Samuel, Saul, and David

Setting

first and second Samuel were originally one book. They weren’t separated in the Hebrew Bible until the 16th Century. The Septuagint divided it because it is too big to fit comfortably on one scroll.

Authorship - no one knows who wrote Samuel. Samuel himself dies in 1 Samuel 25, so he definitely didn’t write it. We do know that the author used written sources, because he says so at one point

2 Samuel 1:18 NKJV

and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher:

This is the only place where the author reveals his sources, but we know there were at least three other sources available

1 Chronicles 29:29 NKJV

Now the acts of King David, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer,

This verse is probably why Jewish tradition states that Samuel, Nathan and Gad wrote the book. However, this is probably a conclusion from this verse, not a memory of who wrote it. So we have no way to know who wrote it. Some of the accounts are quite personal, and must have originally came from the persons featured in the story. Anyway, whoever assembled Samuel was a historian who used ancient sources - the years covered in Samuel are longer than any one lifetime, so he couldn’t have been an eyewitness to most of these events.

There is no problem with inspiration to say that a Biblical author used other writings to compose his work. Inspiration is not a statement of how a book was written, but about the results. God used many different ways of communicating his message - dictation (ten commandments), visions (Ezekiel’s wheel), angels (Daniel 7-12), moving the prophet to speak (“The word of the Lord came to me”), and sometimes he moved the prophet to do research and make a history. But however the book came to be, the Spirit of God superintended the process so that the product was the very word of God.

Date - It’s impossible to figure out exactly when Samuel was written. We can do no more than guess from a couple of little hints.

1 Samuel 9:9 NKJV

(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

This word “seer” is not a common word. It is last used during the reign of Asa, c.875 BC, so the most we can say from this note is that Samuel was written during the monarchy or later.

1 Samuel 27:5–6 NKJV

Then David said to Achish, “If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

Now we can say a couple of things for certain. First, it would make no sense at all for the author to say this after the exile, since the monarchy ceased then. Second, since the author mentioned the kings “of Judah”, he must have written after the kingdom was divided, otherwise he would have said “the kings of Israel.” Third, he probably didn’t write after the northern kingdom ceased to exist. He mentions Israel at several points, and seems like he might be foreshadowing the division, but doesn’t seem to know about Israel being conquored in 722BC.

There are a few other hints that the author wrote sometime during the divided monarchy (c.971 BC-722BC). He seems to foreshadow the coming division by naming Israel and Judah separately on several occasions. For example, when David sinfully took a census, the report was

2 Samuel 24:9 NKJV

Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

Also when David resumed his throne after Absalom’s death, there was a fight between Israel and Judah to bring him back

2 Samuel 19:41–43 NKJV

Just then all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king, his household, and all David’s men with him across the Jordan?” So all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative of ours. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?” And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten shares in the king; therefore we also have more right to David than you. Why then do you despise us—were we not the first to advise bringing back our king?” Yet the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

Now, how does this help us understand why the author wrote the book of Samuel? Well remember that during this time there is a divinely annointed King sitting on the throne in Judah, but Israel has separated and set up their own king. There would be a lot of political nonsense coming from Israel, as many people sought to justify their actions after the fact. Criticism of the Davidic King had to be common, and criticism of the Priesthood in the Temple would be rife, too. Yet David’s line didn’t reign by sheer force of will, and the priesthood wasn’t appointed because the people thought it was a good idea. God had chosen both.

Fear God and His Anointed; Worship Him as he commanded

Yet neither can the prophet give an unqualified endorsement of everything the Davidic king does. Sometimes the present king did quite ungodly things. When that happened, God did judge them. For example, Rehoboam, who lost the ten northern tribes, supported idolatrous worship in Israel, and as a result, Shishak, king of Egypt came and raided the treasury and the temple (1 Kings 14:21-28). So the historian also needed to show that the country and their king only prospered when King and country are following God. The books of first and second Kings show this history more directly. Samuel recounts historically the rise of David but also shows us his sin and the terrible consequences. Compare that to Chronicles, where we also see some of the story of David, but without the latter consequences. That’s because Chronicles was written during the exile, when the people needed hope, not rebuke. So the Chronicler emphasized hope because that was what they needed. But the author of Samuel needs to reaffirm that God had chosen David’s Line, but that blessing and cursing were still tied to obeying God. He also ties the Royal line and matters of the temple and the priesthood together, too. David is concerned about proper worship, and there is a secondary theme about how the Zadokian priesthood replaces Eli’s line. Since God appointed both, worshiping God in that day meant submitting to the King God had chosen, and submitting to the annointed king meant worshipping God in the temple. But since the king doesn’t always do the right thing, submitting to his authority is not a simple matter of agreeing that whatever the king does must be right. Instead, the people are supposed to criticize the king whenever he wanders from God, but without leaving him. They are supposed to support the temple and its priesthood, and not give up on the temple if the current priesthood is evil. Rather, they should criticize the priesthood when they wander from God, yet support the temple worship anyway.

The Characters and what they are there for

Major characters. There are three major characters in Samuel - Samuel, Saul, and David

Samuel - It is important to the author to establish that Samuel was a true prophet. However, other than Samuel’s first prophecy as a boy, we find very little of Samuel’s prophecy in the book. The emphasis, rather, is on Samuel’s reluctant role as King-maker. If God is to choose a King, there must be a king-maker, and Samuel is it. We find him popping up in his birth/boyhood 1 Sam 1-3; then he is absent until bringing Israel back 1 Samuel 7. He then is instrumental in choosing Saul 1 Samuel 8-12, culiminating in his farewell address in chapter 12. He appears briefly to rebuke Saul in chapter 13 for Saul’s unlawful sacrifice, then is prominent again to declare Saul’s removal and to annoint David. He does not speak again, until after his death at the Witch of Endor in 1 Sam 28, though David does flee to Samuel in chapter 19. His death is recorded in 1 Sam 25.

Saul - appears in chapter 9 as the awkward shepherd, but Samuel is still in charge. By chapter 11 he has become King. The author tells us enough of Saul’s successes to show us that Saul was truly chosen by God to be king, but the emphasis is rather on Saul’s failure. That is the purpose of the two major battles related about him in chapter 13-14. Chapter 14 ends with a summary of his reign, so that appears to be the end of his legitimate rule, however, he is still the major character of chapter 15. After that, he is more the foil for David. He is outshone by David the Courtier, then becomes David’s enemy, so functions as David’s opponent for most of the rest of first Samuel; His consultation of a necromancer is given in great detail to show how he rejected God, and his death in 1 Sam 31 is by then an inevitable result of God’s rejection of him, which in turn was because he had rejected God.

David - first appears in chapter 16. After that, our author recounts David’s rise to power as a member of Saul’s court, his meteoric fame because of his defeat of Goliath; and how Saul’s unfounded hatred of him inexorably drove him away from everyone and everything he loved. As an outlaw, God was still with him and he grew in power anyway. Once Saul was dead, David rose to rule all Israel. For a while, he continued to be blessed and to win many victories; God even promised him an eternal dynasty in the Davidic Covenant; but after his sin with Bathsheba, he was constantly in turmoil and on the run from devastating personal losses and betrayals. Rather than end with David’s death, the book ends with an epilogue of sorts, with accounts of David’s mighty men, and a couple of poems from David.

Minor characters - at every point, there are characters that appear opposite the major character, sometimes as opponents.

Eli and family with Hannah and family - Eli’s disastrous priesthood with his ungodly sons function as the contrast to the godly Samuel; Hannah’s godly influence is given special focus in the story of Samuel’s birth. Eli’s line ended up with Abiathar the priest after Saul killed all the others; even though Abiathar served with David, the story of his line is the story of how and why God chose Zadock and his line instead.

Saul himself is the secondary character to Samuel in 1 Sam 9-12; he is a secondary character to David from chapter 16 until his death.

Jonathan - Jonathan’s godliness and bravery stand in stark contrast to his father’s weakness and unbelief. David’s friendship with him shows that David was not responsible for the demise of Saul’s house; and that friendship is also why David blesses Mephibosheth, a further proof of David’s nonaggression to Saul’s line.

Absalom functions as a contrast with his father - his duplicity demonstrates his unfitness to be king while his temporary success fulfills God’s promise to David to cause chaos in David’s family.

Themes

God blesses those who fear and trust him; he punishes the arrogant who go their own way.

God anointed David’s line as the divinely authorized King you must submit to.

God chose Jerusalem to put his name there, and the sons of Zadok are the divinely chosen priests.

Application

The church is not a kingdom, and the pastor is not a king, so it is not quite so straightforward. In a Kingdom, compromise is essential if everyone is to get along. Since we do not live in a theocracy, we cannot expel unbelievers out of the kingdom. Experience shows that denying religious freedom for atheists and agnostics ends up with our own religious liberty being removed. Frankly, I’d rather have those who deny the faith be thrown out, but the only way I can avoid being thrown out myself, or my descendants, is to let the deniers have the same religious freedom I desire for myself.

A Church is different. We are not the whole nation, so we can and should demand orthodoxy for our members. Compromise on the fundamentals of the faith is wrong within the church. hhh

Jesus is the Anointed King to whom we must submit now. He is also of David’s line, but we have no need to worry about his character. He is the perfect holy lamb of God, so we will never need to figure out how to serve God while his anointed doesn’t.

Jesus is also our faithful high priest. He has a better priesthood than Aaron, so we need not worry about the temple. We will see God face to face - much better. However, we must remember that worship is not a consumer choice. We do not worship any way that suits our fancy, but as God has commanded. Worship is not about us it is about who God is.

Outline

I. The Story of Samuel 1:1-12:25

A. Samuel the Boy 1:1-4:1a

B. The Ark is lost and returned 4:1b-7:17

C. Samuel the Kingmaker 8:1-12:25

The people demand a King 8:1-22

Samuel anoints Saul privately 9:1-10:16

Samuel introduces Saul to Israel 10:17-27

Samuel crowns Saul King 11:1-15

Samuel’s farewell address 12:1-25

II. The Story of Saul 9:1-15:35

A. Saul is anointed privately 9:1-10:16

B. Saul is appointed publicly 10:17-27

C. Saul is proven practically 11:1-12:25

D. Saul foolishly offers a sacrifice to save his army 13:1-23

E. Saul foolishly vows while his son saves the day 14:1-46

F. Summary of Saul’s reign 14:47-52

F. Saul foolishly spares the Amalekites and loses the right to the Kingdom 15:1-35

III. The Story of David’s Rise 15:1-1:27

A. Saul loses the Kingdom 15:1-35

B. David the annointed 16:1-17:58

i. the annointing 16:1-13

ii. David becomes Saul’s muscician 16:14-23

iii. David and Goliath 17:1-58

C. David the Courtier 18:1-20:42

i. David becomes Saul’s commander 18:1-5

ii. Saul becomes David’s enemy 18:6-30

iii. Three attempts on David’s Life 19:1-24

iv. Jonathan and David part ways 20:1-42

D. David the Outlaw 21:1-26:25

i. David gets help from Ahimelech 21:1-9

ii. David escapes Achish 21:10-15

iii. David flees to Moab 22:1-5

iv. Saul kills the priests at Nob 22:6-23

v. David rescues Keilah 23:1-14

vi. David escapes Saul 23:15-29

vii. David spares Saul 24:1-22

viii. David is spared from murder; gains Abigail 25:1-43

ix. David Spares Saul again 26:1-25

E. David the Refugee 27:1-1:27

F. David the King 2:1-20:??

G. Epilogue on David 21-24