The book of 1 Samuel

At a glance

Chapters

31

Author

Anonymous; part of the Deuteronomistic history

Written

Final form likely sixth century BC

Written for

A people who had asked for a king and got one

Themes

monarchy, anointing, jealousy, the heart

What it is about

1 Samuel moves through three figures: Samuel, the last judge; Saul, the first king; and David, the one who replaces him. The transition from tribal confederation to monarchy is the book's real subject, and it is treated with striking ambivalence.

Chapter 8 is the passage to know. The people ask for a king to be like the other nations, and Samuel's response is a list of what a king will actually do — conscript their sons, take their daughters, take a tenth of everything, and eventually they will cry out and not be answered. They ask anyway.

Saul's reign then plays as tragedy rather than villainy: a man out of his depth, undone by insecurity, and the book gives him a genuinely affecting end. David arrives as a shepherd, is chosen on grounds explicitly opposed to appearance, and spends most of the rest of the book being hunted.

Where to start

Chapter 8, where the political argument of the whole book is stated. Chapter 16 if you want David's introduction and its famous line.

The chapters worth knowing

• 1 Samuel 8 — The people ask for a king and are told in detail what a king will cost them.
• 1 Samuel 16 — David anointed, and the reason given is set explicitly against appearance and height, which is what the previous king had going for him.
• 1 Samuel 24 — David spares Saul in the cave, and the restraint costs him nothing except the kingdom he has already been promised and could simply have taken.

What people get wrong about it

That Saul is simply a bad king and David a good one. The narrative is more careful than that — Saul is disobedient and pitiable, and David's own failures are recorded at length in the sequel.

Questions