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Chapter 25 records the death of Samuel and David's grief. In 1006 B.C., Samuel the Prophet, died. He was 80 years old. He had been a Prophet for 60 years, second only to Gad who was a Prophet for 65 years.
David went down to the Wilderness of Paran. This wilderness ran all the way from the southern part of Judah south into the Sinai Peninsula. The northern part where David went was called the Wilderness of Judah. He went to a place called Maon near the Village of Carmel. There was a man there by the name of Nabal. He was of the Tribe of Judah. His name literally meant "a fool". He was rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was an ancestor of Caleb but had inherited none of Caleb's virtues. He is described as being a cynic, un-forgiving, short tempered and having a horrible disposition.
David was in need of food for himself and his men. He sent 10 of his men to visit Nabal. They were to remind Nabal that though David and his men had been around for some time, they had never asked for anything from him. Then they were to ask for a small donation of food. Nabal was arrogant as usual. He obviously knew who David was and who his father was but greed and a tormenting spirit kept him from honoring David's request.
When the men returned and told David what had happened, David took 400 of his men and headed for Nabal. In the meantime, Nabal's wife, Abigail, hearing of the situation, attempts to avert a confrontation between David and her husband. She took 200 loves of bread, 2 bbls. of wine, 5 killed and dressed sheep, 2 bbls of roasted grain, 100 raisin cakes and 200 fig cakes. She packed all of this on the backs of donkeys and sent it on ahead to David.
She later followed and as she was riding toward where David was, she met up with him. In his mind, David had already decided to kill Nabal and his men. Abigail was knowledgeable of all that David had done for the Lord and the Lord's dedication to him. She begged David's forgiveness and she said the she hoped that all of David's enemies would be as foolish as Nabal was. She offered him the gift of food that she had brought and hoped that she might be remembered by him as the one who had kept him from taking the law into his own hands and killing her husband. David thanked her for her gift and her common sense, and they parted ways.
When she returned home, she found her husband drunk and she told him nothing about her meeting with David. The next morning she found her husband paralyzed with a stroke and in 10 days, he died for the Lord had killed him. When David heard of this, he sent a messenger to Abigail with a proposal of marriage. She accepted and quickly got ready and taking 5 servant girls with her, she went to David and the two were married.
David's first wife was Michal, Saul's daughter. His second wife was Ahino-am from Jezreel, the mother of Ammon, David's oldest son and now his third wife is Abigail.
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