The following is the results of your search for Samuel, Books of.
Samuel, Books of: 1. The LXX. translators regarded the books of Samuel and of Kings as
forming one continuous history, which they divided into four books,
which they called "Books of the Kingdom." The Vulgate version
followed this division, but styled them "Books of the Kings." These
books of Samuel they accordingly called the "First" and "Second"
Books of Kings, and not, as in the modern Protestant versions, the
"First" and "Second" Books of Samuel.
2. The authors of the books of Samuel were probably Samuel, Gad, and
Nathan. Samuel penned the first twenty-four chapters of the first
book. Gad, the companion of David
(1 Samuel 22:5) continued the
history thus commenced; and Nathan completed it, probably arranging
the whole in the form in which we now have it
(1 Chronicles 29:29)
3. The contents of the books.
a. The first book comprises a period of about a hundred years, and
nearly coincides with the life of Samuel. It contains
1. the history of Eli (1-4)
2. the history of Samuel (5-12)
3. the history of Saul, and of David in exile (13-31)
b. The second book, comprising a period of perhaps fifty years,
contains a history of the reign of David
1. over Judah (1-4) and
2. over all Israel (5-24) mainly in its political aspects.
c. The last four chapters of Second Samuel may be regarded as a
sort of appendix recording various events, but not
chronologically.
4. These books do not contain complete histories. Frequent gaps are
met with in the record, because their object is to present a
history of the kingdom of God in its gradual development, and not
of the events of the reigns of the successive rulers. It is
noticeable that the section
(2 Samuel 11:2-12:29) containing an
account of David's sin in the matter of Bathsheba is omitted in the
corresponding passage in
(1 Chronicles 20:1)ff
