Samuel שמואל
The book of the passage from judges to kingship: Shmuel, Shaul and David.
The book of Shmuel begins with the prayer of the childless Chana at Shiloh and ends with the purchase of Aravna's threshing floor, where the Temple would stand. Between these points the nation's entire constitution changes.
Shmuel grows up beside the Mishkan, becomes the last judge and the first circuit prophet; when the people demand "a king like all the nations" he warns them of the cost and anoints Shaul anyway. The book then becomes a double portrait: Shaul, losing the kingdom through half-obedience and fear of the people, and David—shepherd, musician, fugitive, captain of outcasts, and finally king.
The second half brings Jerusalem, the Ark, Natan's promise of an eternal dynasty, Bat Sheva and the rebuke "you are the man", and Avshalom's revolt. Nothing is softened.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Shmuel I 1–31 — from the birth of Shmuel to the death of Shaul
- Shmuel II 1–24 — the kingdom of David
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bava Batra 14b–15a — Shmuel wrote his own book; Gad and Natan completed it
- Seder Olam Rabbah 13 — the chronology of the age
Basis: tradition.