Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil and evil in his doings… 1 Samuel 25:2-3
Here we are introduced to Abigail as a woman of “good understanding” in stark contrast to the description given to her husband, so let’s look at the Hebrew word for “understanding.”
Sekel (H7922): Intelligence, by implication success: - knowledge, policy, prudence, sense, understanding, wisdom, wise.
In the Hebrew, each word in the definition carries equal weight and application. This means Abigail carried all of the above traits. And because “sekel” is only used 16x in Scripture, this implies that the wisdom and understanding Abigail carried was rare. And it is one of the same the words used to describe Solomon. In all likelihood Nabal’s prosperity was connected to Abigail’s wisdom, particularly her wisdom in managing their household and their servants.
