“And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.” After her marriage, she accompanied David in all his fortunes; and no doubt her shrewd business sense was of great service to her husband. The words she told David while he was sinking under discouragement from Nabal’s ingratitude, that he would be “bound in the bundle of life with the Lord his God,” became prophetic of her own after life. She proved that-- “They who get the best are those Who leave the choice to Him.” We next come to Michal. As Abigail had saved the life of Nabal, so Michal had saved the life of David. She was the younger of the two daughters of Saul, the first king in Israel. David had been very successful in the slaughter of the Philistines, and on his return the women came out singing songs of welcome, in which they chanted, “Saul hath slain thousands, and David ten thousands.” Saul was highly displeased with this popular welcome to David and said, “What can he have more but the kingdom?” But, with a view of exposing the life of David, Saul promised his elder daughter, Merab, in marriage, if he would fight his battles. However, in this Saul had missed his calculations, for the Philistines were not able to take the life of David. So, no doubt, in order that he might have one more opportunity of exposing David to the dangers of war, he gave Merab to Adriel, the Mehoathite, to wife. It was a treachery such as Saul frequently practiced upon David. So he offered Michal, the second daughter, in marriage, fixing the price for her hand at no less than the slaughter of a hundred Philistines. David, by a brilliant feat, doubled the tale of his victims, and Michal became his wife. Michal was not averse to the good luck of David, for she had so appreciated him that she had fallen violently in love with the young hero. It was not long, however, before the strength of her affections was put to the proof. After one of Saul’s attacks of frenzy, in which David had barely escaped being transfixed by the king’s spear, Michal learned that the house was being watched by Saul’s soldiers, and that it was intended on the next morning to attack her husband as he left his door. Michal seemed to have known too well the vacillating and ferocious disposition of her father when in these demoniacal moods, so, like a true soldier’s wife, she met stratagem by stratagem. She first provided for David’s safety by lowering him out of the window by means of a rope. To gain time for him to reach the residence of Samuel at Ramah, she dressed up the bed as if still occupied by him, by placing a teraphim in it, its head enveloped, like that of a sleeper, in the usual net used for protection from gnats--a sore pest in Palestine.