BACK

1. A Look at the Book:

1. In the Hebrew Bible, the books of 1 & 2 Samuel are one, simply titled Samuel. In the Greek septuagint (@ 250 BC), they were designated 1 & 2 Kingdoms, with the two books of Kings as 3 & 4 Kingdoms.
2. Author

1. Many believe Samuel to be the principle writer of 1 Samuel, with one or more authors completing the record.
2. Other texts contemporary with Samuel include:

1. book of Jasher - 2 Samuel 1:18
2. David’s Psalms - 2 Samuel 22-23
3. The Chronicles of David - 1 Chronicles 27:24
4. books of Nathan the Prophet & Gad the seer - 1 Ch 29:29

3. Date of Events: Around 1140 - 1015 B.C. (125 years)
4. Theme: God’s Righteousness

2. Major Events:

1. Birth of Samuel - chapter 1
2. Rejection of God - chapter 8
3. Choosing of Saul - chapter 10
4. Saul’s Disobedience - chapters 13-15
5. Anointing of David - chapter 16
6. David confrontation with Goliath - chapter 17
7. Saul’s pursuit of David - chapters 19-27
8. Saul’s death - chapter 31

 

3. Key Passages:

1. 3:1 - "the word of the Lord was precious in those days"
2. 3:10 - "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth."
3. 3:18 - "It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good."
4. 4:3 - ‘Let the ark save us.’
5. 8:19b-20a - ‘Give us a king so we may be like all the nations.’
6. 14:6 "nothing restrains the Lord to save by many or by few."
7. 15:22 "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
8. 17:29 "Is there not a cause?"
9. 17:51 "And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled."
10. 18:14 "David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him." (4 times in ch 18 David behaved wisely)
11. 25:17 "He is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him."

BACK