1 Samuel: a people asks for a king
1 Samuel tells of Samuel, the last of the judges, of Saul, Israel's first king, and of David, whom God chose by looking at the heart. The people asked for a king like the nations; God raised up a king after his own heart.
About the book
The book bears the name of Samuel, the prophet who anointed Israel's first two kings. In the Hebrew Bible Samuel is a single book; the Greek Old Testament divided it in two, and Hebrew Bibles later did the same. So 1 and 2 Samuel are one story.
Samuel does not name its author. Jewish tradition, in the Babylonian Talmud, says that Samuel wrote it, and that after his death (1 Samuel 25:1) Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet finished it Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra. Scripture says that David's acts are written "in the Chronicles of Samuel the Seer, the Chronicles of Nathan the Prophet, and the Chronicles of Gad the Seer" (1 Chronicles 29:29), and that Samuel wrote on a scroll the rights of kingship (1 Samuel 10:25). Yet a note that Ziklag "still belongs to the kings of Judah" (1 Samuel 27:6) seems to look back from after the kingdom divided, when Judah had kings of its own. So most who hold the traditional view think that a later hand gathered the prophets' records into one book.
Many scholars see older accounts, such as the story of the ark (chapters 4–6) and the story of David's rise, gathered into the Deuteronomistic History described in the lesson on Joshua. Both views agree that the book rests on older records; they differ on when, and how much, it was shaped.
The story begins at the end of the judges' age, when Eli "had judged Israel forty years" (1 Samuel 4:18), and runs to Saul's death. The map under the Jesus tab sets it in the era of the united monarchy (c. 1050–930 BC).
How it unfolds
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–7 | Samuel: Hannah's prayer, the fall of Eli's house, the ark lost and returned |
| 8–15 | Saul: the king the people asked for, his disobedience and rejection |
| 16–31 | David: anointed, Goliath, Saul's jealousy, David hunted, Saul's death |
It is a book of reversals. Eli's house falls while the boy Samuel grows; tall Saul rises and falls; David, the youngest son, keeping sheep, is lifted up. As Hannah sang, the LORD "humbles and He exalts" (1 Samuel 2:7).
Key passages
Hannah, who had no child, gave her son Samuel to the LORD and prayed:
My heart rejoices in the LORD … There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
1 Samuel 2:1-2
The people asked for a king "like all the other nations" (1 Samuel 8:5), and the LORD told Samuel, "it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king" (1 Samuel 8:7). With a king on the throne, the question stays the same: will king and people obey the LORD, their true King? When Saul broke God's command and pleaded the sacrifices, Samuel answered, "obedience is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22).
Choosing a king from Jesse's sons, God told Samuel:
For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
As Matthew Henry puts it, "We can tell how men look, but God can tell what they are" Matthew Henry. Facing Goliath's sword and spear, young David said, "I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts" (1 Samuel 17:45). Later, hunted by Saul, he would not harm him, for Saul was "the LORD's anointed" (1 Samuel 24:6).
The book and Christ
More than a thousand years later Hannah's song sounds again in Mary's: "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble" (Luke 1:52). Hannah sang when Israel had no king, yet she ended, "He will exalt the horn of His anointed" (1 Samuel 2:10). ‘Anointed’ is in Hebrew , from which comes Messiah, and in Greek Christ (John 1:41). The Heidelberg Catechism of the Reformed churches says Jesus is called Christ:
Because he is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost … and our eternal King, who governs us by his Word and Spirit
Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 31
The king God chose by the heart was a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11), and David's greater son said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). See Prophet, priest and king, in the doctrine course, and Is Jesus the Messiah?
Reading it
Two chapters a day takes a little over two weeks; begin with 1 Samuel 1. Follow its three men, Samuel, Saul and David, and notice who is raised up, who is brought low, and why. Beside the chapters where Saul hunts David, read Psalm 57, a prayer from those days. The story does not stop at Saul's death: it runs straight on into 2 Samuel.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
Which three men lead the story of 1 Samuel, in order?
- Practice 2 of 6
When the people asked for a king, whom did God say they had rejected?
- Practice 3 of 6
Why did Samuel tell Saul that "obedience is better than sacrifice"?
- Practice 4 of 6
Choosing a king from Jesse's sons, what did the LORD say he looks at?
- Practice 5 of 6
What do ‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ mean?
- Practice 6 of 6
What is true of who wrote Samuel?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Source
- The Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a — Completed c. 6th century. The Jewish tradition of who wrote (or compiled) each book of the Hebrew Bible: Moses his own book, the portion of Balaam and Job; Joshua his and the Torah's last eight verses (his death recorded by Eleazar and Phinehas); Samuel his, Judges and Ruth (finished by Gad and Nathan); David the Psalms with the elders; Jeremiah his, Kings and Lamentations; Hezekiah and his company Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song and Ecclesiastes; the Men of the Great Assembly Ezekiel, the Twelve, Daniel and Esther; Ezra his and the genealogies of Chronicles.
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.