1 Samuel 25:1

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.