Abigail

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Abigail

Abigail is a female name occurring in Biblical narratives

Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
from the Books of Samuel

Books of Samuel

The Books of Samuel are part of the Tanakh and also of the Christianity Old Testament. The work was originally written in Hebrew language, and the Book of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Hebrew bibles....
, and reflected in the Books of Chronicles

Books of Chronicles

LocationIn the masoretic text, Chronicles is part of the third part of the Tanakh, namely Ketuvim . In most printed versions it is the last book in Ketuvim ....
. The name Abigal occurs on one occasion, and is thought by the vast majority of scholars to be an alternate spelling of Abigail. There appear to be two individuals named Abigail:

It is possible for both these women named Abigail to be different accounts of the same woman, as textual scholars regard the account in the Books of Chronicles as ultimately deriving from the Books of Samuel, and the references there to Abigail as a sister of David occur only in the passages which textual scholars attribute to the court history of David
Court History of David

The Court History of David is one of the two hypothetical main source documents of the Books of Samuel . The text is believed to cover most of 2 Samuel except for the first few chapters and a few more minor parts....
, a document which doesn't mention an Abigail as one of David's wives.

ail's self-styling as a handmaid led to Abigail being the traditional term for a waiting-woman, for example, Abigail, the waiting gentlewoman, in Beaumont and Fletcher

Beaumont and Fletcher

Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher , who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I of England....
's The Scornful Lady
The Scornful Lady

The Scornful Lady is a Literature in English#Jacobean literature era stage play, a comedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher , and first published in 1616 in literature, the year of Beaumont's death....
, published in 1616.

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Encyclopedia

Abigail is a female name occurring in Biblical narratives

Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
from the Books of Samuel

Books of Samuel

Books of Chronicles

The mother of Amasa
Amasa

Amasa - burden.* A son of Abigail , who was sister to King David and Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. Hence, Amasa was a nephew to David, a cousin to Joab, as well as a cousin to Absalom....
. In the Book of Chronicles, and Septuagint version of the Books of Samuel, Abigail's father is identified as being Jesse
Jesse

Jesse or Yishay is the father of the Biblical David, who became the king of the nation of Israel. His son David is sometimes called simply "Son of Jesse" ....
, and she therefore would be a sister of David, but in the masoretic text of the Books of Samuel her father is named Nahash; scholars think that Nahash is a typographic error here, based on the appearance of the name two verses later. In the Book of Chronicles, Amasa's father is identified as Jether the Ishmaelite
Ishmaelite

Ishmaelite may refer to:* one of the Ishmaelites, descendants of Ishmael in the Bible, later identified with Arabs.* an Ismaili, a follower of a branch of Shia Islam....
, but in the books of Samuel, Amasa's father is identified as Ithra the Israelite
Israelite

According to the Tanakh, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
; scholars think that the latter case is more likely.

The wife of the wicked Nabal
Nabal

According to the Books of Samuel, Nabal , was a rich Calebite who was also described as being harsh and badly behaved. David and his band of men who had been outlawed by King Saul were living off the Wilderness of Paran and providing voluntary protection to the shepherds in the area....
, who became a wife of David after Nabal's death. She had gone out to stop David from taking revenge against Nabal for his ingratitude towards David, warning him that vengeance was sinful and God would take care of the issue. Her accuracy in understanding God's will suggests that she was a true follower of God. She became the mother of one of David's sons
Daniel (son of David)

Daniel , also known as Chiliab .Known as Daniel in Chronicles 1 3:1 and known as Daluyah in the Septuagint.Second son of King David, born to Abigail, widow of Nabal, the third wife of David....
, who is named in the Book of Chronicles as Daniel, in the masoretic text
Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text is the Hebrew language text of the Jewish Bible . It defines not just the Development of the Jewish Bible canon, but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in Judaism, as well as their niqqud and cantillation for both public reading and private study....
of the Books of Samuel as Chileab, and in the Septuagint
Septuagint

The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd century BC and 1st century BC in Alexandria....
text of the Books of Samuel as Daluyah.

It is possible for both these women named Abigail to be different accounts of the same woman, as textual scholars regard the account in the Books of Chronicles as ultimately deriving from the Books of Samuel, and the references there to Abigail as a sister of David occur only in the passages which textual scholars attribute to the court history of David
Court History of David

The Court History of David is one of the two hypothetical main source documents of the Books of Samuel . The text is believed to cover most of 2 Samuel except for the first few chapters and a few more minor parts....
, a document which doesn't mention an Abigail as one of David's wives.

Generic use

Abigail's self-styling as a handmaid led to Abigail being the traditional term for a waiting-woman, for example, Abigail, the waiting gentlewoman, in Beaumont and Fletcher

Beaumont and Fletcher

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satire, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Dublin....
and Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding

File:Henry Fielding - Jonathan Wild.pngHenry Fielding was an England novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satire prowess, and as the author of the novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling....
employ Abigail in this generic sense. William Rose Benet

William Rose Benét

William Rose Ben?t was an American poet, writer, and editor.He was the older brother of Stephen Vincent Ben?t.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated The Albany Academy in Albany, NY and at Yale University....
notes the notoriety of Abigail Hill, better known as "Mrs Masham", the lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a noble court, attending to a Monarch, a princess or other nobility. A lady-in-waiting is often a noblewoman of lower rank than the one she attends to, and is not considered a servant....
to Queen Anne

Anne of Great Britain

Anne became Queen of England, Queen of Scots and Kingdom of Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law, William III of England. Her Roman Catholic father, James II of England, was Glorious Revolution in 1688/9; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III & II and Mary II of England, the only such c...
.