Author: Unknown

Date: 10^th century, b.c. – probably written after the division of Israel into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms in 931 b.c.

Our modern books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel are considered one book in the Hebrew Bible.  First Samuel is one of the historical books of the Old Testament (all the books from Joshua through Esther fall into that category).  It tells about the transition from the limited rule of the judges to the centralized national rule of a king.

Main Characters: There are three main characters in 1 Samuel:

1. Samuel (chapters 1 – 7) was a prophet/priest and was Israel’s first national leader after Joshua.
2. Saul (chapters 8 – 15) was Israel’s first king, but he was a failure.
3. David (chapters 16 – 31) was Israel’s second king.  He was a man after God’s own heart.

This quarter’s study will be a survey of the major events in the book of 1 Samuel, rather than a thorough study of each and every chapter.

The theme of this quarter’s study is “Faithfulness in Difficult Times.”  Samuel’s mother was faithful to God in spite of her childlessness.  God removed unfaithful Eli and his sons, while elevating Samuel to great prominence as Israel’s faithful prophet and priest.  Israel’s unfaithfulness led them to demand a king.  Saul was unfaithful to God, resulting in his rejection from the throne, his demon-possession, and ultimately his death.  David was faithful in the face of the giant and throughout years of pursuit by wicked King Saul.