Books of Samuel
[3][4] Modern scholarly thinking posits that the entire Deuteronomistic history was composed circa 630–540 BCE by combining a number of independent texts of various ages.
But Saul proved unworthy, and God's choice turned to David, who defeated Israel's enemies, purchased the threshing floor[8] where his son Solomon would build the First Temple, and brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
Supplementary Information A man named Elkanah, an Ephraimite from the city of Ramathaim-Zophim, has two wives, Peninnah and Hannah, the latter of whom is his favourite wife.
Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, sin against God's laws and the people, specifically by demanding raw rather than boiled meat for sacrifice and having sex with the Tabernacle's serving women.
Shortly after, Nahash of Ammon lays siege to Jabesh Gilead and demands that everyone in the city have their right eye gouged out as part of the peace treaty.
When Saul hears of the situation, he gathers a 330,000-strong army and launches a surprise attack at night, leading Israel to victory and saving Jabesh, thus proving those who doubted him wrong.
Samuel is aware he is the final judge and that the age of kings is about to begin, and speaks to the Israelites, demonstrating his innocence and recapping the history of Israel.
Saul's son Jonathan launches a secret attack by climbing a pass into the Philistine camp and kills twenty people in the process.
The royal decree has other unintended knock-on effects, namely that the men start killing and eating animals without draining the blood.
Jonathan devises a code to relay this information to David: he will come to the stone Ezel, shoot three arrows at it and tell a page to find them.
One night, David and two companions, Achimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah (his nephew), go to Saul's camp and find him asleep on the ground.
After seeking God's advice, David decides to pursue the raiding Amalekites, finding the Egyptian slave of one, abandoned when he became ill, who can show them the band.
The elders of Judah anoint David as king, and as his first act he offers a reward to the people of Jabesh Gilead for performing Saul's funerary rites.
A grand procession with musical instruments is organised, but comes to a sudden halt when the oxen stumble, causing Uzzah to touch the Ark and die.
Amnon's advisor and cousin Jonadab suggests he pretend to be ill and ask Tamar to come and prepare bread for him so he can eat out of her hand.
Absalom purchases a magnificent chariot, and begins campaigning to become a judge, principally by waiting outside the city gate, listening to the concerns of people coming to the king and pretending there is no-one to hear them, as well as embracing anyone who bows to him.
Four years pass, and Absalom travels to Hebron, claiming to be fulfilling a vow, but in fact he hatches a plan to get the tribes of Israel to proclaim him king.
He takes with him his wives and concubines, with the exception of ten, and a number of Cerethites, Pelethites and Gittites, led by a general named Ittai, who comes with David only after insisting on it.
The procession climbs the Mount of Olives, where he meets his confidant Hushai the Arkite, who he sends back to Jerusalem to act as a spy, seeking to disrupt Ahitophel's plans.
As the party approaches Bahurim, a Benjaminite named Shimei begins cursing and stoning David for the bloodshed he caused in the House of Saul.
Joab points out that the battle has saved not only David's life, but the lives of his wives and concubines, and thus it is humiliating for the men to have to mourn for the enemy.
Attempting to resolve the issue, a Benjaminite named Sheba son of Bichri launches a rebellion against David, which all the tribes except Judah back.
Rizpah protects the bodies, and David agrees to take the bones of Saul, Jonathan and those killed by the Gibeonites and bury them in the tomb of Kish in Zelah.
Gad the prophet offers David three choices of punishment: three years of famine, three months of pursuit by his enemies or three days of plague.
After three days the angel of death reaches Jerusalem, and is on the threshing floor of a man named Araunah the Jebusite, when God tells him to stop.
[16] The Books of Samuel are considered to be based on both historical and legendary sources, primarily serving to fill the gap in Israelite history after the events described in Deuteronomy.
However, even prior to this, the medieval Jewish commentator Isaac Abarbanel noted that the presence of anachronistic expressions (such as "to this day" and "in the past") indicated that there must have been a later editor such as Jeremiah or Ezra.
[22] Although Noth's belief that the entire history was composed by a single individual has been largely abandoned, his theory in its broad outline has been adopted by most scholars.
Finally, there are widely acknowledged structural parallels between the Hittite suzerain treaty of the second millennium BC and the Book of Deuteronomy itself, far before the time of Josiah.
[36] The main themes of the book are introduced in the opening poem (the "Song of Hannah"): (1) the sovereignty of Yahweh, God of Israel; (2) the reversal of human fortunes; and (3) kingship.
