It describes how Samuel's mother Hannah requests a son from Yahweh, and dedicates the child to God at the shrine of Shiloh.

The passage makes extensive play with the root-elements of Saul's name, and ends with the phrase hu sa'ul le-Yahweh, "he is dedicated to Yahweh."

[8] Eli, who was sitting at the foot of the doorpost in the sanctuary at Shiloh, saw her apparently mumbling to herself and thought she was drunk, but was soon assured of both her motivation and sobriety.

[20]Once Samuel responded, the Lord told him that the wickedness of the sons of Eli had resulted in their dynasty being condemned to destruction.

[21] Anglican theologian Donald Spence Jones comments that "the minds of all the people were thus gradually prepared when the right moment came to acknowledge Samuel as a God-sent chieftain".

[10] According to Bruce C. Birch, Samuel was a key figure in keeping the Israelites' religious heritage and identity alive during Israel's defeat and occupation by the Philistines.

"[I]t may have been possible and necessary for Samuel to exercise authority in roles that would normally not converge in a single individual (priest, prophet, judge).

The Philistines, having marched to Mizpah to attack the newly amassed Israelite army, were soundly defeated and fled in terror.

The text then states that Samuel erected a large stone at the battle site as a memorial, and there ensued a long period of peace thereafter.

Because of the external threat from other tribes, such as the Philistines, the tribal leaders decided that there was a need for a more unified, central government,[24] and demanded Samuel appoint a king so that they could be like other nations.

Just before his retirement, Samuel gathered the people to an assembly at Gilgal, and delivered a farewell speech[25] or coronation speech[26] in which he emphasised how prophets and judges were more important than kings, that kings should be held to account, and that the people should not fall into idol worship, or worship of Asherah or of Baal.

Saul told Samuel that he had spared the choicest of the Amalekites' sheep and oxen, intending to sacrifice the livestock to the Lord.

[32] According to tradition, this burial place has been identified with Samuel's tomb in the West Bank village of Nabi Samwil.

While the Witch of Endor remains anonymous in the Biblical account, the rabbinical Midrash maintains that she was Zephaniah, the mother of Abner (Yalḳ, Sam.

That a supernatural appearance is here described is inferred from the repeated emphasis laid on the statement that Samuel had died and had been buried (I Sam.

The outcry of the woman at the sight of Samuel was due to his rising in an unusual way—upright, not, as she expected, in a horizontal position (comp.

The oldest is considered to be that marking Samuel as the local seer of Ramah, who willingly anointed Saul as king in secret, while the latter presents Samuel as a national figure, begrudgingly anointing Saul as king in front of a national assembly.

The Monarchial source would have Saul appointed king by public acclamation, due to his military victories, and not by Samuel's cleromancy.

According to the Priestly Code/Deuteronomic Code only Aaronic priests/Levites (depending on the underlying tradition) were permitted to perform these actions, and simply being a nazarite or prophet was insufficient.

Since many of the Biblical law codes themselves are thought to postdate the Book(s) of Samuel (according to the Documentary Hypothesis), this would suggest Chronicles is making its claim based on religious motivations.

For example, Samuel's father Elkanah is described as having originated from Zuph, specifically Ramathaim-Zophim, which was part of the tribal lands of Ephraim, while 1 Chronicles states that he was a Levite.

In 1 Sam 12:6–17, a speech of Samuel that portrays him as the judge sent by God to save Israel may have been composed by the Deuteronomists.

According to documentary scholarship, the Deuteronomistic historians preserved this view of Samuel while contributing him as "the first of prophets to articulate the failure of Israel to live up to its covenant with God.

[49] For Christians, Samuel is considered to be a prophet, judge, and wise leader of Israel, and treated as an example of fulfilled commitments to God.

Herbert Lockyer, minister and author, and others have seen in Samuel's combined offices of prophet, priest, and ruler a foreshadowing of Christ.

[51] Samuel (Arabic: صموئيل or شموئيل, romanized: Šamūʾīl or Ṣamūʾīl) is seen as a prophet and seer in the Islamic faith.

[54] `Abdu'l-Bahá, a central figure in the Bahá'í Faith, mentions Samuel as an example of a genuine Prophet of the House of Israel, alongside Ezekiel.