Old Testament

1 Samuel

1 Samuel tells how Israel moved from the chaotic days of the judges to life under a king. It follows three lives: Samuel the prophet, Saul the king the people asked for, and David the shepherd God chose. It is in the Bible to show what kind of king God's people need, and that the LORD, not human strength, raises up and brings down.

Author: The book is anonymous, and Samuel's death is recorded in 25:1, so he cannot have written all of it. Tradition credits Samuel with the early material and later prophets such as Nathan and Gad with the rest (compare 1 Chronicles 29:29).
Audience: The audience was Israel under the monarchy, looking back on how their kings began. A note that Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day (27:6) suggests the book reached its final form some time after David's reign.
When: The events span roughly the late eleventh century BC, from Samuel's birth to Saul's death around 1010 BC. These dates are approximate, and the date of final composition is uncertain.
Where: The story moves through Israel's central hill country (Shiloh, Ramah, Gibeah), the wilderness of Judah where David hides, and the Philistine cities on the coastal plain. It ends on Mount Gilboa in the north.
Genre: 1 Samuel is historical narrative: true events told with a storyteller's art. The narrator rarely stops to explain. He lets speeches, repeated scenes and sharp contrasts do the judging: Hannah and Peninnah, Samuel and Eli's sons, Saul and David. Read it slowly. Watch what characters do with the word of the LORD. Notice where a story echoes an earlier one. Embedded poems, such as Hannah's song in chapter 2 and her later words about the LORD's anointed, act as signposts for the whole book.

Shape of the book

Hannah's prayer and Samuel's call · ch 1–3A barren woman's prayer brings Samuel into the world, while Eli's corrupt house falls and the rare word of the LORD returns through the boy.
The ark taken and returned · ch 4–7Israel treats the ark like a lucky charm and loses it, yet the LORD humbles Dagon, brings the ark home, and gives victory at Ebenezer through Samuel's prayer.
Israel asks for a king · ch 8–12The people demand a king like all the nations, and God gives them Saul, while Samuel warns that king and people alike must still obey the LORD.
Saul's failure and rejection · ch 13–15Saul's impatience at Gilgal and his half-obedience against Amalek show a king who will not listen, and the LORD rejects him.
David anointed and rising · ch 16–20God chooses the youngest son of Jesse, who defeats Goliath and wins Jonathan's love, while Saul's jealousy turns murderous.
David the hunted anointed · ch 21–26On the run in caves and deserts, David twice refuses to kill Saul and waits for God to give him the throne.
Among the Philistines, and Saul's end · ch 27–31David shelters in enemy territory while Saul, cut off from God, consults a medium and dies on Mount Gilboa.

Themes

The great reversal. Hannah sings that the LORD brings low and exalts, lifting the poor from the dust (). The whole book plays this out. Barren Hannah bears a son, proud Eli's house falls, a tall king shrinks, and an overlooked shepherd rises. God's choices rarely follow human rankings.
God looks at the heart. When Samuel admires Jesse's eldest son, the LORD says that people look at outward appearance but He looks at the heart (). Saul was head and shoulders above everyone (). David was the boy left out with the sheep. The book keeps asking what kind of person God actually wants.
Listening to the word of the LORD. The book opens when the word of the LORD was rare () and turns on a boy who says, Speak, for Your servant is listening (). Saul's fall comes from not listening. Samuel tells him that to obey is better than sacrifice (). Religious activity cannot replace a heart that hears.
A king under the true King. Israel's request for a king was not wrong in itself, since expects one. The sin was wanting a king like all the nations (, 20) as a replacement for the LORD (). The book asks whether a human king can rule as God's servant rather than God's rival.
Waiting rather than grasping. David is anointed in but does not reign until 2 Samuel. Twice he has Saul at his mercy and refuses to strike the LORD's anointed (; ). He trusts God to give what God has promised, in contrast with Saul, who grabs at control when he grows afraid ().
The holiness of God's presence. The ark cannot be used as a weapon. Israel loses it (), and a newborn is named Ichabod, meaning the glory has departed (). Then the LORD topples Dagon in his own temple (). God is present with His people, but on His own terms.

Where Christ is

1 Samuel is where the word anointed, in Hebrew mashiach and later Messiah, first becomes a title for Israel's king. Hannah's song looks for the LORD to exalt His anointed (), and the book replaces the king the people wanted with a king from Bethlehem after God's own heart. The New Testament presents Jesus as the Son of David who fulfills what David only foreshadowed.

The LORD's anointed. Promise. Hannah's song ends by asking God to strengthen His king and exalt the horn of His anointed (), before Israel even has a king. Mary's song and Zechariah's song in take up Hannah's themes and language, and Zechariah speaks of a horn of salvation raised up in the house of David. (; ; )
David, the king after God's heart. Fulfillment and type. Paul quotes this book's words about a man after God's own heart and says that from David's descendants God brought Israel a Savior, Jesus. David, anointed and filled with the Spirit in Bethlehem, points to the greater Son of David on whom the Spirit rests. (; ; ; )
The rejected king on the run. Fulfillment. Jesus Himself cites David eating the consecrated bread at Nob to defend His disciples. Like David, Jesus was the true king, anointed yet hunted by the ruling power, gathering the distressed and indebted around Him () before His throne was revealed. (; ; )
One champion for the many. Type, offered with care. In the valley of Elah one representative fights for a terrified people, and his victory becomes theirs (). David says the battle is the LORD's (). This pattern prepares for Christ, who wins alone what His people could never win themselves. (; )
The faithful priest and the growing child. Echo. God promises to raise up a faithful priest after Eli's failure (), first answered in Zadok, and Hebrews calls Jesus a merciful and faithful high priest. Luke describes the boy Jesus growing in favor with God and man, in language close to the description of the boy Samuel. (; ; ; ; )

Voices

Matthew Henry. Henry contrasts Samuel with Samson. Samson was announced by an angel as a child of promise, while Samuel arrives as a child of prayer, born out of Hannah's tears at Shiloh. Read the full commentary ↗
Geneva Bible notes. The Reformation-era notes read Saul as God's lesson that a king cannot save without Him, God giving them a tyrant and a hypocrite to teach them. They call David the true figure of Messiah. Read the full commentary ↗
Keil and Delitzsch. These nineteenth-century scholars stress that 1 and 2 Samuel were one undivided work in Hebrew. They note that the Greek title, books of the kingdoms, fits a story about how the monarchy began. Read the full commentary ↗
Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon preached on this book with a pastor's eye. He drew out Samuel's refusal to stop praying for a stubborn people () as an example of intercession, and Saul's fall as proof that obedience is better than sacrifice. More from Spurgeon at CCEL ↗

Reading well, key terms and common misreadings

Read it well

Read 1 and 2 Samuel as one story. They were a single book in Hebrew, and David's anointing in chapter 16 is not fully answered until 2 Samuel 5.
Track the pairs. Hannah and Peninnah, Samuel and Eli's sons, Saul and David, and Jonathan and Saul are set side by side so you can see the difference faith makes.
Notice the repeated scenes. David spares Saul twice (chapters 24 and 26), and Saul is introduced as a king twice (chapters 10 and 11). The narrator uses repetition to make a point, not by accident.
Read with the Psalms. Several psalm titles tie them to this book, including Psalms 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59 and 142. They show what David prayed while he was running.
Let the narrator's silence work. He often reports without approving, for example David's deceptions at Nob and Gath (21:2, 13). Being described is not the same as being commended.

Key terms

Anointed מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) — One set apart by oil for God's service, especially the king. It is the root of the word Messiah, and in Greek, Christos.
Glory כָּבוֹד (kavod) — Literally heaviness or weight. Ichabod (4:21) means no glory. Its root also echoes Eli, who was heavy (4:18), and the weight of the Philistines' suffering.
Covenant love חֶסֶד (chesed) — Loyal, committed kindness. Jonathan asks David to show it to his family forever (20:14–15), a bond David later keeps.
Ruler נָגִיד (nagid) — A leader appointed by God, used for Saul (9:16; 10:1) and David (13:14). The king is a designated servant under the LORD, not an independent ruler.
Devote to destruction חֵרֶם (cherem) — Handing something over wholly to God, often by destruction in holy war. Saul's failure to carry this out against Amalek (15:3, 9) is the stated reason for his rejection.
Ebenezer אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר (even ha-ezer) — Stone of help. Samuel sets it up saying, Thus far the LORD has helped us (7:12), at the same region where Israel had lost the ark (4:1).

Easy to misread

David and Goliath as a lesson about facing your giants. The better reading puts the reader among the frightened soldiers, not in David's sandals. God's anointed fights for a helpless people, and David himself says the battle is the LORD's (17:47).
Saul was rejected for minor mistakes. His sins at Gilgal (13:8–14) and against Amalek (15:9–23) show a pattern: fear of people, excuses, and treating sacrifice as a substitute for obedience. Samuel calls this rebellion and rejecting the word of the LORD (15:23).
Asking for a king was itself the sin. Deuteronomy 17:14–20 had already made room for a king. The problem was the motive: a king like the nations, put in place of God (8:5–7). God then gives a better king of His own choosing.
The medium at Endor proves the dead can be summoned at will. Christians have long disagreed about whether Samuel truly appeared or whether it was a deception (28:12–19). Either way, the scene shows how far Saul has fallen. The law forbade mediums (Leviticus 19:31), and Saul himself had once expelled them (28:3). Here we read it as God's word of judgment breaking in, not as a model.

Further reading: David Guzik, Enduring Word · Matthew Henry on CCEL · BibleProject overview video