Avigail
b. c. 1035 BCE · Biblical era · Carmel (in Judah)
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Avigail was the wife of Naval, a rich sheep-owner of Maon whose flocks grazed at Carmel in the hills south of Hebron. The book of Samuel calls her intelligent and beautiful, and her husband harsh (1 Samuel 25:2-3). Naval insulted David, then an outlaw whose men had protected his shepherds, and David set out to take revenge. Avigail rode out to meet him with a large gift of food (25:18) and talked him out of shedding blood. David blessed her good sense for holding him back (25:32-33). Naval died about ten days later (25:37-38), and David married her (25:39-42). She went with David into exile among the Philistines at Gath and Ziklag (27:3). She was taken captive when Ziklag was raided, and David rescued her (30:5, 18). She moved with him to Hebron when he became king of Judah (2 Samuel 2:2), and there she bore his second son. Samuel calls the son Kilav (2 Samuel 3:3); Chronicles calls him Daniel (1 Chronicles 3:1). Rabbinic tradition counts Avigail among the seven prophetesses of Israel (Talmud, Megillah 14a; Seder Olam 21).
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Carmel (in Judah)Land of Israel — Judean hills south of Hebron
What they did here
Naval's flocks were sheared at Carmel in Judah, and David's messengers found Avigail there when he proposed marriage (1 Samuel 25:2, 40). This is the southern Carmel near Hebron, not Mount Carmel.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Avigail’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Avigail’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
Jewish world
- Eli HaKohen· 1108 BCE–1028 BCE
- Chana (mother of Shmuel)· b. 1100 BCE
- Shmuel ben Elkanah (Samuel the Prophet)· 1075 BCE–1012 BCE
- Gad HaChozeh (Gad the Seer)· b. 1050 BCE
- Natan the Prophet· 1040 BCE–930 BCE
- Batsheva bat Eliam (Bathsheba)· b. 1010 BCE
- Shlomo ben David (King Solomon)· 990 BCE–931 BCE
- Rechavam ben Shlomo (Rehoboam)· 972 BCE–913 BCE
- Shaul ben Kish (King Saul)· d. 1010 BCE
- Yonatan ben Shaul (Jonathan son of Saul)· d. 1010 BCE
- Yeravam ben Nevat (Jeroboam I)· d. 910 BCE
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.