SANUEL, BOOKS OF (sarn'u-el, books ov). The two books of Samuel were anciently reck oned as but one among the Jews. That they form only one treatise is apparent from their structure.
(1) Contents. The contents of the books of Samuel belong to an interesting period of Jewish history. The preceding book of Judges refers to the affairs of the republic as they were adminis tered after the Conquest, when the nation was a congress of independent cantons, sometimes par tially united for a season under an extraordinary dictator. As, however, the mode of government was changed, and remained monarchical till the overthrow of the kingdom, it was of national im portance to note the time, method, and means of the alteration. This change happening under the regency of the wisest and best of their sages, his life became a topic of interest. The first book of Samuel gives an account of his birth and early call to the duties of a seer, under Eli's pontificate; describes the low and degraded condition of the people, oppressed by foreign enemies; proceeds to narrate the election of Samuel as judge; his pros perous regency; the degeneracy of his sons, the clamor for a change in the civil constitution; the installation of Saul ; his rash and reckless char acter ; his neglect of, or opposition to, the theo cratic elements of the government. Then the his torian goes on to relate God's choice of David as king; his endurance of long and harassing perse cution from the reigning sovereign; the melan choly defeat and death of Saul on the field of Gilboa ; the gradual elevation of the man 'accord ing to God's own heart' to universal dominion; his earnest efforts to obey and follow out the principles of the theocracy; his formal establish ment of religious worship at Jerusalem, now the capital of the nation; and his series of victories over all the enemies of Judaea that were wont to molest its frontiers. The annalist records Da vid's aberrations from the path of duty; the un natural rebellion of his son Absalom, and its sup pression; his carrying into effect a census of his dominions, and the Divine punishment which this act incurred; and concludes with a few character istic sketches of his military staff. The second book of Samuel, while it relates the last words of David, yet stops short of his death. As David was the real founder of the monarchy and ar ranger of the religious economy; the great (hero, legislator, and poet of his country; as his dynasty maintained itself on the throne of Judah till the Babylonian invasion; it is not a matter of wonder that the description of his life and government occupies so large a portion of early Jewish his tory. The books of Samuel thus consist of three Interlaced biographies—those of Samuel, San], and David.
(2) Age and Authorship. The attempt to ascertain the authorship of this early history is attended with difficulty. Ancient opinion is in favor of the usual theory, that the first twenty four chapters were written by Samuel, and the rest by Nathan and Gad.
Besides, it is certainly a striking circumstance, that the books of Samuel do not record David's death, though they give his last words—his last inspired effusion (Havernick, &Welt. Sec. 167). We should reckon it natural for an author, if he had lived long after David's time and were writ ing his life, to finish his history with an account of the sovereign's death. Had the books of Sam uel and Kings sprung from the same source, then the abrupt conclusion of one portion of the work, containing David's life down to his last days, and yet omitting all notice of his death, might be ascribed to some unknown capricious motive of the author. But we have seen that the two trea tises exhibit many traces of a different author ship. What reason, then, can be assigned for the writer of Samuel giving a full detail of David's life, and actions, and government, and yet failing to record his decease? have plain inference is, that the document must have been composed prior to the monarch's death, or at least about that period. If we should find a memoir of George the Third, entering fully into his private and family history, as well as describing his cabinets, councillors, and parliaments, the revolutions, and wars, and state of feeling under his government, and ending with an account of the appointment of a regent, and a reference to the king's lunacy, our conclusion would be, that the history was composed before the year 1820. A history of David, down to the verge of his dissolution, yet not including that event, must have been written before the monarch 'slept with his fathers.' (3) Scope. The design of these books is not •ry different from that of the other historical treatises of the Old Testament. The books of Kings are a history of the nation as a theocracy; those of Chronicles have special reference to the Corm and ministry of the religious worship, as bearing upon its re-establishment after the return from Babylon. Samuel is more biographical, yet the theocratic element of the government is not overlooked. It is distinctly brought to view in the early chapters concerning Eli and his house, and the fortunes of the ark; in the passages which describe the change of the constitution : in the blessing which rested on the house of Obed Edom; in the curse which fell on the Bethshem ites, and Uzzah and Saul. for intrusive interfer ence with holy things. The book shows clearly that God was a jealous God; that obedience to him secured felicity; that the nation sinned in seeking another king: that Saul's special iniquity was his impious oblivion of his station as only Jehovah's vicegerent, for he contemned the proph ets and slew the priesthood; and that David owed his prosperity to his careful culture of the sacred principle of the Hebrew administration. This early production contained lessons both for the people and for succeeding monarchs, bearing on the motto, 'Whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning.'