the attack on the city. The city is spared and civil war is diverted, saving many more lives that would have been lost.

Like Abigail, the wise woman appeals to a military powerhouse (seriously, Joab was not to be messed with) and calls out the wrong he is about to do. With the updated news, she appeals to the people of the city. And they listen to her wisdom!!! She is not shunned by Joab nor the people for being a woman.

I point these things out because I think there are New Testament verses about women that can be plucked from context and then keep women “in their lane” (a narrow lane at that). But when we read stories like the ones here plus others in the New Testament, we notice how women were a vibrant part of kingdom work! The wisdom of God pulses through us too! But the wisdom He gives, if we walk in it, will call us to “dangerous” conversations and actions! Are you answering God’s wisdom? Or are you playing it safe so as not to upset the status quo?