© David Staume 2007

In 1 Samuel Israel is moving from a theocracy to a monarchy. The inconsistencies, duplications, and overlappings, in 1 and 2 Samuel are the result of two source documents woven together. The author is said to be Samuel, but like most of the books in the Bible, proper attribution isn't that simple.

1. Hannah prays to God to give her a son. She promises that if God grants her wish she will dedicate her son to the priesthood. Hannah sleeps with her husband and Samuel is born. A miracle!

2-6. Samuel is given to the priesthood as an infant. The head priest, Eli, has two sons who scorn people bringing sacrifices to the altar. A prophet tells Eli that his sons will die on the same day and not reach old age. The Philistines beat the Israelites in battle, thirty-four thousand Israelites are killed, and the ark (sacred chest) is captured by the Philistines. Eli dies when he hears the news of his son's deaths. God is displeased with the Philistines for taking the ark and afflicts the people of each town the ark enters with tumours. The Philistines return the ark to the Israelites because it's more trouble than its worth, together with a guilt offering of gold.

7-10. The Israelites defeat the Philistines in battle, with the help of some thunder from God, and reclaim their lost land. The Israelites ask Samuel to anoint a new leader. God takes this as a sign of rejection and prophesizes that the next leader of the Israelites will enslave them. God tells Samuel to anoint Saul, a tall, handsome Benjamite, as leader.

10-14. An Ammonite leader besieges the city of Jabesh and says he will sign a treaty only if he can gouge out the right eye of every citizen. Saul hears of this, 'the Spirit of God comes on him', he musters the Israelites and they slaughter the Ammonites. More battles ensue, with Saul not doing so well. Samuel rebukes Saul for not keeping God's commandments; the presumption is that if he was keeping God's commandments he would be in a better military position. A lack of blacksmiths deplete the stocks of Israel's weapons. Saul's son, Jonathan, kills twenty Philistines at an outpost. This panics the Philistines, Saul takes advantage and the Israelites win this battle. Saul binds his army to an agreement to not eat before evening. Jonathan persuades them otherwise because they are weak. When Saul discovers this insubordination he prays to God and decides to put his son to death. The army, however, take Jonathan's side and save him. Saul's leadership of forty years is marked by 'bitter war'. More evidence that the 'Spirit of God' is a euphemism for incitement to war. Saul, like Abraham, is prepared to murder his own son in God's name.

15. God instructs Saul, through Samuel, to totally destroy the Amalekites by killing every man, woman, child, and infant, and not to spare their livestock. Saul does so, except that he takes their king alive and spares some of the livestock. God is angry at Saul for not carrying out his instructions to the letter. God regrets making Saul king. The Christian God is a monster. How could Christians not come to that conclusion when the evidence is so explicit in their own scriptures?

16-17. God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem where he will anoint a new leader over Saul. God chooses a young shepherd, David, because God can 'see into his heart'. The Israelites face the Philistines in battle. The Philistine champion, Goliath, tall and heavily armoured, challenges Israel to choose a man to fight him. David, bringing provisions to the Israelite camp, tells Saul that he will fight Goliath. Saul objects but David tells him that he has killed both lion and bear, and that this 'uncircumcised Philistine' will be no problem. David, using a slingshot, strikes a stone at Goliath's temple. Goliath falls face-down on the ground. David takes Goliath's sword, kills him and cuts off his head. The Philistines run. The Israelites pursue them and kill them. David takes Goliath's head to Jerusalem. Biblical archaeologists say that the original Hebrew text says that Elhanan (David's brother) killed Goliath. This was changed by translators to avoid contradicting the account in 1 Chronicles, and to give a hero status to their king.

18. David becomes more beloved than Saul because he is more successful at killing Philistines. Saul becomes jealous. Saul tells David the price to marry his daughter is a hundred Philistine foreskins, hoping David will be killed in the process of gathering them, but David gathers the required foreskins and marries Saul's daughter. A hundred Philistine men are killed so that David can gather their foreskins. Despicable.

19-25. Saul tries to kill David, David escapes, and Saul pursues him. David has the opportunity to kill Saul but doesn't. David confronts Saul and Saul expresses sorrow for trying to harm him. David takes Abigail, an intelligent and beautiful woman, as his second wife, when her husband dies.

26. Saul, not sorry and still jealous, continues to pursue David, who escapes into the land of the Philistines. There he finds favour with one of their leaders, Achish, who asks him to join him in war against the Israelites. Other Philistine leaders, however, say David cannot be trusted. David and his men return to find the city has been attacked by Amalekites in their absence, and that their wives have been captured. David asks God for instructions. God tells David to pursue them. He does, and David and his men save the women and children. Meanwhile the Philistines have attacked the Israelites, killed Saul's sons and wounded Saul. Saul takes his own life rather than be killed by uncircumcised Philistines.

The following quote is from Mark Twain (American Writer. 1835-1910) 'The Bible is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.'

Back to Ruth. Forward to 2 Samuel.