The First Book of Kings (1 Samuel)

The book most readers know as 1 Samuel is, in the Catholic Bible, the First Book of Kings. It is one of the great narratives of Scripture: a barren woman's prayer at Silo, a child who answers God in the night, a king who would not obey, and a shepherd boy with a sling. Its thirty-one chapters run from the birth of Samuel to the death of Saul on the mountains of Gelboe, and the Fathers read the whole of it as a preparation for Christ, the Son of David.

Why is 1 Samuel called 1 Kings in the Catholic Bible?

The Hebrews held the history of Samuel, Saul and David as one book called Samuel. The Septuagint divided it in two and joined it to the following history as four "Books of the Kingdoms"; St Jerome kept the four books in the Vulgate and named them the Books of Kings (Libri Regum). The Douay-Rheims follows the Vulgate, so its 1 and 2 Kings are the modern 1 and 2 Samuel, and its 3 and 4 Kings are the modern 1 and 2 Kings. The Vulgate gives both names at once: "the First Book of Samuel, which we call the First Book of Kings." Printed Hebrew Bibles first split it into "1 and 2 Samuel" at Venice in 1516–17, and Protestant versions followed. See our articles on the Douay-Rheims Bible and on which Bible Catholics use.

Who wrote 1 Samuel?

The book names no author, but tradition is clear. The Talmud (Baba Bathra 14b–15a) holds that Samuel wrote the book that bears his name, and that Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet completed it, since Samuel's own death is told within it. Its ground is a verse of Paralipomenon (Chronicles): Now the acts of king David first and last are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer (1 Paralipomenon 29:29).

Bishop Challoner's note in the Douay-Rheims gives the same view as the common opinion: Samuel composed the first book as far as the twenty-fifth chapter, where his death is recorded (1 Kings 25:1), and Nathan and Gad finished it and wrote the second. Gad was David's companion in exile, Nathan his prophet at court.

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia treats these three prophetic records as the chief sources, which an inspired writer, whose name we do not know, wove into the single, unified work we have. The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decree on the authorship of Samuel, but its response of 23 June 1905 holds that the historical books are to be received as true history unless solid arguments prove otherwise. Many modern scholars divide the book among later sources and editors, theories the Catholic Encyclopedia examined and found unconvincing.

When was 1 Samuel written?

The events belong to the end of the Judges and the first kingship in Israel, roughly the eleventh century before Christ, and tradition holds that men who lived through them wrote their substance. The text shows that its final form came somewhat later: Siceleg belongeth to the kings of Juda unto this day (1 Kings 27:6) supposes that the kingdom had already divided after Solomon. The Catholic Encyclopedia therefore places the final composition after the division and before the reform of King Josias (621 B.C.), noting that its Hebrew "belongs to the best period of Hebrew literature".

What is 1 Samuel about? A summary

The book has one design: God gives Israel a king on His own terms, and prepares the house of David, from which the everlasting King would come. Saul is elected, found wanting and rejected; David is kept through every danger until the throne is his.

Samuel, Heli and the ark (chapters 1–7)

Chapters 1–3 open at the sanctuary of Silo. Anna, the childless wife of Elcana, pours out her soul before the Lord and vows Him a son. She names the child Samuel, a name that "imports, asked of God", as Challoner notes, gives him to the high priest Heli, and sings the canticle of chapter 2. Heli's sons Ophni and Phinees profane the sacrifices, and a man of God foretells the fall of his house. In chapter 3 the Lord calls the boy by night, and all Israel from Dan to Bersabee, knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord.

In chapter 4 the Philistines take the ark, Heli's sons are slain, and the old priest dies at the news; in chapters 5–6 the ark casts down Dagon and is sent back. In chapter 7 Samuel calls the people to repentance at Masphath, the Lord thunders against the Philistines, and Samuel judges Israel all his days.

Israel asks for a king: Saul (chapters 8–15)

In chapter 8 the elders demand a king, to judge us, as all nations have, and God tells Samuel: they have not rejected thee, but me. In chapters 9–10 Saul, son of Cis of Benjamin, goes looking for his father's asses and finds a crown; Samuel anoints him, the lot falls on him, and the people cry God save the king. His victory at Jabes Galaad (chapter 11) confirms him, and Samuel, in his farewell (chapter 12), holds it a sin against the Lord to cease praying for the people.

Then the fall: Saul offers the holocaust without waiting for Samuel (chapter 13); Jonathan routs the Philistines at Machmas (chapter 14); and when Saul spares Agag and the best of the spoil of Amalec, Samuel pronounces his final rejection (chapter 15).

David at Saul's court (chapters 16–20)

In chapter 16 the Lord passes over Isai's seven elder sons at Bethlehem and chooses the youngest, who keeps the sheep: the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward, while an evil spirit troubles Saul and David's harp relieves him. In chapter 17 David meets Goliath of Geth with a sling and a stone. In chapter 18 Jonathan's soul is knit to David's, while the women's song, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands, wakes Saul's jealousy. Michol and Jonathan save David from Saul's spear (chapters 19–20).

David the fugitive and the death of Saul (chapters 21–31)

From chapter 21 David is an outlaw. Achimelech gives him the loaves of proposition, and Saul massacres the priests of Nobe (chapter 22). Twice David has Saul at his mercy, in the cave of Engaddi (chapter 24) and in his camp by night (chapter 26), and twice he will not touch the Lord's anointed. Samuel dies and Abigail keeps David from bloodshed (chapter 25). With no answer from God, Saul consults the woman of Endor (chapter 28); David recovers all that the Amalecites took from Siceleg (chapter 30); and Saul and Jonathan fall on mount Gelboe (chapter 31). The story runs straight on into 2 Kings, the reign of David.

Famous chapters and verses of 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 1:27–28. For this child did I pray, and the Lord hath granted me my petition ... Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord all the days of his life (1 Kings 1). Childless couples still pray with Anna, as in our novena for fertility.

1 Samuel 2:2 and 2:30. There is none holy as the Lord is: for there is no other beside thee, and there is none strong like our God; and to Heli: whosoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify: but they that despise me, shall be despised (1 Kings 2).

1 Samuel 3:10. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth (1 Kings 3), the classic text of the call of God.

1 Samuel 7:12. He called the place, the Stone of help. And he said: Thus far the Lord hath helped us (1 Kings 7); other versions call it Ebenezer.

1 Samuel 13:14. The Lord hath sought him a man according to his own heart, which St Paul applies to David (Acts 13:22). Its first verse, Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign, Challoner reads of a king still innocent as a child (1 Kings 13).

1 Samuel 15:3 and 15:22–23. The command against Amalec carries out the sentence God had pronounced in the desert (Exodus 17:14). St Thomas, citing this very book (The Lord killeth and maketh alive, 2:6), teaches that by God's command death "can be inflicted on any man, guilty or innocent, without any injustice whatever"; Challoner adds that without such a command it is never lawful in any war to kill children. Then come its most quoted words: obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel (1 Kings 15). More in what God says about obedience.

1 Samuel 16:7. Man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart (1 Kings 16). The evil spirit from the Lord of verse 14 came, says Challoner, "by divine permission, and for his punishment".

1 Samuel 17:45–47. I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts ... the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for it is his battle (1 Kings 17).

1 Samuel 18:1. The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul (1 Kings 18), the Old Testament pattern of holy friendship.

1 Samuel 30:6. David was greatly afflicted ... but David took courage in the Lord his God (1 Kings 30).

Themes and the Catholic reading

A new priesthood and a new King. St Augustine gives chapters 4–7 of The City of God, Book XVII, to this book. Heli's priesthood gives way to Samuel and Saul's kingdom to David, and in both he sees the day when "the priesthood and kingdom are changed by one who is a priest, and at the same time a king, new and everlasting, even Christ Jesus." The sentence on Heli's house was partly fulfilled, Challoner notes on 2:32, when Abiathar gave way to Sadoc, "but it was more fully accomplished in the New Testament, when the priesthood of Aaron gave place to that of Christ"; the faithful priest promised in 2:35 points to Him, the Priest of the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Anna and Our Lady. Augustine hears in Anna's canticle the voice of the Church. Before Israel has a king, it already sings: he shall give empire to his king, and shall exalt the horn of his Christ (2:10). Its reversals, he humbleth and he exalteth, return in the Magnificat (Luke 1): a barren mother and the Virgin Mother praise the same God who lifts up the lowly.

The ark of God. The gilded chest made under Moses (Exodus 25) held the tables of the testament, the manna and Aaron's rod (Hebrews 9:4). It is no talisman for a faithless people, and idols fall before it. The Church greets Our Lady as Ark of the Covenant in the Litany of Loreto, for she bore the Word and the Bread from heaven.

David, figure of Christ. Born at Bethlehem, a shepherd, anointed, persecuted, merciful to his enemy: in David the Fathers saw Christ. Expounding the Vulgate psalm "To David himself against Goliath", Psalm 143 (144), Augustine writes: "David put five stones in his scrip, he hurled but one. The five Books were chosen, but unity conquered ... This our David also did ... He overthrew the devil with his own weapons." Our Lord Himself cites David's eating of the loaves of proposition (Matthew 12).

Samuel at Endor. The Fathers weighed the scene of chapter 28 with care. St Augustine (On the Care of the Dead, 15) leaves open whether the prophet himself spoke or a spirit took his likeness, while noting that the praise of Samuel in Ecclesiasticus 46 says he prophesied after death. St Thomas (Summa II-II, q. 174, a. 5, ad 4) allows that by God's will the soul itself of Samuel foretold to Saul the issue of the war. Either way the scene excuses no divination, which Saul himself had banished (28:3).

Its place in the canon and in the liturgy

The First Book of Kings is protocanonical: Jews, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants all receive it, so the question of the deuterocanonical books does not touch it; only the name differs. The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) lists "the four books of Kings" among the sacred books and declared Jerome's Latin Vulgate authentic. It follows Judges and Ruth, and part of it is retold in 1 Paralipomenon.

In the Roman Breviary of 1962 the Church begins it at Matins in the week after Trinity Sunday, Incipit liber primus Regum, and reads the Books of Kings through the weeks after Pentecost. Anna's canticle, Exsultavit cor meum in Domino, is sung at Lauds on Wednesdays of Lent and other penitential days. The Douay titles of Psalms 33 (34), 51 (52), 53 (54), 56 (57) and 58 (59) tie them to David's flight from Saul, and they are best prayed beside these chapters and in the Breviary.

How to read 1 Samuel

Read it as a story, one part per sitting. Watch three men: Samuel who prays, Saul who will not obey, David who waits on God. Pray Anna's canticle with the Magnificat, and the Psalms of David's flight beside the chapters of his exile. Then go straight on to 2 Kings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote 1 and 2 Samuel?

They were originally one Hebrew book, so one tradition covers both. The Talmud and Challoner's notes hold that the prophet Samuel wrote the first part, as far as his death in chapter 25, and that the prophets Nathan and Gad wrote the rest, including the whole reign of David (1 Paralipomenon 29:29). In the Douay-Rheims they are the First and Second Books of Kings.

How many chapters are in 1 Samuel?

The First Book of Kings (1 Samuel) has 31 chapters: 1–7 on Samuel and the ark, 8–15 on Saul's reign, and 16–31 on David and Saul, ending with Saul's death on mount Gelboe.

Is 1 Samuel in the Old Testament?

Yes. It is a historical book of the Old Testament, after Ruth and before 2 Samuel (2 Kings), received by every Jewish and Christian canon. Catholic Bibles that follow the Vulgate call it 1 Kings.

What is the ark of God in 1 Samuel?

It is the ark of the covenant made under Moses, a gilded chest holding the tables of the Law and the sign of God's presence among His people. In chapters 4–6 the Philistines capture it after Israel carries it into battle as a charm, the idol Dagon falls broken before it, and plagues force its return to Israel.

Who is Eli in 1 Samuel?

Eli, Heli in the Douay-Rheims, was the high priest at Silo who judged Israel forty years. He taught the child Samuel to answer, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Because he did not restrain his wicked sons, God foretold the fall of his house; he died on hearing that the ark was taken (4:18).

Was it really Samuel in 1 Samuel 28?

Challoner notes that "it is the more common opinion of the holy fathers, and interpreters, that the soul of Samuel appeared indeed", and not an evil spirit in his shape: God sent him, the witch's art did not raise him. Ecclesiasticus 46:23 says that he "lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy". The scene does not make necromancy lawful; it shows Saul's final despair.

Are 1 Samuel 16 and 17 out of order?

In chapter 16 David is already Saul's harper, yet in chapter 17 Saul asks whose son he is. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia explains that 16:14–23 stands out of its chronological place, set there to contrast David, on whom the spirit of the Lord came, with Saul, from whom it departed. In the real sequence David slew Goliath, returned home, and was later called to court as harper.

Who is Jonathan in 1 Samuel?

Jonathan is the son of King Saul, the hero who routed the Philistines at Machmas (chapter 14). In chapter 18 his soul is "knit with the soul of David", and he makes a covenant with him, gives him his own coat and sword, and later shields him from his father's anger (chapters 19–20). He fell with Saul on mount Gelboe (31:2), and David mourned him in the lament of 2 Kings 1.

Is Saul in 1 Samuel the same as Paul?

No. King Saul, son of Cis, of the tribe of Benjamin, reigned over Israel about a thousand years before Christ. St Paul, also a Benjamite, bore the same Hebrew name, Saul, and himself recalls the king in his sermon at Antioch (Acts 13:21). The apostle's conversion is told in Acts 9.

How old was David in 1 Samuel 16?

Scripture does not say. He is "a young one, who keepeth the sheep" (16:11) and "but a boy" (17:33); since he was thirty when he began to reign (2 Kings 5:4), he was anointed years earlier, in his youth.

Read the whole First Book of Kings verse by verse, Latin and English side by side, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The First Book of Kings (1 Samuel), Douay-Rheims (Challoner) with Challoner's notes, and the Latin Vulgate; 1 Paralipomenon 29:29; Ecclesiasticus 46:16–23; Exodus 17:14; Luke 1:46–55; Acts 13:21–22; Matthew 12:3–4; Hebrews 9:4; 2 Kings 5:4. Talmud, Baba Bathra 14b–15a. St Augustine, The City of God XVII, 4–7; Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm 143 (144); On the Care of the Dead, 15. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 94, a. 5, ad 2; II-II, q. 174, a. 5, ad 4. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546). Pontifical Biblical Commission, response of 23 June 1905 on the historical narratives of Scripture. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Kings, First and Second Books of". Roman Breviary (1962).