Abigail intervenes with David

David is riding out to massacre an entire household over an insult. Abigail rides out with two hundred loaves and a direct rebuke. The LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt. David listens.

1 Samuel 25 narrates one of the oldest surviving confrontations between a woman and a future king. Nabal has insulted David; David has armed four hundred men to kill every male in Nabal's household. Abigail, without her husband's knowledge, loads provisions, intercepts David, and delivers a theologically sophisticated speech that names his intended act as murder and offers him a door back. David credits her: "Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt." She is one of the very few characters in the Deuteronomistic History who successfully talks David out of a decision.