Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
This chapter opens with one disappointment for David, the death of his mentor, and it closes with another, the departure of his mate (1 Samuel 25:44). This suggests that the events of chapter 25 took place when David was at a low point in his life emotionally. This may account for the fact that David did not conduct himself completely honorably at this time. He is not the hero of this chapter. Abigail is. God used a woman to avert a tragedy in Israel’s history, again (cf. Judges 4; 2 Samuel 14:2-20; 2 Samuel 20:16-22). The wilderness of Paran, to which David fled next, lay just southeast of Maon (1 Samuel 25:2).