Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 25:30

"And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel," — 1 Samuel 25:30 (ASV)

And shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel. —The wife of Nabal here speaks of the outlaw captain’s future rule over Israel as king as a matter of absolute certainty. This she, in common with other religious people, had doubtless heard through the Prophetic Schools. We can reasonably suppose that many of the pupils of Samuel and his associates had been, when the first meeting of David with Abigail took place, working for a considerable time as teachers and preachers throughout the land.

It is most likely that the synagogue, or something from which the synagogue sprang—some kind of assembly for prayer to the God of Israel, for instruction and exhortation—had already taken root among the people. The “sons of the prophets,” we can still reasonably assume, were the first Teachers—the first rabbis in Israel.

It must be remembered that at this time, and even before the murder of the priests at Nob, the central Sanctuary exercised comparatively small influence over the religious life of the people; even the Ark of the Covenant never seems to have been kept there. The religious life, when Samuel had grown up to manhood, had almost died out among the people.