1 Samuel 25:1

And Samuel died,.... In the interval, when Saul and David were parted, and before they saw each other again; according to the Jewish chronology (g), Samuel died four months before Saul; but other

And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 25 Samuel dieth: David goeth to the wilderness of Paran, . Nabal’ s riches, . His and his wife Abigail’ s nature and condition, . David requesteth of Nabal some relief for his camp: he entreateth David’ s messengers scornfully. David is provoked, and mindeth to destroy him, . Abigail understands it, ; taketh a present, ; and by her wisdom, , pacifieth David, . Nabal hearing of this, dieth, . David taketh Abigail and Ahinoam to be his wives, ; Saul having given Michal to Phalti, . Buried him in his house, according to the manner of those times. See 50:5 . The wilderness of Paran, in the southern borders of the land of Judah, that so when occasion served, he might retire out of Saul’ s dominions.

1 Samuel 25:1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.Ver. 1. And Samuel died.] After a long race run without cessation or cespitation: he was one of those few that lived and died with honour. Nabal did not; so: Contraria iuxta se posita, &c. "The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked doth rot." And lamented him.] As well they might, and their own folly in laying him aside; “ Virtutem incolumem odimus: Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi. ” - Horat. And buried him in his house at Ramah.] Where he had, likely, prepared himself a sepulchre; for so was the custom of that people, and others also. The Thebans had a law, that no man should make a house for himself to dwell in, but he should first make his grave. And David arose.] He had lost a fast friend in Samuel, - cuius consilio subsidioque fretus commodius in regno versabatur, - and therefore speedeth away to the wilderness of Paran, whereof see Numbers 10:12. Jun.

(1) And Samuel died.—At this period—namely, about the time when Saul and David met at En-gedi—died Samuel, full of years and honour—perhaps rather than honours, for a long time the old prophet had lived apart from the court, and alienated from the king he had chosen and anointed. Since Moses, none so great as Samuel had arisen. Briefly to recapitulate his work: his influence had in great measure restored the Law of Moses to the affections of the people. Before his time, the words and traditions which the great lawgiver, amidst the supernatural terrors of Sinai, had with some success impressed upon the great nomadic tribe of the Beni-Israel were almost forgotten; and the people among whom, for a long period, no really great leader had sprung up were becoming rapidly mixed up, and soon would have been hardly distinguished from the warlike tribes of Canaan in the neighbouring countries. But Samuel, aided by his great natural genius, but far more by the Glorious Arm, on which he leaned with a changeless trust from childhood to extreme old age, quickened into life again the dying traditions of the race, and taught them who they—the down-trodden Israelites—really were—the chosen of God. He restored the forgotten laws of Moses, by the keeping of which they once became great and powerful, and by the creation of an earthly monarchy he welded into one the separate interests of the twelve divisions of the race; so that from Dan to Beersheba there was but one chief, one standard. But his greatest work was the foundation of the Prophetic Schools, in which men were trained and educated carefully, with the view of the pupils becoming in their turn the teachers and guides of the people. (These schools, which exercised so great an influence upon the future of Israel, and their especial character have been already discussed.) And all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him.—“When the hour of his death came, we are told, with a peculiar emphasis of expression, that all the Israelites—not one portion or fragment only, as might have been expected in that time of division and confusion—were gathered together round him who had been the father of all alike, and lamented him, and buried him, not in any sacred spot or secluded sepulchre, but in the midst of the home which he had consecrated only by his own long, unblemished career in his house at Ramah.”—Stanley, Jewish Church, Lect. 18 Josephus makes especial mention of the public funeral honours paid to the great prophet. “They wept for him a very great number of days, not looking on it as a sorrow for the death of another man, but as that in which they were all concerned. He was a righteous man, and gentle in his nature, and on that account he was very dear to God.”—Antt. vi. 13, § 5. F. W. Krummacher beautifully writes on this public lamentation.

CHAPTER XXV The death of Samuel, 1. The history of Nabal, and his churlishness towards David and his men, 2-12. David, determining to punish him, is appeased by Abigail, Nabal's wife, 13-35. Abigail returns, and tells Nabal of the danger that he has escaped: who on hearing it is thunderstruck, and dies in ten days, 36-38 David, hearing of this, sends and takes Abigail to wife, 39-42. He marries also Ahinoam of Jezreel, Saul having given Michal, David's wife, to Phalti, the son of Laish, 43, 44. NOTES ON CHAP. XXV Verse 1. And Samuel died] Samuel lived, as is supposed, about ninety-eight years; was in the government of Israel before Saul from sixteen to twenty years; and ceased to live, according to the Jews, about four months before the death of Saul; but according to Calmet and others, two years. But all this is very uncertain; how long he died before Saul, cannot be ascertained. For some account of his character, see the end of the chapter. Sa 25:44. Buried him in his house] Probably this means, not his dwelling-house, but the house or tomb he had made for his sepulture; and thus the Syriac and Arabic seem to have understood it. David - went down to the wilderness of Paran.] This was either on the confines of Judea, or in Arabia Petraea, between the mountains of Judah and Mount Sinai; it is evident from the history that it was not far from Carmel, on the south confines of Judah.

Ch. 1 Samuel 25:1. Samuel’s death and burial 1. all the Israelites, &c.] A public mourning was held as after the death of Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8), and the whole nation met to do honour to him, who for well nigh eighty years had gone in and out amongst them as Prophet, Judge, and Counsellor of the King. in his house] Not actually in the house, which would have been inconsistent with the laws of ceremonial purity (Numbers 19:16), but in some court or garden attached to the house. Compare 2 Chronicles 33:20 with 2 Kings 21:18. The Mussulman tradition places the prophet’s tomb on the hill known as Neby Samwil, five miles N.W. of Jerusalem, but see note on 1 Samuel 1:1. the wilderness of Paran] A general name for the great tract of desert south of Palestine, between the wilderness of Shur on the west, Edom on the east, and the wilderness of Sinai on the south. It was the abode of Ishmael (Genesis 21:21); the scene of the wanderings of the Israelites; and the place from which the spies were sent (Numbers 10:12; Numbers 13:3). The Sept. reads Maon, but the change is unnecessary, if we suppose the term Paran to be used with some latitude.

In his house at Ramah - Probably in the court or garden attached to his dwelling-house.